Summary: SHOP VACS TESTED: Ridgid, Craftsman, Shop Vac, Bauer, DeWalt, Hart, and Stanley tested for horsepower, air speed, suction and noise level. Testing also included speed of vacuuming 5 gallons of water and 50 pounds of sand. Total water holding capacity also measured for each brand. Finally, each brand participated in a "grudge" match when the suction hoses were joined together.
How weird not to see Kärcher on the list. A German family enterprise that seems to have cornered the EU market for great quality at fair prices for shop vacuums for home and professional use. They are known to be always ugly but durable and able to take any beating.
You cannot put Karcher and quality in the same sentence. Had 3 of their pressure washers of different prices and they all had a premature death. Maybe their shop vacuums are fine, but pressure washers...
I’ve seen him include German tools and building hardware in other videos. I’ve never seen Kärcher in stores before. I see a ton of Bosch stuff around including things I own. Project Farm has done reviews with Bosch and Festool.
I wonder where he gets the money to buy all the stuff he reviews. It can't all be coming from Patreon. He also seems to live on, and maintain, a fairly large plot of farmland.
And I expect that he's near the top of those numbers, because his viewers are probably buying expensive tools based on his recommendations rather than an equivalent number of views watching a cartoon for kids or cute animals or something else difficult to market.
At close to a million views on many of his videos, and something like $0.01 per ad view, he's likely making on the order of $10k per video. Buying and destructively testing some shop vacs, hose clamps, or whatever is just part of that budget.
The reviews have gotten more in-depth and of more expensive items as he's gotten more popular over the years, which has likely given him the ability to do more frequent and expensive reviews.
On the farm part, there's a pretty funny video he has called (iirc) "Does Project Farm actually farm?"
I always wonder this with engineering channels. Where are these people getting thousands of pounds for each project? It must really cut into their earnings.
The problem with this guy's reviews is he's presenting it as a false choice. Here he does 6 mass-market vacuums that are all about the same price, design, and performance. He doesn't really review them on any useful basis, like how long it can run between filter changes, how much toxic dust they spew into the air, etc. This video is basically "which of these garbage vacuums will you regret buying the least?"
A useful review would give you an actual choice: what's the difference between a department store brand $100 vacuum, a $500 vacuum, and a $1000 vacuum?
> A useful review would give you an actual choice: what's the difference between a department store brand $100 vacuum, a $500 vacuum, and a $1000 vacuum?
Strongly disagree. He's reviewing vacuums that someone would actually use in their shop environment. Who the heck is going to risk dropping $1000 on a vacuum for use in a busy shop? I'd be paranoid that something would scratch it. Or never want to use it outside of the basic parameters it's designed for. Whereas with my $50 ShopVac, I have no fear of using it and it gets used all the time, and probably for things it's not meant for.
> Who the heck is going to risk dropping $1000 on a vacuum for use in a busy shop?
People who value not dying from silicosis, I guess. Obviously it depends on your use cases. Sawdust for example is not as dangerous, but you can still find various price points and performance of wood dust extractors.
Sure, but we're talking about shopvacs. Wood dust extractors are their own very different thing and usually come with a whole network of ducting around the shop. What's more, good wood and metal shop practice includes a real air purifier like from Grizzly or Jet (for cheap options) to cycle air through layers of filters. My metal shop has one, it cost $250. Wet/dry vacs are for cleaning up and maybe preventing a bit of spread at the source.
My new rule of thumb is, if I am using the shopvac, I am wearing a respirator and gloves, and taking a shower immediately after. Just too much shit goes a 'flyin, no matter what it seems you are vacuuming up.
Many woods are moderately to severely toxic. Plywood glues are probably not healthy to breathe. Most finishes are undoubtedly health-hazardous in micro/nano-particle size, when inhaled.
This, to me is the most important metric. And from a person who is allergic to absolutely nothing thank spaghetti, I’ve always noticed this aspect of vacuums
To the point where I make an effort to start my vacuum out the door when first starting it such that the initial blow of the fan blasts the dust captured within to the outside.
Most people don’t realize that many vacuums have a small filter for the escape air and they never clean or change that other filter
EDIT: I also, will never have a carpeted home. The reason is, once you have a fully hardwood home, you realize just how much actual detritus accumulates in even the most lightly traveled areas.
In the 1980s we bought a house in Tahoe, and it had 2" (TWO INCH LONG) shag carpet. and it was RAINBOW COLORED.
I wish I had a pic of it, but it was literally 2" long rainbow shag carpet that was a nightmare.
Carpets also trap food particles and drink spills, so there's likely a hard-to-remove layer of decaying food particles in the carpet, especially if there are kids in the house. With hardwood floors, a robot can run around and pick all that up.
I like carpets and the feel of soft flooring in lounging areas like bedrooms and living rooms. Also good for babies and toddlers to learn to crawl and walk on.
I do not understand the concept. I imagine this would be like walking on a leather sofa? If the goal is to make the leather floor soft, then I would think the same soft padding under carpets would be better than carpet itself.
>>>Folks, if you find yourself frustrated when you come to SH Frank, you might just be struggling with entitlement, and you may just be intolerant of different types of personalities. Larry is excellent at what he does, but he's super neurotic, and probably on the spectrum
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Larry is like larry david, but not funny. He is the neurotic jew Larry David wished he was....
Anyway, this guy is amazingly cool - but, and I am not joking, Walk into the shop with a wrinkled $100 bill in your hand. LITERALLY A $100 BILL
And flag it around asking about prices...
I swear this is how I bought all my leather from him and its kind of an art.
When I was trying to set up a woodworking space years ago the common wisdom was that the Ridgid was far and away your best bet for building a small scale dust collection system. It had the right balance of oomph (enough to run a dust separator if you were careful) operating hours, and ease of adapting hoses to tick the right boxes. It also notably has an exhaust hose, so you could route the microparticles outside instead of filtering them with your lungs.
Also used this beast and a couple chunks of conduit to clear a tricky gutter.
URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hSN7PXwn1yU
Summary: SHOP VACS TESTED: Ridgid, Craftsman, Shop Vac, Bauer, DeWalt, Hart, and Stanley tested for horsepower, air speed, suction and noise level. Testing also included speed of vacuuming 5 gallons of water and 50 pounds of sand. Total water holding capacity also measured for each brand. Finally, each brand participated in a "grudge" match when the suction hoses were joined together.