Summary

Tired of cleaning out the Shop Vac filters?

This is something like the Cyclone separators used to catch the big stuff before it ruins your Shop Vac filter. This worked good enough that I thought it should be here on Thingiverse.

Fits the standard Shop Vac hose connectors at 58mm. Mine were pretty snug. Only one 5 gallon bucket in the picture but I'll be adding a second one inverted with the bottoms cut out and taped together to increase capacity to about 7 gallons. That should get me through the big jobs on the Planer.

Instructions

PARTS
3 printed parts from stl's on this page.
Eight #8-32 Machine Screws, 3/4 inch or so.
Four #8-32 nuts
One or Two 5 gallon buckets with lids. Or any 5+ gal bucket with a lid that you may have around.

ASSEMBLY

Arrange printed parts upside down on the lid and mark the inside of the holes onto the lid. Then cut out holes for the Intake and ToVac parts to drop through the lid.
Drill holes in lid for #8 machine using the parts as a guide.
Mount Intake with screws and nuts.
Mount ToVac to Baffle using 1/2 - 1 inch.#8 Machine screws. Be sure to align the baffle so that the closed off portion is facing the intake. This will prevent the chips from being sucked through to the Vac.

Optionally, caulk all the connections to stop air leaks.
Optionally, add another bucket to the bottom to increase capacity. The single bucket loses efficiency when about half full due to turbulence from the intake.

Tip: I've been using the air pressure to hold the lid down during operation so that I don't have to pry it loose when done to empty it. But my intake hose is currently smaller than the one to my Vac so that may not work if the hoses are the same size.

Shop Vac Chip Catcher/Separator

Shop Vac Chip Catcher/Separator

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