I build mostly 1/48 aircraft in a spare room in the house, and between sanding putty and cutting styrene there is a fine dust layer on everything by the end of a build session. I have been thinking about a self-empty robot vacuum for that room, and the one I keep coming across is the Shark AV2501AE, but I am not sure it is the right tool for this mess. My worry is the dust itself: sanding dust is finer and stickier than normal house dirt, and I do not want it clogging a brushroll or getting pushed around instead of picked up. There is also the question of small parts and dropped photo-etch on the floor, which a vacuum could swallow or scatter. I have no experience with robot vacuums at all, so I am going off what I have read online. For those who keep a vacuum in or near their workspace, does a self-empty model actually handle fine sanding dust, or am I better off with a shop vac and a broom?
Update after reading more - Shark AV2501AE AI Ultra Robot Vacuum Review came up on the self-empty bin setup. Still unsure whether fine sanding dust would just clog the brushroll, so I may keep the shop vac for heavy sessions.
Hi Christopher. We’ve had a Shark model similar to the one you listed for about 3 years. It cleans our downstairs floors (my model shop area is upstairs where the robot does not go). I can confirm that it will pick up fine dust such as from sanding with no problem: These systems typically have hepa filtration that does not get clogged as long as you empty out the dust box and fine filter on a reasonable interval, like once every 2 weeks. I think the main questions you need to ask yourself are: Am I OK that any model or PE parts which I may have dropped on the floor and couldn’t find after a thorough search may be gone forever after the robot does it’s cleaning cycle?
In my case I would say “yes”, because when I drop a part I give myself no more than 10 minutes to find it. If I can’t find it after 10 minutes I accept the loss and move on (ie. decide to live without it or scratch-build a replacement) . Is spending in the region of $500 on a robot vacuum going to be a better use of funds for my hobby enjoyment than just using a broom or a standard vacuum cleaner on the floor in my hobby area?
I clean my hobby table surfaces frequently (robots can’t do that part yet), but I only clean the floor about once a month using a normal vacuum cleaner that I already own, and that takes me maybe 15 minutes. I think I would rather spend the $500 on model-making tools & building supplies
