Pro Tool Reviews: When it comes to dust extraction, you either love your system or wish you had a better one. The ability to effectively collect the dust that you’re creating is the make-or-break feature because that’s the entire point of its existence. I got my hands on the Bosch VAC140A Dust Extractor to help out with a few projects around the house and shop.
4 comments:
A good dust collection system is quickly becoming the standard in modern shops as more flexible and cost effective units continue to stream onto the marketplace. In professional shops especially it is generally easier to justify the initial investment which can be quite pricy for a nice unit like the Bosch VAC140A but when time is money cleaning sawdust off of every surface and taking the time to empty that massive pile of dust out of your table saw or from behind your radial arm saw is very inefficient.
The Bosch looks to be a terrific unit for smaller workstations, particularly those that involve use of one tool for an extended time. The limitations placed on your workflow by having a device that can only perform it’s task on one tool at a time and that will slow you down every time to want to change the tool it is attached to are regrettable but I believe the ability to work in a relatively dust free environment outweighs these detriments.
Units like the VAC140A continue to open up new markets for dust collection systems and I assume that as the prices continue to drop their prevalence will only continue to increase.
This actually looks fairly well built. If the construction is anything like the Bosch storage system, it could actually be a fairly nice product.
It carry’s a hefty price tag. I’m not really an expert on dust collection, but I think the best test for this machine is to feel how hard it sucks, feel how hard it sucks after a week of disc sander, and feel how hard it sucks after a week of thickness planer.
We could get one in the shop, but Hilti doesn’t make it.
Having worked in shops that have both central dust collection and places that just have portable vacuum units, I have to say that I really never have like having portable units. A central dust system is great for bulk dust generation, but you still have to sweep and clean the whole shop afterwards of small particulate. If you have a portable system, it doesn’t fix the small particulate problem, and it doesn’t do the bulk collection job well at all. As for the autosensing turn on function, its about time that another tool manufacturer offered this, weve been very happy with out festool system that does this just fine for many years now. Although I don’t like portable systems much, I have to say that the festool does a good job when combined with other festool tools.
Dust extraction is certainly something to consider when purchasing tools, especially for a new shop. In my experience, however, all systems have their drawbacks. In my shop at University of Toledo, the storage containers for the dust were outside – it froze during the winter and we couldn’t use the system. I haven’t had much experience with portable systems, but the price tag on it seems like it may not be worth it. Depending on the situation – you might be better hooking up a shop vac to your tool. Granted you might have to do more cleaning in the end, but it may be worth it to save money. The situation where I could see this coming in most handy is for people who always work on the go – contractors. Having this portable system would certainly help them keep their clients premises cleaner and they wouldn’t have to bring a separate shop vac with them. One of the main issues I have with this is that the tester, at least in the article, only tested the Bosch extractor with a Bosch saw. They should work well together; they’re made by the same company. I don’t anyone who only buys one brand of tools. A more realistic test would have been to test with various brands of tools to see how well it works. That being said, as long as it worked with my choice of saw and I had the money and a shop to put it in (and a reason to need a dust extractor), I’d buy it.
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