How to set up a Shop Vac for a sand blast cabinet??

[CalsXS2]

Maybe I'm doing something wrong here. I'm using the Harbor Freight cabinet. I have a shop vac hooked up to it. I have the dry wall fine dust bag in it. It works great for a while, then blows the bag out,,I'm sure from the sand. Then I get a real mess in the garage. My buddy says skip the bag, and just use the vac in the wet mode with the foam/paper filter. But I don't think that will trap enough from the start, and I'll have a mess.

The obvious answer would be to put the vac outside. That's not practical,,,too far away. So how do you guys have yours set up. Thanks.

 

[DogBunny]

I use a normal bag, and it has never blown out. I periodically take it outside and clean it with compressed air -- I do that until the bag breaks.

I keep the vac by the cabinet, but I route the exhaust to the outside.

 

[hotrdd]

I've read of guys putting the vacuum end into the top couple inches of a 5 gallon bucket and the a second house just under the water line that runs into the cabinet. This causes all of the dust to be sucked through the water first. One of the fellows had a small porous screen that broke the air stream into small bubbles. At the end of the day or after a bit you just rinse out the bucket. I don’t have a cabinet yet so have not tried it.

 

[5twins]

What I'd like to know is how you guys hook the hose to the cabinet. I want something quick and easy, and quick-disconnect because I use the vacuum normally. Is there a PVC fitting or something that the hose will just plug into? My H.F. cabinet came with a rather large round hole in the side blocked with a plastic plug, too big to stick a vac hose into.

 

[DogBunny]

That bucket of water idea is a good one.

My HF cabinet has that big hole you describe, but it also has a small hole that is a very good fit for the vac hose. Just use a hole saw or something to make the right size hole. It does not have to be an air-tight fit.

 

[CalsXS2]

What I'd like to know is how you guys hook the hose to the cabinet. I want something quick and easy, and quick-disconnect because I use the vacuum normally. Is there a PVC fitting or something that the hose will just plug into? My H.F. cabinet came with a rather large round hole in the side blocked with a plastic plug, too big to stick a vac hose into.

I think this may be what you want.

http://www.harborfreight.com/2-1-2-half-inch-x-4-inch-dust-collector-reducer-97495.html