Mak the Vac – My shop’s new Best Friend | Makita 36-volt Robotic Vacuum
This post is part of a paid partnership with the Home Depot and contains affiliate links.
Let me tell you about my robotic vacuum. My shop used to be dirty, like straight-up filthy. I swept, I vacuumed, I even got out the shop leaf blower. The problem wasn’t my shop, it was me. We’ve all been there. You make all the progress you can for the day,
And now its time to clean your shop,
but wait…
you could have a beer instead…
but you need a shower…
a shower beer it is then,
wait, wasn’t I supposed to clean my shop?
I’ll do that later.
Alas, later never comes. That’s tomorrow you’s problem.
Even if you are one of the dust-free neat freaks amongst us, you clean your shop maybe between projects…MAYBE. So you’re shuffling through all that sawdust, getting it in your lungs, on your clothes, tracking it into the house, brushing it off tables onto the floor, you might even ding some of your projects with the chips from other parts of the process, or god forbid you are working with MDF (That stuff gets EVERYWHERE.)
Yuck! 
All of that stuff would’ve ended up in your lungs.
What you need is a friend, and let me introduce you to my friend Mak. He is an industrial-strength 36-volt robot vacuum from Makita, and he is my new favorite tool.
At the end of my days, I used to go through the exact same internal dilemma that you are remembering right now. Do I clean now, or later, or never I suppose a 3-inch thick layer of sawdust is better on your back than concrete? I suppose. But recently in an effort to force myself to strive towards a cleaner shop, I installed SwissTrax flooring from ManCave flooring to make myself keep my shop floor clean. The grates hide a little bit of sawdust but highlight the rest of it. My solution to this was to vacuum more often, but I hate vacuuming. I looked into some of the robot vacuums on the market and they just didn’t have the hootspa I needed for cleaning a shop.
Then I found Mak (The Makita 36-Volt Robotic Vacuum) and it was love at first sight. 36-volts of power from Makita batteries which I already had a bunch of and super quick charge. Mak has rubber wheels with good floor clearance and brushes to help eat up all those larger chunks.
The Makita robot vacuum was originally designed to clean warehouses and larger open spaces so it also forces me to keep the clutter off my floors. The Makita robot vacuum also comes with a roll of reflective tape you can lay down to cordon off areas you don’t want him to go. He’s not exactly a smart vac, he doesn’t come with a home base charging station. He basically just vacuums either in rows or in a random pattern and changes direction whenever he bumps into something or detects a large object.
Roomba would run circles around Mak in every category accept power and capacity, and that is what you need in a workshop. He picks up nails, screws, sawdust, shavings, whatever.
I do hope in a future version of the Makita 36-volt vacuum they include a charging station and a few additional proximity sensors. Mak is the king of cleaning my shop. Its a little pricey, but if you want to stay safe, healthy, and productive in your shop, its a price worth paying.
KEEP YOUR TOOLS SHARP, AND KEEP YOUR MIND SHARPER
RICK
I acknowledge that The Home Depot is partnering with me to participate in the promotional program described above (the “Program”). As a part of the Program, I am receiving compensation in the form of products and services, for the purpose of promoting The Home Depot. All expressed opinions and experiences are my own words. My post complies with the Word Of Mouth Marketing Association (WOMMA) Ethics Code and applicable Federal Trade Commission guidelines.
