Mini And Plaster Dust

[oilman]

Has anyone used a mini for collecting plaster dust? I get quite a bit of dust getting through to the vac. Is this likely to occur with very fine dusts? I have checked carefully and sealed all the leaks, and sealed the MDF bin top using tung oil.

[admin]

Oilman,
We've sold several of these units to guys who intended on using them for house remodeling but so far I haven't had a lot of feed back. Hopefully they will jump in here and answer your question. I do know that the separation efficiency of a cyclone will drop off as the particle size decreases. At 1.7 microns, the mini will get about 60% of the dust so it just depends on the particle size of the plaster dust and the distribution of sizes. If 75% of the particles are under 2 microns then you won't get very good results with the cyclone.

Ed

[oilman]

Thanks for the information, that's what I needed to know. I have seen a spec for calcium carbonate giving 25% of volume is less than 1 micron, so the quantities I am getting are ok. It seems no cleaner manufacturer approves their machines for plaster dust, not even the Dyson DC07. Some even void the warranty if plaster dust is involved.

[Slick]

I'm pretty sure my dyson's owners manaul said go ahead and use it on drywall dust just be prepared to clean the foam filter a bit more than usual. I haven't hooked up a hand held sander to the dyson but I've vacuumed up a good amount of drywall dust on the floor with it and it gets it up pretty well, don't notice to much in the filter.
I'm also planning to grab a mini specifically for drywall use in the next few weeks so if anyone has any tips/advice please fire away.

[sawsaw]

Oilman, not to distract from the cyclone, but using a Cleanstream HEPA filter in my ShopVac will handle sheetrock dust with no visible sign of any escaping. My wife who is a top level cleaner was very impressed by that filter's performance.

[sleepy_parent]

I have been using a mini this last winter with a hepa shop vac filter.

sanding dry wall with a dewalt orbital sander hooked up. very similar to the portercable system. see http://www.amazon.com/Porter-Cable-7800-Drywall-Sander-13-Foot/dp/B00002267Z/ref=sr_1_1/002-0923222-2692817?ie=UTF8&s=hi&qid=1177952999&sr=1-1

works great hardly any joint compound dust gets into the shop vac. I do a lot of remodling and the cv06 is by far the best sanding accessory I have ever used.

highly recommend it.

[Andrew Brown]

I fully agree with Sleepy_Parent. I've been using mine to clean up drywall dust and joint compound for a basement remodel and it really does the trick. Without the cyclone, my HEPA filter would clog with drywall dust within minutes of sanding and loose efficiency. This probably also damaged the filter as the drywall dust doesn't clean from the filter very well. Now I hardly ever have to clean the filter.