LumberJocks Woodworking Forum banner
21 - 33 of 33 Posts
I have the WD1851 which is the second link you have posted. It is much quieter than the Craftsman we have and is even quieter than the Hoover we use in the house. It has actually been getting more use in the house as we have tile floors throughout and it does a much better job of cleaning them than the Hoover and is much quieter to use. Noise wise it is the same as my HF dust collector. So far I have been happy with it.

We do use the bags in it to make the filter last longer. They add to the expense but will be worth it once we upgrade to the HEPA filter.
 
I've had the 14 gal Ridgid for more than ten years and it's still going strong. Last year I finally got fed up with emptying and cleaning out the filter so I built a cart with a Dust Deputy. If it'll fit in your budget definitely get one. Otherwise you can't really go wrong with the Ridgid.
 
This is boring, but like others, I bought the biggest shopvac at Lowes and still use it 10 years later. If I downspout mine to a small diameter, it still sucks pretty hard. I use it mostly with my drillpress. I built a little magnet thingy to keep the nozzle near the bit. Like others have said, though, it's as loud as an F350.
 
I have owned a Craftsman for 20 years and it has always performed but is laud.

A couple of years ago Rockler had a ShopVac model on sale really cheap and I bought one. It's filter is nothing but a piece of paper and is held in place by a plastic ring you push into place. It will pickup large shavings, but fine dust is just spit back out. One of my first projects with it was to use it to collect drywall dust as I sanded, all it did was suck up the dust and blow it back out into the room.
 
I have a large (15-20 gallon?) rigid. Its a good vac, if you really want to save some money you can buy a "bucket head" vac from HD, its a lot of bang for the $20.
 
ruel…somehow I don't think they all come from ShopVac. I built a house and the closest available was a 16 gal Shop Vac. I always thought it lacked the power of the Ridgid I had (1,000 miles away) so later I picked up another Ridgid for the shop and confirmed it.

Consumer reports (or Wood magazine…I can't remember) did a review a few years ago on the subject and there were differences.
 
Discussion starter · #28 ·
Hi, guys! Bought the 14-gallon Ridgid Much quieteer than the thing I was using before, I think even quieter than the Dyson my wife insisted on when we moved to our new place 3 years ago. So far so good. Only have used it to suck up hand-sanded dust, althogh quite a bit of it.

Thanks for your recommendations!
 
I tried the panity hose prefilter on the rigid, it was so-so, then I took an upright house vacuum bag cut off 6" from top and slid it over rigid filter. Works great, just a few taps and the dust falls off, the inner filter is virtually dust free. There is no discernable loss of suction.
The vacuum bag I use is an Oreck with a liner, however I tried a Hoover with a liner and it worked as well. I advocate this way to keep a filter clean and low cost. The bag has to be a lined bag.
 
Emerson makes both Ridgid and Craftsman (the striped filters are identical). My 15 year old Craftsman keeps trucking despite all the drywall compound dust I've cleaned up with it. I have a Porter Cable HEPA vac I picked up at an estate sale and it has a lot less suction than the Craftsman. But it also was designed for a different purpose.

I'm holding off on tool purchases until the period between Black Friday and Xmas - H.D. discounts tons of stuff then as door specials and I picked up a Ridgid shop vac for $29!
 
I have an older (Gray) Ridgid 12 gallon vac that has been a great vac for qutie a few years now. I added the muffler thingy which really isn't all that helpful. My only complaints so far are…

#1. The filter bags are designed for the 14 and 16 gallon vacs. Ridgid seems to think they 12 gallon doesn't need a bag.
#2. Like any other wet / dry vac, it's LOUD. Not as loud as the old Shop Vac branded vac it replaced, but still obnoxious.

Mine was a bundle deal years ago, they bundled the vac, with the regular filter, and a HEPA filter. I tossed the regular filter. The HEPA is so beat up now I need to get a new one…
 
The muffler on my Ridgid is an older model hard plastic with a completely open exhaust tube (kinda like a glass pak muffler). The new models have a foam-in-cage design. The old one works very well. The new one does not.
The vac is the 16 gal. model with removable motor that doubles as a blower. I buy the good filters ($$$).
Well pleased with the setup.
Bill
 
21 - 33 of 33 Posts