Thursday, October 3, 2024
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Say goodbye to drywall dust!

dustless sanding vac attachments

Drywall dust. Fine flour like powder that seems to effortlessly float everywhere.

Leaving a light white coating on any horizontal surface in the room. Not to mention the sneezing, itching eyes and stuffed nose that comes with sanding even smaller repairs. We build plastic rooms, cover furniture, tape over duct work and cover the floor all in an effort to keep the jobsite (and self) clean. Especially hard to manage in an occupied space.

What if there was an easier way to control the bulk of it?

If you could pay for a tool by reducing waste and saving time would you be interested? Well, if you have a shop vac, Hyde Tools may have just the product for you.
The Hyde Dust Free Vacuum Hand Sander Kit, (long enough name) is one product aimed at controlling dust from sanding drywall. Almost eliminating the fine airborne particles from getting in your lungs, covering furniture and working its way into electronics.

The kit includes a hand sander, 6 foot hose, and adapters/couplers that should allow you to mate it with any wet/dry vacuum system. It uses standard sanding screens that are quickly clamped due to its “EasyClamp” system. It comes with one sanding screen, but all big box stores and maybe your local paint purveyor carries the reversible screens in several grits.

Using the Sander Kit

Using the sander is easy, just hook it up to the vacuum, turn it on and sand away. There is a mild attempt to control the suction by adjusting two rotating pieces of plastic located by where the handle attaches to the hose. It does reduce the suction some, but on large/powerful vac systems you can literally stick the sander to the wall and it will stay there, even with two sections of hose dangling from it. Reducing the suction allows the sander to drag less and reduces the grooves left by the screen. The sander cuts through the mud quickly, so use a light touch and if you are lucky enough to have a vac with adjustable suction, turn it down.
This is where a festool extractor with adjustable vacuum power would be an advantage.

The couplers do an adequate job of adapting the sander to fit a variety of different hose sizes. Family Professional Painting carries additional adapter kits purchased from Big Box stores so as many power tools as possible can be hooked to the shop vac. You may find it to be a worthwhile additional investment. Also extra length of hose is handy for those foyer and high ceiling repairs.

Does it really work?

The tool is remarkable at collecting the dust from sanding. As you can see in the video, we sanded a small repair over a table and there was no dust on the surface when done. This has been the same result numerous times. Customers love the fact that we can come in, do repairs and virtually create no dust. Framed the right way, it can be a selling tool the separates you from the competition.

Hyde also offers a version of this sander that mounts at the end of a roller pole. We have been using both versions for a couple of years. Nobody grabs the pole version, unless they use it like a hand sander. It is awkward to use and in my opinion needs a narrow angle of attack to be effective. Granted, the suction from our shop vac creates drag that makes it difficult to use the pole version. If you have an adjustable suction shop vac, your results may vary and it would be worthwhile to try it.

Hyde Tools Dust Free Vacuum Hand Sander Pros and Cons

Pros:

  • Eliminates most (95%?) dust.
  • Inexpensive.(around $20 online)
  • Fast
  • Uses standard sanding screens
  • EasyClamp mounting system for screens
  • Easy to use. (hand version)
  • Customers love it.

Cons:

  • Needs better suction controls
  • Pole mounted version can be difficult to control.

Let us know what you use for dustless sanding!

2 thoughts on “Say goodbye to drywall dust!

  1. We use the Hyde sanders with great results. It does wear out your arms after sanding down a ceiling, but it is less painful than using a vacuum and a duster to clean a room for two hours.
    Thanks for posting.

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