January 20, 2014

Bucket Head

No, I'm not calling anyone names, though at times I do feel like a bucket head myself.  This is a different kind of Bucket Head, a wet dry vacuum. I saw it at Home Depot on Saturday while I was waiting on Hubby and thought it was pretty neat. They had it hooked up to a sander or something. Then, today, after using the miter saw on a little craft project (I'll show that later this week) and clearing the mound of saw dust around it, I thought that little thing might be just the ticket. We've got a dust collector but it isn't convenient to use with the miter saw and nothing else has worked with it either. So when I needed some materials to finish another project, I bought this too. When I got home, Hubby cut a hole in my workbench for the hose and power cord, and I placed it inside the workbench.





The jury is still out whether this will keep sawdust from piling up behind the saw. I chopped up a few scraps and it seemed to get most of the sawdust. Then, when I started cutting the trim boards for my project, I forgot to turn it on. Smiley

By the way, I did not receive any compensation for this post, though it would be nice.

Update 1/23/2014: Today I noticed that there wasn't any suction and thought, uh oh, the reviews were right, it quit working. But that wasn't it. The tube was clogged. I thought it might be a big chunk of wood, but it was nothing more than sawdust. It was packed too tightly for me to push it out with a stick and I had to painstakingly pick it out with a claw grabber. But then it worked fine again.

Update 2/1/2014:  Once again the tube clogged.  I have gotten into the habit of pulling the tube out of the miter saw to check for suction before and after each cutting session.  There seems to be a lot of sawdust behind the saw every time I use it, so I decided to do a test to see how much sawdust it is actually pulling in.

After 35 cuts with the vac on.

Then I cleaned up the work area before the next set.

After 35 cuts with the vac off.

So the vac is pulling in over half the sawdust that would normally end up behind the saw.

With the vac off, sawdust lands on the floor.  With the vac on, it stays clean.

So basically, it catches the sawdust that comes directly behind the saw blade. The suction area is limited by the size of the saw connection, and the suction isn't strong enough to catch the dust blowing out to the sides. Still, it has enough suction that little pieces from a cut tend to move toward the vac area instead of falling down to the surface below the saw.



Even though it doesn't catch all the sawdust, it pulls in quite a bit, and keeps the work area cleaner. It also collects the dust that normally spins around to land on me and the floor, and a sawdust free floor is a safer floor. The sawdust that is not caught is easily vacuumed by just pulling the tube out of the saw and the tip of that has a funnel shape that makes it easier to get the dust from crevices. So all in all, I am pleased with it.


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7 comments:

  1. Dust from the mitre saw is one of the hardest to contain. I hadn't heard of your bucket thingy, so please let us know how it works for you.

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    1. We use the miter saw outside a lot so don't usually have to worry about the sawdust, but when I cut long pieces I like the support of the benches on either side. The vac doesn't have a lot of suction but I think it will work for this. Some reviews on the Home Depot website said it quit working after about a month and one thought it was the switch. Being the lazy sort, I've found that it's easier to unplug it rather than open the door and bend over to turn it off, so maybe I won't have that problem. But yes, I'll post back and let you know.

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  2. I would think that it would clean up from the "trial." You will probably find that the suction will be sufficient to pull out a lot of sawdust!

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  3. Looks like a great way to keep ahead of the mess.

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    1. You're right, keeping ahead of it is the key to it.

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  4. I just got my first clog from my Bucket Head after a year and a half or so. Still compared to when I first got it it's nowhere near as forceful as it once was. Not bad for 20 bucks but I'm not sure I would buy it again if I did it all over. One thing worth noting, that I wish I would of known at first, is it is VERY top heavy. It's incredibly annoying probably the biggest flaw in the device. If I don't buy something more powerful soon I might throw some fishing weight zinc in the bucket just to alleviate it.

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