DeWalt 2stage Quiet wet and dry vac

[Eplfan2011]

I'm in the market for another vac, I read good things about this one and it's pretty quiet apparently.

Not looking to spend a fortune on a Fein or another festool, anyone have any experience with this one?

 

[Dak0ta52]

I've got two Harbor Freight models. One is a 5-gallon and the other is larger but I'm not sure what size. I built a cyclone dust collection system for the smaller one and have it to where I can hook it up to my saw. It's a little loud but I'm usually listening to music or books on by bluetooth headphones so the noise isn't an issue. I have it plugged into my foot switch so it cuts on and off with the saw.

I have lost a few pieces that have broken off and had to retrieve them from the dust collection bucket. Now, if I'm cutting delicate pieces, I will turn off the vacuum and just vacuum up the dust after I've finished the piece. Yes, there is sawdust but nothing like a planer or router.

[OCtoolguy]

1 hour ago, Dak0ta52 said:

I've got two Harbor Freight models. One is a 5-gallon and the other is larger but I'm not sure what size. I built a cyclone dust collection system for the smaller one and have it to where I can hook it up to my saw. It's a little loud but I'm usually listening to music or books on by bluetooth headphones so the noise isn't an issue. I have it plugged into my foot switch so it cuts on and off with the saw.

I have lost a few pieces that have broken off and had to retrieve them from the dust collection bucket. Now, if I'm cutting delicate pieces, I will turn off the vacuum and just vacuum up the dust after I've finished the piece. Yes, there is sawdust but nothing like a planer or router.

@Rolf has a nice system on his Hawk and he built a "catcher" into his prior to the catch tank so that if he does lose something, he can retrieve it from there instead of the big tank. He used a piece of PVC with a screen in it. There are pictures somewhere here on the village but Lord knows where.

 

[Eplfan2011]

1 hour ago, Dak0ta52 said:

I've got two Harbor Freight models. One is a 5-gallon and the other is larger but I'm not sure what size. I built a cyclone dust collection system for the smaller one and have it to where I can hook it up to my saw. It's a little loud but I'm usually listening to music or books on by bluetooth headphones so the noise isn't an issue. I have it plugged into my foot switch so it cuts on and off with the saw.

I have lost a few pieces that have broken off and had to retrieve them from the dust collection bucket. Now, if I'm cutting delicate pieces, I will turn off the vacuum and just vacuum up the dust after I've finished the piece. Yes, there is sawdust but nothing like a planer or router.

I've got a couple of vac's a festool and a no name cheapy, but I'm looking for a new one that's quiet.

 I don't like wearing headphones and I hate how loud my cheap vac is.  I've watched some videos of the quiet DeWalt and it looks impressive and just wondered if anyone had any experience with it 

Edited October 6, 2022 by Eplfan2011

[kmmcrafts]

Only thing I have on that is, there was really good reviews on that vac a couple years ago when I was researching.. I never did buy anything other than my small Seyco scroll saw dust vac. It does pretty good job but will need a T to get dust from the top side of the table. I wonder how well the cyclone thing with my kit is compared to a actual brand name dust deputy.. My little vac filter gets coated with some fine dust after a days cutting and the vac starts getting louder. If I take the filter / bag out and take it outside and blow the dust out it'll quiet down for the next day. So basically it's pretty quiet so long as you keep the filter / bag cleaned out. 

[OCtoolguy]

21 minutes ago, Eplfan2011 said:

I've got a couple of vac's a festool and a no name cheapy, but I'm looking for a new one that's quiet.

 I don't like wearing headphones and I hate how loud my cheap vac is.  I've watched some videos of the quiet DeWalt and it looks impressive and just wondered if anyone had any experience with it 

I thought the Festool was supposed to be quiet. I have a Fein and it's fairly quiet. 

 

[Eplfan2011]

10 minutes ago, OCtoolguy said:

I thought the Festool was supposed to be quiet. I have a Fein and it's fairly quiet. 

 

Festool vac is pretty quiet Ray but I do most of my saw and router cutting in the garage and It's dedicated to the track saw/ router. I don't want to be carrying it in and out all the time. I do have a dust collector out there for the table saw and planer but it's useless for the small tools.

 At $165 bucks it's not expensive for the convenience of having it dedicated to the scroll saw room in the house.

[OCtoolguy]

3 hours ago, Eplfan2011 said:

Festool vac is pretty quiet Ray but I do most of my saw and router cutting in the garage and It's dedicated to the track saw/ router. I don't want to be carrying it in and out all the time. I do have a dust collector out there for the table saw and planer but it's useless for the small tools.

 At $165 bucks it's not expensive for the convenience of having it dedicated to the scroll saw room in the house.

I now understand your motivation.

[rjweb]

Very nice, you have a scroll saw room in the house, RJ

[Sycamore67]

I would put the Festool on the scroll saw and use something noise on the router and track saw.  Who cares how noisy the vac is with a router or saw??

[Eplfan2011]

9 minutes ago, rjweb said:

Very nice, you have a scroll saw room in the house, RJ

It's a basement bedroom, my house is a tri-level RJ. All the kids have left home so I thought I'd put it to good use.

 I only started scrolling a couple of months ago so it's kind of new and unorganized right now, but it will be warm in the winter !

[Eplfan2011]

3 minutes ago, Sycamore67 said:

I would put the Festool on the scroll saw and use something noise on the router and track saw.  Who cares how noisy the vac is with a router or saw??

The problem with that is the track saw and router are festool too, and it tool triggered and designed to work and fit the vac ... Don't want to go back to turning the vac on use the tool turn it off...and trying to find hoses to fit the tools.  That defeats the reason I bought them in the first place.

[Sycamore67]

A number of vacs have the same feature or you can by an auto turn on switch.  Because a scroll saw produces mostly very fine dust, I use my HEPA Festool on it and rigid vac on other shop small tools.  My router table and all large tools are hooked up to a Oneida dust collector.

Edited October 7, 2022 by Sycamore67

[Rolf]

My basement shop is relatively small and the my Festool Midi has a very long cord, so when I need to use it for my RO or track saw I can just wheel it into the adjoining room.  I run the Festool at low to mid range. 

I added the trap a must with all of the small pieces I cut. As you can see it catches a lot of stuff.  I also added the union (swivel) so that I can easily swing the upper tube out of the way without messing with its adjustment.  

The picture of my suction tubes is an old one before I added the trap and swivel. 

the whole assembly is attached to my Hawk with a couple of Mag switches. So I can move the whole assembly to my EX 16 which I use for most of my smaller projects.

Edited October 7, 2022 by Rolf

[Eplfan2011]

1 hour ago, Rolf said:

My basement shop is relatively small and the my Festool Midi has a very long cord, so when I need to use it for my RO or track saw I can just wheel it into the adjoining room.  I run the Festool at low to mid range. 

I added the trap a must with all of the small pieces I cut. As you can see it catches a lot of stuff.  I also added the union (swivel) so that I can easily swing the upper tube out of the way without messing with its adjustment.  

The picture of my suction tubes is an old one before I added the trap and swivel. 

the whole assembly is attached to my Hawk with a couple of Mag switches. So I can move the whole assembly to my EX 16 which I use for most of my smaller projects.

I've seen your design for the hawk dust collection although this looks to be modified from the last time I saw it. I actually have all the parts to do this I just haven't had the time to do this.

[Eplfan2011]

This thread has gone off topic a little.

I'm happy with my garage setup and do not wish to change it, if I need to cut up something I can nip out there and cut it and be back inside in a couple of minutes, no clean up required. This is great cause it's uninsulated and very cold in the Midwest winter.

 I'm just setting up my scroll saw shop in the basement and need a new vac. I'm not opposed to spending the money on what I want, which is just a quiet vac that works. Yes I can go pick up a $500 Festool midi but if the DeWalt is as quiet as advertised it sounds like a winner for only $165.  I was just wondering if anyone here had tried one and if it was as quiet as advertised.

[OCtoolguy]

I just did a search for the vac you are asking about but don't find it. Can you give us a model number. There are many in that price range but none say "2 stage".

[Eplfan2011]

Here's a YouTube video ....Ray

Maybe it's not called that but when I first saw it that's what they called it

But I've seen them on Amazon and other sites too

 

 

[OCtoolguy]

Wow! That looks like a very nice unit. I can see why you might want one. I wonder how it compares to the Festool noise-wise. Sure seems quiet.

 

[Eplfan2011]

35 minutes ago, OCtoolguy said:

Wow! That looks like a very nice unit. I can see why you might want one. I wonder how it compares to the Festool noise-wise. Sure seems quiet.

 

Exactly ! 

It doesn't need to be festool standard, just needs to be quiet and have enough "suck" for what I need.  I have a DD to attach and with a bag in it dust shouldn't be a problem.

I think I'm going to pull the trigger on it on Amazon give it a whirl.

[OCtoolguy]

3 hours ago, Eplfan2011 said:

Exactly ! 

It doesn't need to be festool standard, just needs to be quiet and have enough "suck" for what I need.  I have a DD to attach and with a bag in it dust shouldn't be a problem.

I think I'm going to pull the trigger on it on Amazon give it a whirl.

Well, you can do the review. We'll all be waiting. At this point, I don't need another vac but if my Ridgid ever dies, I'll be thinking about that one. I use the Ridgid out on my driveway primarily for my table saw and router table. It's big and noisy. I have a Dusttopper hooked to it also. The Fein in my shop has a DD on it and both of my Excaliburs have onboard systems running the little Metrovac500's and a mini-cyclone in a 3 lb. coffee can. They can be rolled anywhere and have dust control on them. I'm going to do the same thing to my Hegner but I'll use an Oreck handheld on it.

 

[Eplfan2011]

So it been a busy week for me and mostly no scrolling. I went to my daughter's soccer match today and on the way back popped into Lowes they had this at a reasonable price $149 including tax so I picked it up. I won't get around to opening this up and trying it for a few days yet as I have so much to do but when I do I'll report back with my opinion !

[Rolf]

On 10/7/2022 at 12:28 PM, Eplfan2011 said:

This thread has gone off topic a little.

I'm happy with my garage setup and do not wish to change it, if I need to cut up something I can nip out there and cut it and be back inside in a couple of minutes, no clean up required. This is great cause it's uninsulated and very cold in the Midwest winter.

 I'm just setting up my scroll saw shop in the basement and need a new vac. I'm not opposed to spending the money on what I want, which is just a quiet vac that works. Yes I can go pick up a $500 Festool midi but if the DeWalt is as quiet as advertised it sounds like a winner for only $165.  I was just wondering if anyone here had tried one and if it was as quiet as advertised.

Yes we do tend to go off topic especially if a thread runs long. 

That said thank you for the video! That is amazingly quiet!  A great deal @ $150.  If I didn't already have two shop vacs and a Festool MIDI I would buy one in heartbeat. 

Looking forward to your review,

[barb.j.enders]

Thanks for the video.  Sent me down the rabbit hole of looking at it.  One of the reviews I saw had the guy replacing his Rigid vac with this because the Rigid is loud.  I have a Rigid and it is loud.  Would swap out in a heartbeat but they don't seem to be available in Canada.  Could order through a couple of places but then the exchange and shipping make it way to expensive.  sigh!

[Scrappile]

Okay, I'm puzzled, I searched this and read a lot of reviews, and of the ones I read not one mentioned how quiet it was, and to me that is the feature that sets it apart.  I would purchase one just for that feature.  An looking at the specks I saw nothing mentioned.. about the sound.