How to Make a Dust Collector Out of a Shop Vac

Steve
by Steve
2 Materials
$40
10 Minutes
Easy

If you’re anything like me, you love making sawdust but hate the cleaning up afterwards. There’s nothing worse than having your shop and everything in it covered sawdust after working on a project. Unfortunately, the dust bags that come with our power tools leave a lot to be desired when it comes to collecting and containing the dust produced by the tools.

The good news is there is a way to convert any shop vac into dust collector with one clever product and a little bit of ingenuity.   

The clever product comes in the form of the DGC i-Socket Intelligent Autoswitch. This simple product allows you to plug in your power tool and shop vac and then control the shop vac with the on/off switch on your power tool automatically. The patented automatic vacuum switch uses an on-board micro-controller to monitor and control current when two large motors try to power-up at the same time. By delaying the start up times, the switch works both tools without tripping breakers. And best of all, the switch runs the shop vac for about 7 seconds after the power tool is turned off to clear out the hose. Speaking of hoses…

Power tools and shop vacs have numerous different sizes of dust collection ports and hoses. For tools that don’t match the shop vac hose size, my admittedly low tech solution uses a rubber pipe/band clamp like this one, available in the plumbing section of any hardware store. It allows for securely attaching the hose to the tool and works with quite a few different sizes by tightening or loosening the clamps. Or you could of course purchase a more professional looking adapter kit for your shop vac instead.

The i-Socket will work with any power tool equipped with a dust collection port- table saws, miter saws, routers, and power sanders. If you’re looking for a way to cut down on the airborne sawdust in your shop or jobsite and don’t want to spring for a top of the line vacuum system, check out the DGC i-Socket Autoswitch. Click here to see it on Amazon


To read a more detailed tutorial and other DIY projects, head over to my blog: https://plumbandlined.com/how-to-make-a-dust-collector-from-a-shop-vac/

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Steve
Want more details about this and other DIY projects? Check out my blog post!
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