New Stacked Design
Before I start any project I research what everyone else has done. I look through Youtube, Pinterest and do a few Google searches for what other builders had created for dust collection carts. For this project I wanted something super compact, moveable, and stable. I started by researching shop vacs, and dust collection systems. Stumpy Nubs had a great video on 11 Common Dust Collection Mistakes. After watching this I decided that a shop vac was a better choice because of all the small tools i used (orbital sander, track saw, bench top sander etc).
The Rigid VAC4000 seemed to fit the bill perfectly. Small, powerful, lightweight, and great reviews.
I started with an rotated cart design like this design I found on pinterest. I tried it for a while, but I had to disable the wet vac float mechanism, because gravity wouldn’t keep the float down because it was sideways. I also thought it took up a lot of room, especially if I used a Dust Deputy cyclone, they’re tall.
My design is a stacked dust cart design, reducing the footprint to that of the vacuum itself. With the shop vac on top, I could lift it off and use it separately when I needed to.
Here is what I ended up with:
It turned out well. It rolls around quite easily, and it’s stable. It’s also a much smaller cart than the one I’d mocked up before.
Dust Stopper Modification
One other thing of note. When I first assembled the Dust Stopper my suction was terrible… I had read someplace that there were leaks around the bucket lip, so I added some weather stripping… Boom, huge improvement. So if you get a Dust Stopper, add a seal around the bucket.
