On 4/26/2010 10:43 AM, HerHusband wrote:


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.




What you need is one of these:

http://www.rockler.com/product.cfm?page=1515

It is a centrifugal separator that mounts in the place of the lid of a
garbage can. You run tubing from the bottom of the tool to one side of
the lid and then another length of tubing from the separator to the dust
collector. All the bigger pieces of crap fall into the garbage can
before they have a chance to chew up the impeller of your dust
collector. They also allow you to go much longer between emptying the
dust collector since the garbage can will also get a lot of saw dust as
well.

For the money, they can't be beat.


Jay