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The best vac system I've found is to use a shop-vac, but put a cyclone separator between it and the cabinet. That way most of the media goes into the intermediate can for reclamation, and the wood dust goes into the shop-vac for disposal. I also *really* love the shop-vac bags designed for sucking up drywall dust. Not only do they capture the dust for easy removal, but they significantly extend the life of the cartridge filter.

Thanks a ton guys. I've been using the blaster for about a year with glass bead and I end up with glass bead all over the shop. I'll try the shop vac method.

Which cyclone separator do you recommend for a shop vac?

I bought a vacuum made for blasting through Cyclone. They're pretty inexpensive at ~$150 and will save your shopvac motor from burning out when the media eventually makes it through the filter.

It's gone up since last year and is now priced at $190, but it's worth the money. Check it out here:


http://www.mytoolstore.com/cyclone/dustcol.html#dc1500

Briarfox wrote:Thanks a ton guys. I've been using the blaster for about a year with glass bead and I end up with glass bead all over the shop. I'll try the shop vac method.

Which cyclone separator do you recommend for a shop vac?

Ideally you should be using the bottom two units on the page that Jeff linked to. However, I get very good results by using one of these:
http://www.pennstateind.com/store/DCLID12.html
In conjunction with a 5HP dust collector equipped with drywall bag and cartridge filter:
http://www.shopvac.com/detail.asp?id=165

If you're a DIY type of guy, Bill Pentz's website has all the info you could ever want about building a cyclone dust seperator.

There are also a bunch of plans on the web similar to this one for a pre-seperator built on a trash can or 5 gal bucket. But for the money/time investment, the Penn State Industries unit in Kurts link that fits on a 5 gal bucket is hard to beat.

Well guys it made a world of difference! No leaking glass bead! And it is a much nicer looking blast (Also got a new compressor). Thanks a ton. As always you guys are very helpful.