I"m looking for a shop vac and was wondering if anyone could recommend
one they were using and/or one they were displeased with.
I'll be using it mainly to clean up dry messes. Dirt, sawdust.
Any suggestions?

I have a Rigid WD1450 vac I bought from Home Depot that I've been happy
with. It is relatively quiet, as least as quiet as shop vacs get, and has
good suction. It compares favorably with my old Shop Vac brand "quiet"
vac.

No matter which shop vac you end up using, the best investment you can
make is a "fine filter" bag. These fit inside the shop vac canister (in
addition to the stock filter) and offer a much larger filter area.
Without the bag, the stock filter will clog up in a day or two of
vaccuuming fine sawdust, and finer particles like drywall dust can blow
right through. You'll constantly be pulling the filter out trying to bang
off the dust. The filter bag catches all the smaller particles, keeps the
main filter clean, and will maintain suction until the bag gets full.

Also, I have a ?sawdust? collector that connects to my table saw ( I
inherited it so I don't know anything about it.)
I was wondering if there was something that one could put in line to
collect larger pieces of sawdust or wood CHIPS. It makes a lot of
noise sometimes when it sucks up larger pieces of wood. I've also
been using it to clean up my work areas.....one of the reasons I
thought maybe I'd better buy a shop vac then mess this thing up.

I use my shop vac with my orbital sander and my router table. The higher
suction works better for catching the small particles these produce, not
to mention the smaller hose is just more convenient for hand held tools.

I have a JDS "Dust Force" dust collector I use with my table saw, planer,
and bandsaw. I just wheel it to whatever machine I'm using and connect
it with a short hose, rather than run ductwork throughout the garage.

The dust collector works better for larger particles, planer shavings,
and whatnot. A shop vac would fill up too quickly (I can easily fill a
40 gallon bag in a couple of hours of planing boards).

One disctinction to note, the shop vac filters BEFORE the airflow reaches
the impellers. This means it's better suited for general cleanup where
you might be sucking up rocks, nails, wood or metal scraps, etc. Dust
collectors generally filter AFTER the impeller which means any debris you
pick up could hit the impeller and damage it.

Take care,

Anthony