Darkroom handheld vacuum cleaner

[cyrus]

I am looking for recommendations for small, preferably handheld vacuum cleaners to be used in my darkroom. I don't want a 10 gallon shop vac! I had considered one of the "computer keyboard" vacuums but people say they don't have a lot of sucking power. Also, the dust-buster type handheld vacuums don't seem to come with a good soft brush. Ideally, I'd like something that has a hose on which I an put a brush accessory. Any suggestions? Right now I am tending towards a "hang up" 1 gallon shop vac. It just seems that some vacs put out more dust than they suck in!

[Henry Ambrose]

Either a HEPA filter or having the vacuum's exhaust outside of the room will help a lot. A shop vac with a "drywall" bag works well. They do make little ones at about 5 gallon capacity. A long hose to get the dirty air out of the room is a good idea. I vacuum mine then steam it up by running the hot water with the door closed.

[Drew Wiley]

Barbarism! How much dust do you want agitated in a darkroom from the exhaust air?
Put a HEPA vac with variable power outside the room with a connection tube between
and remote switching.

[Sal Santamaura]

Here's what I use:

http://solutions.3m.com/wps/portal/3M/en_WW/electronics/home/productsandservices/products/StaticControlSolutions/Products/?PC_7_RJH9U5230O8A602BK7QOMA20D0_nid=Q0RL8ZLMTDbeCGWHMSH7ZKgl

[Scott Walker]

Interesting subject, I know I have not put as much thought into cleaning my own darkroom as I should. I use an 8 gallon shop vac with hose extensions so the vac is out site of the room.

[cyrus]

I guess what I meant was a small vacuum that I can use to dust negs and lenses etc not to clean out the entire darkroom. The canned air solution seems to just blow the dust elsewhere -- I'd like to be able to pick it up.

[J D Clark]

I use a small, handheld vacuum for cleaning film holders. The one I have is powered by a plug rather than batteries -- the USB vacuums for computers are useless; usually underpowered, and I don't want to require that I always have a computer in the field.

Anyway, I most recently saw it on the auction site: search "Data-vac handheld."

I don't, however, use it for negatives or lenses, I use a soft brush.

John Clark
www.johndclark.com

[jp]

If you simply want to remove dust from the room, an air cleaner will do it easier than a vacuum. Either an electrostatic air cleaner (dust collecting blades) or a hepa air cleaner (filter and fan). That way if you blow the dust off your negative with compressed air, it will eventually make it's way to the air cleaner.

[Rick A]

I keep an air cleaner with hepa filter running continually in my darkroom. I also use a damp cloth to wipe everything once a week to keep dust down to a minimum. I've also run a grounding strap from my enlarger chassis even though its a grounded plug, seems to help to stop attracting dust. My wife gave me a Swiffer to wipe the floor, no dust stir-up from that.

[Drew Wiley]

If you are willing to spend a little extra money you can get precisely what you need.
Any cleanroom supplier can outfit you. Expect to pay about $500 for a real HEPA vac
with variable-power (important). Forget the toys they sell at Home Cheapo. A real
electrostatic air cleaner is also a must, along with an antistatic blowgun on a highly
filtered air line. I really don't know why people will spend a grand on some secondary
lens they rarely use but then skimp on important darkroom equipment.