Best dust extractors for small workshop in the UK Compared for 2022
What is the best dust extractor for a small workshop? The constant inhalation of dust is likely to lead to health issues, primarily lung diseases. That said, a dust extractor is more than about protecting your health. This tool helps to reduce costs and increase the efficiency of your workshop.
When choosing your dust extractor, consider its capacity, which ranges from 5 to 65 litres. Keep in mind, however, that machines with a larger capacity are heavier and more prominent in size.
If you have to deal with a great number of chippings, you are better off buying a stationary dust extractor with a large tank like Metabo 240V SPA1200.
Extra features are another essential factor in making buying decisions. In particular, this includes an auto-clean function and an auto on/off function. As for the latter, this feature allows you to connect the dust extractor to the power tool through Bluetooth so that the machine could automatically determine whether the tool is operating.
How Dust Extractors Differ
Based on the filtration level, there are three classes of dust extractors — L, M and H. Knowing the class of your dust extractor will help you understand whether the unit will be able to effectively remove a specific type of waste.
The filtration level is determined by the leakage percentage or the amount of dust that penetrates back through the filter.
- L-class dust extractors, the most widespread option, remove 99% of the dust. Recommended for handling general dust and soil, L-class machines are not suitable for harmful wastes.
- M-class machines are better at handling substances like silica and wood, which pose a greater health hazard. In such dust extractors, the percentage of filter leakage is less than 0.1%. When compared to L-class dust extractors, these ones have better safety features, such as an airspeed indicator.
- H-class dust extractors for industrial use provide the best levels of filtration and safety. They have a filter leakage percentage of less than 0.005% and can eliminate carcinogenic dust.
Regarding power source, dust extractors can be corded like the Makita VC3011L/2 or cordless like the Bosch Professional GAS 18V-10 L. The latter option is more common in L-class machines but is less powerful. Corded dust extractors are further categorized into 110V models for industrial use and 240V models for home use.
Some models work only with dry debris, while others, such as the Bosch Professional GAS 25 L SFC, can pick up both dry and wet substances. The latter is a more versatile option recommended for workshops where spills of lubricants, oils, and other liquids are likely to be at.
Dust Extractors vs. Vacuum Cleaners
While a dust extractor can be used as a vacuum cleaner, there is a significant difference between these two types of equipment. Vacuum cleaners are designed to handle household dust, whereas dust collectors can cope with waste produced during cutting, drilling, and sanding.
Vacuum cleaners cannot provide the level of filtration that dust extractors can, nor can they deal with a similar volume of dust. Dust extractors have greater horsepower and a powerful motor. Unlike vacuum cleaners, many dust extractors can connect to a power tool through a suction hose.
Best Dust Extractors Compared
The German technology company Bosch, one of the leaders in the dust extractor market, offers several models. Below, we will compare the two most popular ones, the Bosch Professional GAS 25 L SFC and Bosch Professional GAS 18V-10 L.
The primary difference between these models is that the GAS 25 L SFC is a corded unit, while the GAS 18V 10L operates on Bosch Li-ion batteries, which are sold separately. The advantage of the cordless model is that it is 3 times lighter and easier to manoeuvre.
On the other hand, the 1,200-watt GAS 25L SFC is more powerful and has a larger capacity despite its compact size. The unit features a filter surface area of 4.300 cm², a max. the volume flow rate of 61 l/sec, and max. vacuum pressure of 248 mbar.
For comparison, the GAS 18V 10L offers a max. airflow of 24 l/s and max. vacuum pressure of 90 mbar. The corded model comes with an enhanced filter system installed in the upper part of its suction head, preventing stones from damaging the filter or turbine.
Both models are L-class dust extractors and both are designed to handle the wet and dry waste. The GAS 25 L SFC offers a semi-automatic filter cleaning system and an increased filter lifetime. The cordless model features rotational airflow technology, which prevents filter clogging.
Best 30L Dust Extractor
The Makita VC3011L/2 is another example of a corded dust extractor from a trusted manufacturer.
The machine has a max airflow of 3.6 m3/min and max. sealed suction of 21.0 kPa. It has a larger tank volume of 30 litres and other benefits such as an airflow sensor and an IP24 protection level.
Best stationary 65L extractor
If you work on a stationary or semi-stationary woodworking machine, consider buying the Metabo 240V SPA1200 Chip Extractor designed specifically to connect to this type of equipment. The unit consists of sturdy casters, a stable stand, and a chip collection bag.
The Metabo chip extractor can significantly reduce dust content thanks to high air capacity. Both Metabo and Makita dust extractors filter material of dust class L, however, the Metabo model has a larger bag capacity of 65 litres.
Products with a 5-star rating
Testing & Customers Reviews
We found reviews from YouTube bloggers about the products in our article.
Badger Workshop: "I've had Metabo SPA 1200 chip extractor for a year now and I've got it for one reason only and that is for my planer thicknesser, which creates a lot of chips. Strangely enough chip extractors are good for extracting chips. So I think a lot of people are interested in a dust extractor, thinking that it would do everything. This is a hundred mil hose. It's no good for reducing down really to smaller diameters. You're definitely not gonna be plugging power tools into this. I have three dust extractors in my workshop. This, as I say, is dedicated to just that one machine and then I have two others that are more like vacuums. And that's what I use for the band saws and all my power tools.
I've had a few Metabo machines, and the instructions have been appalling on all of them, but this is so straightforward to put together. I didn't even really need the instructions. You could just look at the picture on the box. It's got a cloth filter. They are pain to clean. You shouldn't wash them. You just kind of bang them out. But you can get plated metal filters, well, they're not pleated metal, they're metal cages with a pleated filter inside, to fit these. So I will upgrade that at one point.
I got the Metabo because at the time, I thought I had the Metabo thicknesser, it's a good name, so if there's any problems, the support would be good. I had no problems. It extracts chips. So that's not much to say, really. It's got one button you turn it on and off and it works well. Saying that it didn't work straight away. The first time I put it on the planer thicknesser, it clogged up within a minute. I took hose off, unblocked it and it clogged up again. It had this little mesh over it to stop well, I guess it stops big bits damaging the impeller. I've seen other people mention this on other machines. Four screws took it off, and never had a problem since. I'm sure this voids my warranty doing it, but I'm not gonna be unblocking it every minute. That is just ridiculous and makes it unusable, for my 10-inch planer produces quite a lot of chips. So this didn't work, I took that off, and it worked absolute fine using it a couple of times a week for a year. No problems.
I've got it attached to the bin, which comes from Rockler. It really does a great job because changing the bags on these things is a real pain and this separator just really makes that easy. I've perhaps empty the bag every six months because a few bits get in when the bin gets full. It's quite loud. Perhaps not as loud as a universal motor table saw, but as I say, I only use it for my planer thicknesser, which is louder, especially when you're putting wood in. So I never think the dust extractor makes much difference on the volume if the machine you've got it plugged into is louder. So that's fine. Would I recommend it? Yeah, it's fine. It's a one-trick pony really. You switch it on, and it sucks up chips. Works fine. The power levels are fine for one machine. If you wanted to duct out your whole workshop, you need something bigger, but for a standalone one thing, it's great."
Andreas Kalt: "I've already used Bosch GAS 18V-10L for a couple of weeks, and one thing that is very handy to do is that you can put the hose on the holder and then secure it with the strap so that the hose actually is fairly well stored away. The same goes for the pipes. So basically, once you've got the shop vac in use, all the parts that come with it are being stored on the shop vac itself, which is fairly handy for something that is to be used in a mobile setting or in a shop site, a job site so that you really want to carry everything in one package and don't want to mess around with single parts. The shop vac itself is fairly straightforward. It's battery-powered of course, so we have the battery slot where you put in a regular 18 Volt Bosch battery just like you would expect it and you shut this close so that the battery is protected.
Then you have the on and off switch, and you have a display for the charging situation of the battery. So it will show you how much power you've got left. Basically, this is a cyclone and the dust comes in at the outer edge and then gets cyclone down. So it doesn't need a bag which is a good thing I think but at the same time, of course, not having a bag makes emptying it a bit of a hassle. Because once you empty it all the dust that was in the container has to go into a different container, and on the way there, it will usually spread out, it will be blown up by the wind and so on. So I recommend that you do this in the open air because it's really a fairly dusty business to empty this out.
Now what do I like about it? I wanted a shop vac that is mobile in the shop and around the house and that's exactly what it is. It's small enough so that you can easily carry it in places. You can put it in the corner of the shop. You can take it to a place where you're working where you need to shop that. Again around the house, it's also very handy. I have a couple of things to do around the house that I have wanted a vacuum cleaner for quite some time, like cleaning window sills or cleaning out pieces in the garden or the playhouse of the kids. Having a battery-powered shopvac for these cases is very, very handy. And I really like this. It's sturdy build quality.
You wouldn't worry about it tipping over or something. It's really fairly stable. It's very solidly built and I like about it that all the accessories can be stored on the shop vac itself, that I don't have to mess around with a box. So basically, the shop vac itself is the box. I also like that it's fairly cheap if you already are in the Bosch 18 Volts ecosystem. So if you have batteries and if you have a charger, then this is just above 100 euros. So it's a fairly good price for a vacuum cleaner like that. If you have to get it with batteries and chargers of course, then it gets much more expensive because the large batteries are fairly pricey, and the charger comes on top of that. But I'm already equipped with all the 18-volt stuff, so it was just a fairly good price for me.
Another thing that I like is that you also can use it for liquids. You can just use it and then open it up and let the filter dry again and that should be no problem. It has a swimmer inside, which switches the shop vac off if the liquids get too high. So it's a fairly versatile machine. So far, there hasn't been much of don't like except for one thing. The plastic parts of the shop vac and especially those pipes, seem to be made of non-anti-static plastic. So they're not anti-static, and they attract the dust like a magnet. If you put these somewhere in the shop where it's not spotlessly clean, they will attract all the fine dust that's there, and you can't really get it away, get it off this. And, of course, in a shop vac you want the dust inside, but you don't want it sticking to the surface of the shop vac itself.
So this would really be something that Bosch could improve: not to have the dust stick to the outside. It still gets sucked up, of course, but obviously, you cannot clean all the parts of the shop vac with the shop vac. So it will always be looking a bit dusty and therefore not so nice. But that's about the only gripe I have. So overall I'm fairly pleased with this addition to my shop. It's small and light. It's compact. It stores all the accessories, and it's fairly versatile in its use. It's fairly cheaply if you already are in the Bosch 18-volt ecosystem and I really enjoy using it."
