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Milwaukee Backpack vac


method

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Just wondering if anyone has this vac and has used it while connected to any tools as a form of dust extraction? I know the CFM output is quite low and the bin is small compared to other cordless dust extractors but occasionally I would like to connect this up to sanders, mitre saw etc when doing small projects. Any feedback would be great!

 

meth 

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You don't need much CFM with sanders, so it will probably work just fine for that.  Miter saws are a whole different discussion, just because the DC is so bad on most, that you need tons of air moving to suck in the dust.

 

I really want to like the backpack blower, but the low CFM, combined with the fact that a number of ad-hoc reviews say that the filter clogs pretty quickly with finer dust is really making me think that I'm going to pass.  If I were on FlexVolt, the new Dewalt cordless vac looks very nice.

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Thanks for the input, if it clogs easily with fine dust it's enough to make me wait for flexvolt. I hadn't seen any reviews showing that. The only issue with flexvolt is that it doesn't seem as portable and flexvolt take forever to release things here in Australia. If the Milwaukee was around $3-350 I would get it but at $460 for the bare tool it seems expensive for little power. Might have to wait for a promo!

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5 hours ago, regopit said:

This vac is more for job site clean up and also has a hepa filter. If you are not doing lead dust clean up and are going to use it mainly for dust extraction you can get something for less money.

I was hoping that this vac would be good for DC when doing smallish but messy jobs around the house where I don’t want to have to haul out the shop vac (cutting drywall and sanding mostly).  But if it is going to clog with fine dust, I’m going to keep hauling out my big vac or maybe I’ll Consider buying into flexvolt, since it has auto filter cleaning. 

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I went and bought one today, will see how it goes. I think everything will clog with drywall dust, regardless of anything unless you use a high efficiency bag, all filters will clog. I even made a cyclone separator using an old dyson vacuum and the little holes around the main root cyclones would clog with drywall dust. It obviously is better than nothing but still clogs. When I used a high efficiency bag in my shop vac and dry wall sanded, it never clogged. I'd just open the vac and give the bag a tap every now and then. The hepa filter and bin were always spotless.

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I used it earlier this evening to clean out the garage. My box had no manual in it but everything was straight forward to put together. 

 

I grabbed the nearest milwaukee battery which was a 1.5ah battery and got about 5 minutes run time. Being too lazy to get my 9.0 out of my car I slapped on a dewalt 9.0 and with the battery adapter it sat maybe 5mm below the bottom of the vac, which wasn't really a problem because it still balanced fine on the floor and i had it as a backpack the whole time anyhow. The 6.0 dewalt with an adapter sits inside the housing (Pictures below). The difference in suction between the dewalt 9.0 and the old milwaukee 1.5 was huge. I'd imagine that the difference in power with the 9.0 dewalt or 9.0 milwaukee would be the same or not even noticeable. 

 

Suction wise it's similar to a cordless dyson on low and high, it feels more powerful than my cordless dyson but obviously not as powerful as a corded vacuum which I doubt anyone would expect it to be. I didn't use it as a dust extractor, I don't expect heaps from it either as it isn't sold as a dust extractor but I believe it would do a good enough job for most applications with a high capacity battery. I do see this being a very convenient tool around home and at work and would highly recommend it.

 

What I liked:

- The obvious, no annoying cords

- Not having to carry or drag it around

- Extremely quiet

- Great suction, more than enough for a vacuum on site or around your shop. With the crevice tool it even sucked up 75mm nails.

- Easy to empty and clean filters

- Run time with the dewalt 9.0 was more than adequate

- The way the hose attaches (via hook) to the vacuum and backpack strap when in use

- The swivel joint

- The hose being retractable 

- The hose fitting onto a ducted vacuum standard hose for if you wish to leave the vac in a fixed position 

- The battery location stops it from being top heavy, it's very well balanced

 

What I dislike:

- Should have a on/off switch at the top of the vacuum as well as on the bottom

- The elastic cords for the attachments should have been velcro, I think they would last much longer although with the use it will get from myself they will probably last forever

- No soft brush attachment for doing skirting etc

- Optional wheels would have been great if you're not wearing it on your back

- The use if non standard hose connections making you have to use adapters or plumbqwiks (seems everyone copies dyson with this now)

- Would have been great to be able to pull out the hanging hook while the backpack is attached for hanging the whole thing when not in use. 

- My biggest hate of all, the handle is really not ergonomic. There is no bend in the pipe so you're wrist is angled awkwardly downwards which is extremely annoying and uncomfortable.

 

 

 

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It doesn't separate fine dust very well. I vacuumed the filter of my cordless orbital sander and the hepa filter was clogged with all of the fine dust from the filter in the vac. It just doesn't have the power to draw the fine dust downwards into the bin. This is where dyson cyclones work well, fine dust is better trapped with additional cyclones above the main bin without needing extra power yet it still clogs, just not as quickly.

 

I think dust extractors need bags to be more efficient, or have to be just that, a dust extractor. It is a shame the Milwaukee needs more power as I think you could then have decent run time using it as a dust extractor without having to clean the hepa filter as quickly. 

 

As a vacuum it is excellent for around the job,  the shop, car, truck and machine etc.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I used the vac today as a dust extractor with my circular saw. I was actually surprised at how well it worked. I was ripping 60mm thick Jarrah railway sleepers which I had band sawed in half (original thickness 120mm). The sawdust is literally like powder, cement like dust when I cut these.  I attached the milwaukee vac with a pressure pipe sleeve, it fits very snug around the dewalt adaptor and perfectly inside the milwaukee hose.

 

You can see how much dust it caught from 1 rip 2.7m long and if you need adapters, these only cost a few dollars from any hardware store. The filter was after two cuts, so 5.4m and hadn't been cleaned prior to using it for the cuts.

 

 

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Edited by method
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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 3 weeks later...

I'm restoring some windows and used the vac as a dust collector firstly on my Metabo ls724, then the milwaukee cordless RO and then my Bosch GOP300. After completely stripping back the window to bare timber the hepa filter was clogged, but the vac still sucked quite well. I thought I'd pick up a dyson cinetic today and use it as a separator in line with the vac. Just test fit it all now and will post results for those interested in the next few days. Need to make a support of some kind for the bin though as the inlet is at the bottom.

 

 

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10 hours ago, method said:

I'm restoring some windows and used the vac as a dust collector firstly on my Metabo ls724, then the milwaukee cordless RO and then my Bosch GOP300. After completely stripping back the window to bare timber the hepa filter was clogged, but the vac still sucked quite well. I thought I'd pick up a dyson cinetic today and use it as a separator in line with the vac. Just test fit it all now and will post results for those interested in the next few days. Need to make a support of some kind for the bin though as the inlet is at the bottom.

 

 

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This is interesting - I'm eager to see how it performs and how much will get sucked out into the cyclones and out of your filter.  Question though, doesn't the dyson canister have to be vertical for it to work?

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The dyson bin is mounted on maybe a 30-40 degree angle on the vac. I want mine to be upright so I quickly slapped together a little stand for it before to test it out. I also didn't want to damage the vac in case I ever want to use it so I taped the swivel from the dyson hose to the adapter which fits snug into the inlet of the cyclone at the bottom. This also allows you to use the dyson attachments, none are powered like on my small cordless dyson but the milwaukee has enough flow to make them spin, not that I'll use any of them though. 

 

I gave the milwaukee a good clean with the compressor to see if there was any loss of suction before the cyclone and after and to be honest there may be a tiny bit (by sound) unless it's muffled through the cyclone and extra hose length but by feel I don't notice it. I vacuumed up all the dust from the jigsaw and not one spec ended up in the Milwaukee vac, or filter. I'll test it with sanding in the next few days and one day in my spare time (dreams) I'll make a nice trolley for the two to sit in and a proper mount for the cyclone. I have good intentions at least 😄 

 

I know the inlet hose is small and I know the bin is small but my aim is to get the super fine dust when sanding, cutting etc. The bin holds a heap of sanding dust, enough to get a lot done before having to empty it. Obviously for ripping and planing the bin is too small but there isn't much fines so I could probably bypass the cyclone all together. The good thing is it's easy to use with any vac or dust extractor and making a large bin for it or sitting it on a bucket will be super easy compared to my first dyson dc01 cyclone I made because of the inlet location. The fines seem to go into the main bin and not the center of the vac eliminating the need to have the inner cone sealed off when on a large bin.

 

 

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I bought a shroud and ceramic grinding pad to test grind some pavers and thought I'd give it a go. Worked very well! No dust ended up in the bin of the milwaukee and the hepa filter was as clean as before I started grinding. Tapping it released no dust. You can see in the dyson bin how much grinding dust it collected. 

 

 

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