Shop roomba, for the shop

February 12, 2023 3:48 AM

I have decided a vacuum robot would be great for my workshop. I know nothing about them. But the little I do know is inside along with my criteria. Help me spend a buncha money on a robodoggy.

My first google showed me the Makita robot which seems to be everything I want excpet that it is absolutely giant to the extent of maybe not being useful. The space it is to be used in is a bit cramped and the floor has both unimportant rubbish and dust, but also, important things people have dropped like electronic components. I would like the following things:

separates dust from like nuts and components and things

is not bothered by, for example, sawdust or fine dust, isn't going to die fast

will return and charge itself, basically that I don't think about it

will only go between times I suggest

is safe to be left unattended, like in an empty building, will not go on fire

not as giant as the makita

Also any other things I need to know or features I amn't aware of but that you think are important, let me know!

posted by Iteki to Shopping (8 answers total)

I think that pretty much any quality robot vacuum will meet those criteria. If you don't mind shopping refurbished, iRobot has an eBay store and you can get a heck of a deal with double the warranty on a lot of their products.
posted by mezzanayne at 4:51 AM on February 12, 2023

separates dust from like nuts and components and things

I think this is an unrealistic expectation. I have never seen a vacuum cleaner of any kind that can suck up dust without also being able to suck up surface mount devices, small fasteners or those vital springs that go pinging across the shop and require you to spend the next four hours searching for them.
posted by flabdablet at 4:59 AM on February 12, 2023 [8 favorites]

Nothing is going to to be smart and detailed enough to sort your debris. You can put a magnet in the dirt bin to collect nuts and other ferrous items if it’s worth it to you.

Some environments work great for autovacs. They can get caught on cords and other low obstructions so make sure your cords and cables aren’t draped on the floor and you don’t have any 1” lumber lying around. Be there the first couple times you run it and you’ll see what needs attention. After that you can let it go unsupervised.

Otherwise almost any vac will do what you want. I’ve been happy with the price and performance of my Ecovacs, but I’m sure there are others just as good.
posted by Ookseer at 7:25 AM on February 12, 2023

I think the OP might be referring to a system like the Makita has, where incoming matter gets flicked upwards and the lighter stuff goes higher and gets sucked into an upper collection bin while the heavier stuff lands in a lower collection bin.

That said, I don't know how delicate such a system would be on things like electronic components.
posted by trig at 7:41 AM on February 12, 2023

Response by poster: Ok so we have "any robot will do it" and "no robot will do it" :) I'm specifically comparing to the Makita I mentioned in the post and that trig refers to in their post which is physically very large and doesn't have a home-to-charge function but otherwise is great (but over a grand).
posted by Iteki at 10:17 AM on February 12, 2023

That said, I don't know how delicate such a system would be on things like electronic components.

The components will survive (from a mechanical viewpoint), but whether they will land in the upper or lower bin is anyone's guess and depends VERY much on their size-to-weight ratio. Also, I would simply NOT reuse active components that have passed through any non-ESD-safe vacuum cleaner, and reusing passive components is only very rarely worth it.
posted by Stoneshop at 1:11 PM on February 12, 2023 [1 favorite]

I've had robot vaccums for years, and I think, like owning pets or buying crypto, it's a lifestyle choice, with lots of...compromises.

Just like your cat (or dog or crypto) will eat your ___, your robot needs accomondations:

* Rule 1: the floor must be clear of all objects (cords, lips, bags, shoes, rugs with tassles...) other than dust and dirt. Not "somewhat clear" but "perfectly clear".
* Rule 2: in spite of rule 1, the robot vaccum will find the one item you forgot about, and try to eat it / get stuck there. Note: "item" can include small things such as "1 cm height difference between floor and carpet" or "sunlight making part of the floor look brighter"
* Rule 3: If the item is pet vomit or a turd, you will have the pleasure of giving a deep re-analysis of your life choices.
* Rule 4: even if the floor is pristine, do not schedule your vaccum to run at night
* Rule 5: even if you did not ask for scheduled cleaning the robot may decide to run at night (Eufy 11s I'm watching you!)
* Rule 6: robot vacuums running at night will get stuck between the hours of 3 and 4am (see rules 2 - 5) and will beep beep beep until rescued (unless the vomit/turd/ 10 penny nail shorts out the battery).
posted by soylent00FF00 at 4:55 PM on February 12, 2023 [3 favorites]

A long time ago, when I got my first Roomba-brand vac, it came in a bundle with a "Dirt Dog" which was basically the same thing except it has no vacuum fan on it. It is only a sweeper and flicks the stuff into the collection bin. The roller is more of a bristle brush than on the vacuums.

I used it in the garage, but because it doesn't have the vacuum, it also doesn't do any filtering, and it kicked fine dust up everywhere so I stopped using it. In a workshop with some air recirculation and filtering that probably wouldn't be as much of an issue.
posted by ArgentCorvid at 12:55 PM on February 14, 2023