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This unit is not for pros. Of course I read the instructions and closed all the bleed off valves to get maximum suction. Would work great for a very small area where you can sand slowly but when time is money look to a different unit. It is the first time I have owned one of these units myself. Compared to the home made or home made looking units the pros use with the large diameter hoses this thing is kind of sick.
I have seen this type of collection system used before. The hoses are far too small in diameter and can't collect enough air (and dust) to keep a dust free room for a fast sanding drywall pro. It only collected about 70 percent (at most) of the dust when I was sanding. To get a dust free room sand very, very, very slowly so not to disturb the small amount of suction at the sanding tool (again the hose is too small).
If your building a product used by the construction trades then make it out of construction grade materials and not the cheapest bucket you can find. This tool does reduce the amount of sanding dust. However, the lid is too flimsey and my vacuum litterally sucked it into the bucket. I will convert an empty 5 gallon paint bucket to replace this one. I had the air bleed almost all of the way open to reduce the pull of the lid but even the lid on a bucket of drywall compound or kitty litter is heavier than this weak thing.
After sanding half a room and getting dust everwhere throughout the house I bought the MT800 system. I give this a big 2 thumbs up. It worked exactly as advertised although if you had several rooms or a tight deadline you might consider some help.
That is, after sanding the room is thick with dust. When properly filled the inlet is just above the water. Apparently this keeps the bubbling down. I was impressed 5 years ago, and I am impressed today. Bottom line: This is the single most cost effective drywall sanding system I have seen for the occasional user and the diy-er. That's the one drawback: How do you dispose of a gallon of wet drywall mud. In fact, I used this for completely mudding a fairly large room, changed the water in the tank about 4 times, and never checked the shop vac until I was cleaning up (that's when I discovered the 1/2 inch of water in the bottom of the tank).For complainers about it clogging up: Read the directions. If you over fill the tank you WILL come to grief, and your hose WILL clog.
At the end of a day of sanding there will be 3 inches of drywall guck in the bottom of the tank. It isn't. Remember the 1/2 inch of water in the bottom of my vac. I just got it down for a room renovation.
By the way, the first time you use it it will look wrong. The orbit sander does overwhelm the system a bit. I bought this about 5 years ago, used it, and put it away. However, I have discovered that 80+% of the dust is going into the vacuum. However, note that I said you could sand all day without checking things. Please, however, use a wet/dry vacuum on it.
I expected the tube to be under water. I discovered it hooked up nicely to my random orbit sander (with a bit of tape) and I now have a super fast drywall sander. If you use this correctly the vacuum filter will not clog. My feeling is that it would drive a professional crazy after about a week, but then they can justify a $300 drywall vac. If you follow the directions this won't happen.
I should have heeded the warnings of other reviewers regarding the noise level of this device. No thank-you, I'd rather deal with the dust. It may be very effective at removing the dust, but I just can't deal with the noise. I suffer from tinnitus and when this thing began to scream, I thought I was going into orbit.
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