Hey guys,
I need a couple of high quality shop vacs for my school wood shop. The Shop Vac brand is about the worst; switches, bearings, and motors burn out easily. I have one Dayton that has been great but we paid $600 for it. Isn't there anything out there of good quality for around $200-$300?

 

No!!!!!!!!!

 

Rigid, a very good one.

 

Lol

As in Home Depot? Really?? Unfortunately we don't have an account with HD. I have to go through Grainger, Harbor Freight, or Menards.

 

I bought a HF similar to the one below. It gets quite a bit of use and still works after 10 years. Not sure if it would survive school shop use. And as with anything HF or Chinese in general, I wouldn't buy it if it's failure shut me down.
http://www.harborfreight.com/2-hp-in...tor-97869.html

 

I have a 12 gallon Craftsman that I have had for thirty years. Probably not what you want for school shop, but they sell larger ones.

 

I took a look at the Grainger website, they have some pretty serious vacs!

 

Personally, students can screw up a ball bearing with a feather. I'd go relatively cheap, you can replace them every year for 10 years compared to one of the more expensive ones. I have a 5 gallon wet/dry bought from HD for under $50 and has lasted me for over 5 years.

 

X2, on Craftsman.

 

I used to go through Shopvacs like water. I've had 3 Rigid's for many years now with the Emerson motor and all 3 have never failed me.

 

I am using a ten year old Craftsman in my shop. I use it daily and it is holding up quite well to both my abuse and neglect. I rarely change the filter.

I bought a Rigid recently for cleaning the carpet in the cars. I needed a clean vacuum for this because I didn't want to risk getting the carpets dirty by using my dirty old Craftsman. Plus I have two separate garage spaces and was tired of caring one vacuum between the two garages.

I don't really care for the Rigid. It just doesn't seem as rugged to me, and I don't like the attachments it came with.

I have a Grainger account but it is usually easier, and cheaper just to go to Lowes or Home Depot.

 

Yes I have 2 of the bigger models and 1 cheapo Rigid and the cheapo ($40 on sale) is not as heavy duty but I only use it for vacuuming my cars and garage and it does a fine job. The other two I really abuse in a heavy duty environment in my wood shop as a central vac system and the other for water, metal, grease whatever. They are 15 to 20 years old and still working great. Many of the crappy Shopvacs had plastic brush housings that would melt under extended or heavy use situations. Never had that problem with the Rigids. I suggest you get a heavy duty model though.

 

Thanks for all the advice, fellas. I'll do some more homework. I like the idea of Craftsman and we actually have an account with Sears so that could work.

 

I have a craftsman that is over 25 years old. Works like a champ still. I have used it at work, in the shop, hooked to blast cabinets, don't know if they are still that good but 25+ years ago they were pretty rugged.

 

Lol, yeah, I've considered that the anecdotes in which the vac has run strong for 10 year or more really does me no good at all.

 

I'm sorry fellas I like Craftsman but you never know who has made the product anymore. At one time they had Emerson motors, that could be when Eric bought his. LOL.

 

It looks like they do.

http://www.emersontoolcompany.com/en...s/default.aspx