condeesteso
Established Member
Macallister Wet & Dry take-off vac 1250W, £59.98 (B&Q barcode 5160518)
Found one of these by accident (impulse buy) about 10 months ago, and I needed a smaller extractor for the mitre saw and 1/4" router table. At that price it looked ideal.
It's quite solidly made, with a stainless main body and tough plastic mouldings.
Note it comes with 5 year guarantee, so for once keep the receipt!
It comes with the main cartridge filter, several bags and a wet foam filter. I have never used the bags or the wet filter - the cartridge is all you need and the chips and dust fall into the can.
It also has a good set of vac-type tools - tube, big head, crevice etc.
The main hose has a 35mm (O/D) termination on it, that happens to fit directly into my mitre saw outlet (Festool Kapex). I also use it on my 1/4" router hung under the mitre bench, with a shop-made extract line running to one side (plumbing pvc pipe). I had to insert a taper tube (came with my Record Power DX4000) for the hose to fit that (see pics) - so I can now just move the hose from the saw to the router, 5 seconds, done.
What is really good is the power take-off. I have a 2 way outlet attached, that supplies the saw and the router, so by switching either on, the vac starts and then runs about 10 seconds after machine is switched off.
Collection is good. I know by the amount I empty that it works. In the shots it looks dusty, but it hadn't been moved in months so I believe that is partly just ambient dust, even though I run a Jet particle filter too.
Performance on the router is really good, with virtually no chips falling under the table, I'd say a good 90%+ pick-up, as a guess - in fact virtually total collection and the flow-rate through the space in the fence is considerable. By the way, on that I note that my 3 routers all move air through them towards the cutter - i.e. the exhaust is onto the cutter. That means there is machine airflow upward to the cutter already, so the vac takes over from there. The point being that on the 1/4" I see no real need for under-table extraction.
Performance on the saw is good but not excellent. I am guessing about 70 - 75%. But I think dust collection off mitre saws is generally compromised as the take-up is well above the actual cut. I think the Festool design is good in this respect, but never going to be perfect.
I will soon be trying this vac on a 1/2" table with a 2Kw router, so we'll see how it fairs. I think it will be good, provided there is a clean flow from the fence (minimal turbulence etc).
Other use - the r/h switch on front over-rides the take-off and switches the machine on - so I can use the hose as normal, just like a vac.
I Imagine this machine is designed for hand power tools (perhaps mainly) and I'm sure it would be very useful if you have a smallish workshop with say a smaller bandsaw, a router, mitre saw and hand power tools (sanders etc).
SUMMARY: Very good indeed, at this price frankly outstanding. The take-off is a massive boon. No problems with it at all so far - robust, well-made and effective. No need for consumables but if you were taking more care re dust (mdf for example) then use one of the bags for extra filtering. And a 5 year warranty as reassurance anyway. Top marks from me, I would buy it again any day.
NOTE - B&Q only stock it in the bigger stores and not online. Phone first, and the barcode they find it with is above.
Found one of these by accident (impulse buy) about 10 months ago, and I needed a smaller extractor for the mitre saw and 1/4" router table. At that price it looked ideal.
It's quite solidly made, with a stainless main body and tough plastic mouldings.
Note it comes with 5 year guarantee, so for once keep the receipt!
It comes with the main cartridge filter, several bags and a wet foam filter. I have never used the bags or the wet filter - the cartridge is all you need and the chips and dust fall into the can.
It also has a good set of vac-type tools - tube, big head, crevice etc.
The main hose has a 35mm (O/D) termination on it, that happens to fit directly into my mitre saw outlet (Festool Kapex). I also use it on my 1/4" router hung under the mitre bench, with a shop-made extract line running to one side (plumbing pvc pipe). I had to insert a taper tube (came with my Record Power DX4000) for the hose to fit that (see pics) - so I can now just move the hose from the saw to the router, 5 seconds, done.
What is really good is the power take-off. I have a 2 way outlet attached, that supplies the saw and the router, so by switching either on, the vac starts and then runs about 10 seconds after machine is switched off.
Collection is good. I know by the amount I empty that it works. In the shots it looks dusty, but it hadn't been moved in months so I believe that is partly just ambient dust, even though I run a Jet particle filter too.
Performance on the router is really good, with virtually no chips falling under the table, I'd say a good 90%+ pick-up, as a guess - in fact virtually total collection and the flow-rate through the space in the fence is considerable. By the way, on that I note that my 3 routers all move air through them towards the cutter - i.e. the exhaust is onto the cutter. That means there is machine airflow upward to the cutter already, so the vac takes over from there. The point being that on the 1/4" I see no real need for under-table extraction.
Performance on the saw is good but not excellent. I am guessing about 70 - 75%. But I think dust collection off mitre saws is generally compromised as the take-up is well above the actual cut. I think the Festool design is good in this respect, but never going to be perfect.
I will soon be trying this vac on a 1/2" table with a 2Kw router, so we'll see how it fairs. I think it will be good, provided there is a clean flow from the fence (minimal turbulence etc).
Other use - the r/h switch on front over-rides the take-off and switches the machine on - so I can use the hose as normal, just like a vac.
I Imagine this machine is designed for hand power tools (perhaps mainly) and I'm sure it would be very useful if you have a smallish workshop with say a smaller bandsaw, a router, mitre saw and hand power tools (sanders etc).
SUMMARY: Very good indeed, at this price frankly outstanding. The take-off is a massive boon. No problems with it at all so far - robust, well-made and effective. No need for consumables but if you were taking more care re dust (mdf for example) then use one of the bags for extra filtering. And a 5 year warranty as reassurance anyway. Top marks from me, I would buy it again any day.
NOTE - B&Q only stock it in the bigger stores and not online. Phone first, and the barcode they find it with is above.
