Vacuum Table Shop Vac

[kencraft]

We have our PRS Alpha on order 48 x 96 we saw at IWF. We looked at Fein Shop Vac for our vacuum table, but I have seen motors mounted under the table (Gary G Campbell Post#647). Do these work as well as shop vac. Where do you get them--noise is a concern--how about cost compared to two Fein shop vacs. We are open to ideas. We would like to zone the table into at least 4 zones.

[billp]

Ken,
I'm afraid that there is NO easy answer to your question. There are so many variables that come into play here; type of materials you'll be cutting, frequency of job/file changes, type of work you'll be doing (i.e. 3D versus mill work), amount of power available in your shop's electrical panel,tolerance for screaming un muffled motors, etc.
Having played with the vacuum process for more years than most one thing I CAN tell you is that very few people find their perfect system on the first try...! We have all experimented, tweaked, tinkered, and re-built our rigs as our styles, and product lines became more mature.
I think the thing to consider here is that if you go back through the Forum and read many of the responses from Shopbotters over the last ten years you'll see a universal " theme" ; everyone has said that they wished they had started to play with the vacuum process sooner because once they got a handle on it, their machining process became faster, easier, and more accurate.
There is a LOT of info on the Forum,(AND the Shopbot WIKI) and while it may seem a little tedious searching for it, it IS worth the effort.
Just don't get caught up on the " paralysis through analysis" syndrome and think that you have to START with the ultimate rig. Hook up something, and then develop your table as you develop your software and machining skills. Very few Shopbotters have taken the path they originally thought they would when buying the machine. This is because once they learn just HOW versatile the machine is, they take off on " tangents" which in many cases have then become their primary business...
Good luck in the process, and don't be afraid to ask (specific) questions when you need to get past a speed bump...

[Gary Campbell]

Ken...
Bill makes some very good points above. As he says, there is no single inexpensive answer for all situations. I have used the system you saw for a year and a half and I am about to make the following changes for the following reasons:
1) Installing motors with higher vacuum (3 stage) obvious reason, more vacuum!
2) Installing 2 of them in our Zone 1 ... we do the majority of our small part cutting there and kicking up the CFM may help.

To answer your questions...
I personally think they work much better than a shop vac due to the fact there is no plumbing and very few would use 4 feins. Direct mounted motors reduces the chance for leaks and eliminates the chances of drum collapse. There is also a performance decrease in the vacs when muffled.

I bought my first set from Grainger.com and my newer ones from lighthouse enterprises.

If noise control is a higher priority than performance.... get the feins

4 motors from Grainger with exact fein specs were $128 each. The 117123 motors from lighthouse were $138 each... shipped.

I dont know what a fein costs, as I have never considered one.

I do have an article in the SB system showing how and why I used this method. I dont know what the posting date will be.

Hope this helps, Gary

[bill.young]

Oh man...I'm behind again!!!

(or is that still behind?)

[erik_f]

Look at the "Open Source Vacuum" Threads. They will give you a ton of info on what you are looking to do.