Yesterday I ask for input about using a shop vac in an enclosure to reduce the noise. As is always the case one of my readers took the time to find the official answer.Her is part of an email i received from Sawdust Dave.
Hi Steve,
I was also concerned about heat buildup within the motor when I watched the video that someone posted yesterday. After reading your post today I contacted Shop Vac to get info on putting the shop vac in an enclosed unit (suggested cubic feet of airspace etc) and using it for extended periods. Their response was: "they have never done any research on what would be required as far as cubic feet of air space that an enclosure should have". He would not suggest putting one in an enclosure unless one side of the enclosure is open allowing plenty of airflow. He also said that non-industrial type shopvacs have a single stage motor. Those types should never be used for 25-30 minutes at a time then be allowed to cool for 45 minutes to an hour or the motor could burn up or catch fire. Going by what the shopvac people said using an enclosure like in the video probably would be fine but not for more than a couple of minutes. I have mine inside a kitchen base cabinet
next to my saw. The back of the cabinet is open and pulled away from the wall about 2 inches. I run the vac hose out of the side of the cabinet. I did it this way more because it got the shopvac out of the way. It cuts down on the noise too but now I'm going to pay more attention to how long I run it and how hot it gets. I really like the shopvac air cleaner you posted. I'm going to put that on my "things to get list" lol
I think we can safely say it's not worth the risk to put the shop vac in an enclosure and use it to collect dust from the scroll saw. We use the scroll saw for extended periods and that sounds like a bad idea. It even sounds like using a non-industrial shop vac to collect dust from a scroll saw is a bad idea even sitting in the open.
I think we are left with a couple options. Use a dust collection system instead of a shop vac or let the dust fall and clean up after.
I plan to use the ShopVac air cleaner to collect the airborne dust and just clean the floor and bottom of the scroll saw as time permits. I am personally more concerned with breathing the dust than getting the floor dirty so I can live with this option.
Don't forget to wear your dust mask. I highly recommend the Dust-Be-Gone mask. It is by far the most comfortable mask to wear and it is the first I have used that won't fog my glasses. They are expensive but in my opinion worth every penny.