Industrial Vacuum Cleaner Recommendations?

[GrahamGKD]

Hi Folks,
My workshop vacuum is on its last legs and I need to replace it. There seem to be loads on the market and I'm not sure what to go for. The replacement must be able to suck up swarf, endless grinding and plasma cutting dust and the occasional bit of rubble. It must also be wet and dry. I have a budget of £200-£300. Any suggestions please?

 

[zzr1200]

An industrial Numatic would be my choice, but the price could be a problem, depending on how powerful you require it.

 

[GrahamGKD]

Thanks ZZR - yes, I had noticed those. I was just wondering if I should maybe go for one with a stainless steel body? I just popped out and had a look - my old machine is 1200 W and is powerful enough for my needs so a 1200 W Numatic should just about fall within my budget.

 

[tigler]

Nilfisk, look on ebay for a used one.

 

[oilbeback]

Keep looking on ebay I found this , 110687346977, absolute bargain.
They cost £1600 new.

 

[madkayaker]

at work i use a bosch unit that was used to help clean up after the building of the ark! it get used for cleaning down machines and lots of sandblast sand and never misses a bit

 

[Balders]

Bootfairs - ya never know.
I bought a Phoenix bagless one (not wet and dry) for my router table for £15 IIRC

 

[gavuk]

I got a couple off freecycle,minus some tools perfect working order,worth a try

 

[graffian]

If you want the industrial one keep an eye on henry butchers auctions, they turn up pretty regularly and sometimes go dirt cheap.
I worked for a while at BVC[british vacuum cleaners], as they made vacuums they had a really impressive factory vacuum, you could hoover up a pile of spanners and listen to them tinkle their way around the factory piping;-)
I have had a vax for years and it has been pretty good, it's had dozens of hoses though.

 

[gavuk]

http://www.lidl.co.uk/cps/rde/xchg/lidl_uk/hs.xsl/index_22297.htm

 

[GrahamGKD]

Thanks for the suggestions - I've gone with ZZR's suggestion and bought one of these Numatic WV570s.

Seems like a decent machine. I was focussing in on Numatic and Nilfisk but then I realised the Numatic was British made which swung it for me.

The machine I have bought has an option for a cyclonic inlet specifically for use with swarf. I didn't go for this option but, although they don't promote it as a home fit job, you can buy all the bits so I'm keeping this option up my sleeve if I need it as a self fit later.

 

[^neo^]

The only problem with them and swarf is they have a plastic guard which the bag clips over, and swarf just builds up in it. It's probably to stop things going in to hard and piercing the bag, but the one we have which is the same as yours is pretty useless on swarf

 

[GrahamGKD]

The only problem with them and swarf is they have a plastic guard which the bag clips over, and swarf just builds up in it. It's probably to stop things going in to hard and piercing the bag, but the one we have which is the same as yours is pretty useless on swarf

Yes, I think that's why they do this version with the additional entry on the side. This is used without the bag. I didn't want to run to this model at the outset as it is a lot more expensive (I guess because it is more or less a 'special order' model) but chatting to the guy at Numatic you can buy the bits (for about £20-£25 plus VAT, I think) and I don't see why I couldn't cut the hole and fit it myself. I'm going to see how I get on first. Swarf isn't the main thing I use it for - I tend to pick up the coarse swarf by hand and then just use the vacuum for the more chippy stuff.