alexideways Posted November 14, 2006 Share Posted November 14, 2006 You sound like Tim Allen on Tooltime MORE POWER argh argh argh ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Post some pics once your done with you hybrid shop vac. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Metallicar Posted November 14, 2006 Share Posted November 14, 2006 I have two of those Shop Vacs, with the stainless tanks. I have had no problem with one. The other had the ball check problem, so I removed it. After four years of use the pump was not pulling. I found that the impeller had cut a groove in the volute. I fixed this with hot glue. No problems since. The Shop Vac are the only vacs I could find locally, on the shelf that use filters and bags. All of the Ridgid units at Home Despot are crap. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kilten_one Posted November 14, 2006 Share Posted November 14, 2006 i use a shopvac at work with a stainless steel canister and i have the same issue with the top not being able to hold on sometimes i can but 80% of the time it doesnt another issue with the one i use is the front wheel the plastic parts that held it to the canister broke very easily Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bjhines Posted November 14, 2006 Author Share Posted November 14, 2006 hehe.. I looked at some of the industrial units... It seems that $350-$500 will get you a drum lid with their heavy duty 11 amp motor assembly attached... It doesn't seem like such a good deal to me... the dollys/cradles I saw were still a few sandwiches short of a picnic... typically they have small 1.5"-2" casters... the only cart wheeled model had what appeared to be tiny little front casters as well... as we all know.. they won't clear extension cords or air hoses very well... I am not looking for something with tank tracks... but I am hoping to build something with shop floor terrain capabilities... The idea behind the cart-wheel dollys is to handle them like a hand truck... kick em back and push them over obstacles... I would like to drag it by the hose or attach a hand rim around the middle to lift and pull... If I cut the drum down short I can lift it by the top.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrFancypants Posted November 14, 2006 Share Posted November 14, 2006 It has less power... a tiny little tank... and 1.5" narrow hose... Be wary of claimed power numbers. 5 hp, 6 hp, whatever, is all meaningless on 120 V, which can produce a max continuous power of about 2 hp. They quote peak horsepower at startup which means nothing when youre after continuous "sucking power". Manufacturers did the same crap with air compressors and got nailed for it in a class action lawsuit. If you really want shop vac power you have to go 220+ V. I have been cleaning 50 lbs at a time of blasting abrasive... I use it for water pickup and carpet spot cleaing with 50 lbs of water per load... Now thats a lot of vacuuming. Now I see why you break a lot of shop vacs Sears is a great place to find a wide variety of tools in one place... that is hard to beat.. but there are better deals and better quality elswhere... Probably true, though I think youre definitely in the several hundred dollar range if you are looking for something industrial. Anyway, mainly wanted to chime in on the power rating so you dont get deceived. - Greg - Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bjhines Posted November 14, 2006 Author Share Posted November 14, 2006 regardless of HP ratings... most vacuums draw less than 8 amps... most of the "industrial" rated vacuums draw around 10-13 amps.... the shop vac I am replacing draws 8.7amps... Thanks Greg for pointing that out... It is the same story for audio amplifiers and damn near everything else out there... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cygnusx1 Posted November 14, 2006 Share Posted November 14, 2006 If you are going to quote number here folks, please back them up with timeslips and dynosheets. What do you think this is, zc#r.com or something! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WickedWild Posted November 14, 2006 Share Posted November 14, 2006 All I have to say is WAP We have one at each shop, one is 3 years old, the other 5. Constant everyday use through 20' of hose. http://www.ultimategarage.com/WAP.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alexideways Posted November 14, 2006 Share Posted November 14, 2006 If you are going to quote number here folks, please back them up with timeslips and dynosheets. What do you think this is, zc#r.com or something! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pop N Wood Posted November 14, 2006 Share Posted November 14, 2006 The absolute best, most powerful vacuum I have ever seen was in a ship yard. It was powered by compressed air. They had a 1 inch air hose going to a convergent-divergent eductor nozzle hooked up to a 55 gallon steel drum. They used a car muffler to cut down on the noise. No moving parts. That thing would have sucked up bowling balls. We used it to clean up asbestoes dust and radioactive paint chips. Ahh. Good times! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bjhines Posted November 14, 2006 Author Share Posted November 14, 2006 I saw some of those.. they are $1300 and they consume 200CFM of air.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cody 82 ZXT Posted November 15, 2006 Share Posted November 15, 2006 I personally have one of the Rigid brand vacuums. And until one of the guys that worked for me cut the cord off it worked perfectly. Admittedly, I don't put it thru near the use you do but, if it breaks I box it up and take it back. Home Depot gets full credit on the returns so they are real easy to deal with on this brand. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cruez Posted November 15, 2006 Share Posted November 15, 2006 I picked up one of these from an incentive here at work.. Can't use it for water, but it is a fairly nice vac, wall mount, decent suction although the hose diameter is a little small from what I'm used to. Bigger hose would be a lot more cumbersome at the length that it is.... and its out of the way. (sure beats the upright I had been using ) http://www.epinions.com/content_226990657156 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2003z Posted November 15, 2006 Share Posted November 15, 2006 The most powerful vacuum I have seen is when we used to hook a vacuum hose up to the sextant port on the C-130 at altitude and clean the cockpit with it. Maintenance made us stop because all kinds of small metal items were banging up the tail of the aircraft. We also used to launch hard boiled eggs out of the port. Get the egg about 2 inches away from it and it would suck it right out of your hand! Anyway, I use a rigid in my shop, and have it attached to my blast cabinet as a dust reclaimer and its been holding up just fine for the last 2 months at about 10-15 hours per week of solid use. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Mike Posted November 15, 2006 Share Posted November 15, 2006 Yeah... dats da' ticket. I'll get a C-one-tirdy just for da' vaccum. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bjhines Posted November 15, 2006 Author Share Posted November 15, 2006 can you imagine what people on the ground must have thought... My truck was hit by a piece of debris from an aircraft near RDU airport... It was some sort of fastener/latch... It had a small handle... I considered turning it in and reporting it to the RDU authorities.. but I got lazy and just forgot about it... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pete280z Posted November 15, 2006 Share Posted November 15, 2006 I'll jump on board with the Ridgid owners. I've had mine for about 3 years and have no complaints. In those three years it has probably seen only about 100 hours of use, so take my experience for what it's worth. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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