TURN ANY BRAND OF SANDER INTO A DIY DUSTLESS SANDER FOR UNDER $15! | QUICK TIP TUESDAY + VIDEO TUTORIAL
Hi creative friends! Cathleen left a question on the #siblog asking if I could share how I created my DIY Dustless Sander for under $15! So today is all about dust-free sanding because let’s face it, who likes to spend time cleaning, right? Here’s a cheap way to eliminate dust and keep your lungs healthy by turning ANY BRAND OF SANDER into a Dustless Sander for between ten and fifteen dollars. I can’t wait to hear what you think of this idea…
YOUTUBE TUTORIAL
Here’s a 3 minute step-by-step on Youtube. If you have any problems viewing below, feel free to watch it on my Youtube Channel here… and don’t forget to subscribe! I can’t believe the channel has almost 10K Subs! Woot woot, thank YOU! 🙂
THIS POST IS SPONSORED/CONTAINS AFFILIATE LINKS TO PRODUCTS I USE. YOU CAN SEE MY FULL DISCLOSURE HERE.
SOURCE LIST
Vacuum Adaptor (measure for YOUR vacuum)
Shop Vacuum
Dewalt Orbital Sander
DIY Dustless Sander For Under $15
Years back I rigged up my Ryobi Corner Cat with this easy and inexpensive gadget and I can’t even begin to tell you what a difference it’s made! Since then I’ve used it on my DeWalt Orbital Sander, a Skil sander along with a few other brands. This solution can be used on ANY BRAND SANDER you currently own or decide to buy.
It’s super simple to do and only takes a few minutes to set it up once you purchase the part. Here’s how…
1. You’ll need a dry or wet shop vac or vacuum cleaner. I use this Husky Shop-vac from Home Depot. Tip -If you’re going to use your household vacuum cleaner, make sure you clean it regularly and have extra filters on hand. The fine dust can block it up quickly.
2. You’ll also need an inexpensive (under $15) plastic or rubber adapter and hose clamp which can be purchased at any hardware store in the vacuum attachment isle or online here. To be honest, I didn’t even use the hose clamp. It was just an extra step to remove when I wanted to swap sanders and I find so long as the adapter fits snug, there’s no need to clamp it.
Tip- Measure the diameter of the blower exhaust on your sander and the hose on your vacuum before purchasing so you get the right size.
3. Loosely place the hose clamp around the sander’s blower exhaust. Insert one end of the adapter to the exhaust on your sander. Insert the other end of the adapter into the hose on your vacuum. To secure the attachment, tighten the clamp. See how I attach the adaptor without the clamp here.
Again the clamp is optional.
4. Turn the sander and vacuum “ON” and sand away! The wood dust gets sucked from your sander directly into the vacuum! No more heavy cleanup or heavy lungs! Amazing!
There are a lot of popular high-priced sanders on the market now. Festool and Surfprep to name a few. These sell for upwards of $350-$650 and from what I hear they are fabulous but I haven’t made the investment. That’s not to say I won’t in the future, but I’ve been using this DIY Dustless Sanding System for SO many years now — I find it works amazing!
I hope it helps YOU cut down on sanding dust and saves you some $$$ too! 🙂
A big thanks to Cathleen for leaving the question and idea for this QTT post. If you have any questions or ideas for a QTT or makeover, I’d love to hear them in the comments below.
Also, there was such a great response to last week’s Belles And Whistles Giveaway. Thank you to each and every one of you who participated… you guys are a lot of fun!
THE LUCKY WINNER OF THE FURNITURE TRANSFER GIVEAWAY IS…
SUSAN
THE WINNER HAS BEEN EMAILED. PLEASE REPLY BACK AND/OR CONTACT ME VIA MY CONTACT PAGE WITHIN 48 HOURS TO CLAIM YOUR GIVEAWAY PACKAGE!
Thanks again to everyone for joining in on the fun!
For next week’s Labour Day weekend, I’ll be taking an extra day of R&R and posting here on Wednesday rather than Tuesday. I have a fabulous hallway table I’ll be refinishing and I can’t wait to see you back here then! 🙂
LET ME KNOW WHAT YOU THINK OF THIS DIY DUSTLESS SANDING SYSTEM OR FEEL FREE TO ASK ANY QUESTIONS YOU MAY HAVE… I ALWAYS LOVE HEARING FROM YOU. IT MAKES MY DAY! 🙂
Happy furniture painting and sanding my friends!
Denise x
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This is genius! Thanks for the video, it’s a game changer.
Oh good, I’m so glad you find it helpful! 🙂
Me Too! Painting furniture in the winter effectively removed options to sand down top to stain. Otherwise, wheeling a piece onto the deck in the freezing cold and snow . . . I did it but that’s me being desperate. My sander and vacuum hose diameters are size on size. I’m using a palm sander with a detail vacuum, not a shop vac. I found my solution: a small rubber (pipe) sleeve with clamp for $9.00 on Amazon.
Brilliant… and SOOOO much better, right!?! 🙂
I can’t tell you how excited I was when I saw this post. Thank you so much Denise for taking the time to answer my question. I feel so special. I can’t wait to convert my sander! Your blog is named perfectly such an inspiration. Thank you.
Hi Cathleen! Thanks for inspiring ME to create the post + video! Great idea and I hope it’s helpful. 🙂
As a woodworker, another thing to consider, when sanding indoors w/o a vacuum is your electrical outlets.
The sawdust gets everywhere and finds a way to get into your electrical outlets.
I learned about this the hard way.
I was in a Woodworking class at a high school a few years back and the Dust Collection Vacuum System they had in there was not able to keep up with the amount of dust created with 4 classes a day 5 days a week.
The instructor was not cleaning out the vacuum system as recommended, so sawdust was everywhere including the outlets.
A student plugged in a power tool one day and the combination of sawdust and electricity set the workshop on fire.
School was evacuated and about 75% of the shop went up in flames. No one was hurt, but most of the tools and lumber was lost.
They rebuilt the woodworking shop, put in a better Dust Collection Vacuum System and the instructor bought those BABY PROOF plugs to cover all of the outlets in order to keep out the dust.
Who knew that a small plastic bit that cost maybe a quarter can save your woodworking shop.
I use them in MY workshop even though I do use a vacuum attached to my saws and sanders.
Better safe than sorry.
Hi Annod… omgosh, thank goodness no one was hurt! I found the safety plug covers here for anyone who might be interested. Thanks for the great tip!
For a more temporary fix, just cover outlets with painter’s tape. Keeps me from breaking fingernails trying to get those plastic covers off.
love this tip! TY
Great idea and a must try! Thanks for all you do and share!
Thanks Nicki! XOXO
I dread sanding so much and try to do it outside when possible. This is a fantastic tip! Thank you so much, Denise!
My pleasure! I hope it makes your sanding a little easier. 🙂
Great idea, Denise! That adapter is now on my shopping list (along with the measurements!). Thanks,
It’s a game-changer Char! Feel free to let me know how it all works for you. 🙂
I’ve only used my shop vac for removing water. It has a woven poly filter that rubber bands over the end of the hose and gets hand-washed as needed. Do I remove it for DIY-dustless-sander use?
Hi Cynthia! Yes, you would remove the hose filter.
I am using duct tape and it’s a mess! So delighted to learn about the clamp:) Thanks!!
The clamp is super cheap and works great. But because I used to swap sanders a lot, I got lazy hehe
Thank you for this! I’m going to try it. I am still concerned that my shopvac always blows out a ton of dust itself. Does this happen with yours? If not, what brand/model shopvac do you have?
Hi Vicki! I have a Husky Shop-Vac (from Home Depot) it works really well.
Thankyou!!
My pleasure. Have a super day Teresa! x
Hi Denise. What a great tip for sanding. I had no idea a sander could be hooked up to a vacuum. Great idea.
It’s so easy and it’s been a game changer. Hope it helps! XOXO