Your shop-vac may not be the most efficient dust collector, but you can turn it into a two-stage dust-collection system with the Mini Cyclone Separator from Woodstock International. You’ll change the bag or clean the filter less often, because larger chips will drop out into the attached five-gallon bucket.

Woodstock molds their Mini Cyclone Separator from ABS. It sits on top of a standard five-gallon bucket, where it accepts two 2-1/2″ hoses. To empty the bucket, simply lift off the separator.

Look to pay anywhere from $17 to $24 for the Mini Cyclone Separator. You’ll have to supply your own five-gallon pail. If you have 2-1/4″ hoses, you can get a reducer for about $5.

Mini Cyclone Separator [Woodstock International]
Street Pricing [Google Products]
Via Amazon(B0000223XZ) [What’s This?]

Our illustrious leader Chuck Cage wrote about his hands-on experience with the iRobot Dirt Dog back in December 2006 — yet how many of us are still working in a shop with a dirty floor? Both my hands are up. Now Fry’s is selling the Dirt Dog for just $100, so there’s no excuse for a dirty floor. iRobot designed the Dirt Dog for workshops and basements, with specially designed counter-rotating brushes that spin at almost 1,000 RPM to pick up dirt and debris that clings to rough surfaces. The Dirt Dog comes with a 14.4V rechargeable NiMH battery and a power supply.

Dirt Dog [iRobot]
Dirt Dog [Fry’s]
Street Pricing [Google Products]

I’ll admit that most of what I know about chimney sweeping I learned from Dick Van Dyke in Mary Poppins. Dick wielded a series of flexible rods and brushes, the basic tools of the chimneysweep’s trade. Though these basic tools are still in use today, they can’t always handle modern fireplaces, with their smaller chimneys and sharper bends. Tools like the Viper GFX exist to deal with these modern chimneys.

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Sanding drywall has got to rank up there as one of the messiest construction jobs. Even if you’re only sanding a small patch, you create a dust cloud that eventually leaves a layer of dust on everything in the area. Now USG sells Sheetrock lightweight joint compound with dust control. Sanding the dust-control joint compound creates “heavy dust” that falls straight to the floor. It stays put and doesn’t enter the air. Our only question is: why the hell didn’t somebody think of this sooner?!

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Nick’s post and the discussion on the scratching capabilities of Scotch-Brite pads made me think of what I use for scratch removal. Novus has been making polish for acrylics for over 25 years — their three-part system can handle almost all but the most severe scratches. I’ve used it to polish museum display cases, and even some glass, with excellent results.

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I wish most trades people would carry this tool in their kit — cleaning up the aftermath never seems be part of the job or in the quote. Toolup is selling this DeWalt heavy-duty, 18V, cordless, wet/dry, portable vacuum for $130.

This wet and dry vacuum is a lightweight at 7.4 lbs, and with a 1/2 gallon tank it won’t require constant emptying. The dual clean-up feature allows use of either the front nozzle or an extendable rubber hose.

The washable HEPA filter traps dust as tiny as 0.3 microns, so it’s good for most job functions. The vacuum runs on an 18V DeWalt battery with a one hour charge time. And the best part: you can clean up as you work.

Wet/Dry Vac [DeWalt]
DeWalt DC515K [Toolup]
Street Pricing [Google Products]

As as strange as it sounds, ScrapeRite manufactures plastic razor blades. Why on earth would you want a plastic razor blade? Designed for the automotive detailing industry, these blades can remove most stuck-on paints, adhesives, or other muck without damaging the surface like harder steel razor blades.

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Ridgid Tools starts the year off with an interesting promotion for cleaning your pipes — a “buy one, get one” deal with products at multiple price points. At the bottom end, when you buy a sink machine for around $300, you get a free toilet auger with a street price of around $50. If you’re in the trade, you might want to invest in some of the pricier items — buy a $4,000 water jetter and you get a free SeeSnake micro inspection camera, with a street price of around $200. With so many choices, your pipes will gleam in 2008.

2008 Spring Fling Drain Cleaning Promo [Ridgid]

You have to replace shop vacuum bags frequently to keep the vacuum working at peak efficiency. And different tasks require different filters, e.g. a paper filter for drywall dust and a foam filter for cleaning up after a leaky drain. CleanStream offers a reusable shop vacuum filter that can be used wet or dry. You can remove dirt and dust with a few firm taps on a hard surface (outside!), or you can clean it more thoroughly by rinsing the filter out under the tap.

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Whenever you wash your car, truck, or motorcycle, you’re taking a chance at damaging its finish. Some of the dirt washed off the vehicle inevitably ends up in the bottom of the bucket just waiting to scratch your paint. The Grit Guard keeps your wash mitt or brush grit-free by allowing dirt to settle to the bottom while the mitt stays elevated.

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“Always keep your knives sharp and your files clean.”  I added that last bit, but regardless of who says it, it still holds true. A clean file cuts faster, saving time and frustration. To keep your files in top working order, you need to get your hands on a file card like this one from Woodstock International.

This particular file card sports polypropylene bristles on one side for cleaning rasps and removing dirt and rust from files.  Stiff metal bristles on the flip side will remove embedded filings.

You shouldn’t have to pay much more than $6 for this or any file card.

File Card [Woodstock International]
Street Pricing [Google Products]
Via Amazon [What’s This?]

With twenty bucks and some elbow grease, you can turn your litter-strewn, sticky-countered, beer-stained place back into the gleaming pad you had (or wished you had) before your New Year’s party. And you can do it with completely eco-friendly cleaners made from natural, nice-smelling ingredients like almond and cherry oils (dishwashing liquid), lemon oil (hard surface cleaner), coconut-based soap with vinegar (glass and mirror cleaner), and cedar oil with citric acid (toilet cleaner).

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You want to protect the things you love — your family, your pets, your tools – but with all the folk remedies swirling around the mythosphere, who’s to know what works best? For cleaning and lubricating metal tools like saw blades and router bits, folks over at the Ridgid forum have discussed using Simple Green All-Purpose cleaner (an alkaline water-based cleaner with a 9.4 pH), carnauba wax (mainly acidic, found in cosmetics and Altoids), oven cleaner (a soap-forming caustic base), apple cider vinegar (which, according to enthusiasts, helps remove “body sludge toxins”), washing soda (a potent base with a pH of 11), and even coffee (acidic with a pH around 5, unless you’re French).

Then there’s Empire’s Complete Tool Saver System. It includes a surface cleaner/degreaser, a water-based pitch resin remover, and three types of lubricants: one for router bits that reduces heat and friction, one for moving parts, and one for saw blades. This collection is supposed to replace and best all the folk remedies, for about twenty bucks.

So what do you prefer: a pre-packed kit like the one pictured above, or home chemistry experiments? Let us know in comments.

Manufacturer’s Website
Via Amazon [What’s This?]

While they can indeed clog up (as we demonstrated), Dyson’s line of vacuums are definitely has the coolest looking ones on the market today. They’re also among the priciest.  However, the Root 6 is available at Linens N’ Things for $120 right now. Just enter the code “NOV2907″ to get the 20% discount. 

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If you’re like me, you’ve probably let the windows on your house get pretty nasty. Why not get out and make ‘em sparkle? I found a short list of the right equipment for the job — and how to use it — over at CleanersRegister.com. And if you’re too lazy to clean your own windows, you can always just plug your zip code into the header above the list linked below, and CleanersRegister will help you find someone to do it for you.

Either way — project done!

(Thanks, BobMacInnes, for the great cc-licensed photo.)

Window Cleaning [CleanersRegister.com]

To help prevent a foggy view, slap some Cat Crap — no, we’re not kidding – onto your goggles or other fog-prone surfaces such as scopes and face shields. Cat Crap, an all-in-one cleaner and anti-fog treatment, is claims to be safe for all lenses. And with winter on the way, maybe now’s a good time to try this stuff out — especially if you plan on hunting, skiing, or doing some work in the garage.

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Believe it or not, your dust collection system doesn’t have to sound like a 747 taking off every time you fire it up. The Supressor dust collection muffler won’t reduce the noise to a quiet whisper, but it can help reduce it to a more bearable level. Penn State Industries claims the Suppressor can reduce up to 50% of the noise from a typical dust collector.

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