I am looking for some input on the Festool dust extractor. I saw a recent demo and I was impressed with how will it worked. Seemed to capture all of the dust and the sander worked well in the demo. I looked at the tool review and they rated the Bosh sander with a shop vac higher than the Festool at less than half the price. I have also looked at the Festool owners group, and everyone there seems to love it, however, they seem to love all things Festool. I am still thinking about the Festool because it seems a lot quieter than my shop vac, and it works with the entire line of sanders. The draw back is of course once you start down that road you are kinda suck buying Festool and they are pricy. My question is do any of my fellow knotheads use the Festool dust extractors, how do you like them and how do they work compared to your previous systems. On another note does anyone hook up hand sanders to the duct collectors? Would that work better than the shop vac or Festool dust extractor?
Thanks for your imput on this one.
Bob Thompson
Replies
I have used the Festool Dust Extractor (medium size) for the past 18 months. I love it.
It is quiet and very effective. I use the auto-tool-start function with all sorts of tools: palm sander, belt sander, plunge router, as an auxialry DC on the router table, circular saw. (I just used the Festool guide and circular saw to remove 2 pcs. from a 4' x 8' sheet of 3/4" MDF - vac attached to the saw. There was not a sign of that ugly brown flour anywhere.
The engineering on the collection bag is first rate: you can remove the paper bag without spilling all the dust. You can clean the bag w/o opening the cover if the bag blinds-over from too fine dust.
The variable suction control is a winner, BUT do NOT run at max. suction when sanding - it will almost lock the sander to the work surface so the sander moves very erratically
Frosty
"I sometimes think we consider the good fortune of the early bird and overlook the bad fortune of the early worm." FDR - 1922
Bob,
I have a mid sized Festool dust extractor. I use it with a Festool saw. I don't have the festool sander, and haven't used it with my PC sander. It's works great with my Festool saw though.
I have the CT-33, larger vac. It works great with both the saw, and with the Rotex 150 sander (6"). Hardly any dust left at all. It does a great job of keeping my nose clean!
Jeff
Bob:
I, too, have the medium sized collector to go with my Domino and sander. I agree with everything that has been said. The auto start capability is really useful and it makes sanding a pleasure.
You raised two concerns:
First it's expensive. It is pricey compared to others, but if you look at total life time cost, rather than initial acquisition cost alone, I think you will find that the quality and pleasure-in-use more than offset the cost.
Secondly, it's addictive. You're right! It's like crack, one sniff and you're hooked. It is a little-known law of the universe that you cannot own just one Festool product. Once you have one, you have to buy another, and so on, and so forth.
Regards,
Hastings
I have the Festool saw, two sanders and the domino. I have used the Festool sander, compliments of a neighbor, because I thought I might be missing something. I had been using a Fein vac with all the tools.
I've had the sanders and saw for a number of years and used it with the Fein vac all those years.
Well, I had some tool $ burning in my pocket and thought I might be better off with the Festool midsize vac than with the Fein. My neighbor had just purchased the saw and vac package, so I asked to borrow it. I used it with the sanders, the saw and the domino. The Festool advantages I experienced:
the Festool has an antistatic hose so it doesn't hold dust when you take it off.
the Festool has a flat top that you can put things on, including the systainers.
the casters have locks.
the filter is easier to clean.
In the end, I decided to spend my $ elsewhere and wait till the Fein vac dies.
I have had my CT22 for 2 years now and I'd have to say it is the most used tool in my shop. Keep in mind that I have a Festool shop so most of my machines are Festool and it would only make sense to use the dust collector with them. I even use it with my Mini-Lathe and SCMS to keep dust down.
I have owned a Fein Vac and I sold it. There is a list of similarities between most higher end machines but I must say that the Festool has been the top performer in my book. I like the fact that with my CT22 (as opposed to CT33), because the bag is smaller and fills faster, I will grab, seal it, and throw it away. I was concerned with a larger capacity vac that I would have a lower CFM when the bag is 1/2 to 3/4's full. I don't have any studies to base this off of, but I can tell you that it is really not a problem to seal it and set it in my trash bag. Other bonus features are the multiple options or utilities you can purchase for the Festool. The boom arm, the hose storage, the various wands and attachments ranging from metal to plastic. I think everyone offers a no-static hose but I can honestly say from experience that Festool's works.
I use the vac whenever I sand and I have yet to find visible dust in my body (without sounding too crass... my nostrils). It does a great job of filtering dust. Quiet too.
Festool CT vac's get my vote easily. I wouldn't own any other. Pricey yes, how much are your ears and respiratory system worth?
Bob, I hook my dust/chip generating powered hand tools up to either a big shop vac or a 1.5hp. two bagger single stage DC(4") .
If its chips from jig saw, router, cs, etc. I use the vac. If it's dust from big belt, finishing or ros I use the DC.
To facilitate this I have a very long Porter Cable dry wall sander hose(amazon-$20+) hung with soft bungee cord from the overhead above a workbench. Most of my tools (pc,bosch,skill, ridgid) have dust ports that fit or are easy to adapt to the hose.
While this works very well, I can't wait to see how good it gets with my new 3hp. cyclone and two overhead air cleaners. (once I get moved into the new shop) All the best, Paddy
Bob,
Since I will retire in a few months, I took a 9-hr-a-week "job" at the local Woodcraft. Very interesting thing to do. But more on that another time. One of the benefits of working there is using every tool in the Universe. You have gotten some good feedback. The Festool dust collectors are very very good. The Fein dust collectors are very very good.
I looked at the cost of a Festool or a Fein vac (with the big employee discount). Then I looked at the rack of Lie Nielsen planes. I could get a nice vac or I could go to Home Depot and buy a Rigid vac for $90 and have enough left over for a few Lie Nielsens.
The Rigid is much much quieter than my 30 year old Sears vac that just died. It is not nearly as quiet as the Fein and the Festool, but then again, I wear ear protection when I use it. And the Lie Nielsens are quite nice. Also they are very quiet -- even quieter if you put a little wax on the sole. And they don't generate hardly any dust.
More importantly, if you ever have the time, get a part time job at Woodcraft or Rockler. I had no idea of what I was getting into. I get more difficult woodworking questions in two hours than get put on Knots all day. And they expect me to be able to answer all of them. For the ones I can't answer (and there are more than a few), I refer them to Knots. Just don't tell Woodcraft that I bought the vac at Home Despot or they'll can me. :-)
So what is the difference between something like the Rigid and the Festool/Fein? As one person said, the Rigid (or the Craftsman or the Shop Vac) will pick up lots of big stuff that the quieter ones wont. However, having a vac that starts and stops with the tool, and keeps the dust down while working power tools is great. The real answer is to get one of each (that is, a Festool or a Fein, and a Craftsman or a Rigid or a Shop Vac.) Indeed, I am looking to buy a second house just to keep all of the tools that I need, and all of the alternative forms of each tool, and the updates as they come along.
Have fun.
Mel
Measure your output in smiles per board foot.
I have the middle sized dust extractor, I forget the model number. I bought it with a Festool router. I also use it with my PC RO sander. The hose fits fine and the dust collection is excellent. The tool activated on/off switch is a nice feature.
I have the Fein Mini-Turbo and the Festool CT-22 dust extractor. I dumped the 25 year old Craftsman shop vac years ago as it was louder than a router. I got the Festool in a combo purchase with the Rotex sander about 4-5 years ago. My general comment about both of these vacuums are that they are both extremely quiet and function very well. Both have the HEPA filters. The bag utilization on the Festool is better than the Fein. The Festool filter bags are less expensive than the Fein. I like the Festool hose much better than the Fein hose because it is anti-static and has better flexibility. The Festool hose end may not fit all your existing tools but ironically, the Fein flexible adaptor compensates for this very well. I use the Fein pretty much exclusively for general shop cleanup and the Festool CT-22 for dust extraction from power tools.
The Fein vac with other sanders (Bosch & PC ROS) worked marginally OK but nothing to write home about. I don't think this was a problem with the vacuum, I believe it was related to limitations of the sanders. I never used the Festool dust extractor with the other sanders. My reason for this is that I was so hard pressed to find any sawdust anywhere when sanding with the Festool, I had no desire to use the other sanders ever again so I sold them. I wouldn't consider hooking a hand held sander up to a shop dust collection system.
Steve
I got the Bosch Airsweep over the Festool CT33, mainly because of price, but it seems to be a winner in its own right.
It's got a lot of the same features: tool-trigger start, HEPA filters (have to buy as an add-on), quieter motor (69 dB), auto-filter clean, large wheels, electronic suction control, etc., and it has a larger capacity (13 gal v. 8 gal) at a lower cost ($330 for factory-reconditioned, $400 new). The Bosch has slightly greater suction (100" H2O v. 90"), but slightly less airflow (130 cfm v. 134 cfm). The Festool has a blower port that the Bosch does not have, but if you have an air compressor, this is minor.
The two are pretty closely matched in a lot of areas. Festool is probably the better tool, but the Bosch is nothing to sneeze at. I guess when it comes down to it, it's all personal preference--your application and all that.
Edit-I haven't used it a lot with my ROS or belt sander, but with my limited experience, it seems to work very well. But any problems are probably more related to the sander rather than the vacuum. That is, if I had a Festool circ saw, I think the Bosch vacuum would work just as well (assuming the hoses and all were compatible).
Edited 9/7/2007 4:06 pm by t_mauery
Bob, I once hooked my Festool CT22 vacuum to a floor sander that wasn't carpturing enough dust. With the Festool vac, there was NO dust.
If the Festool vac can make a floor sander "dustless," it can handle anything.
It's worth the extra $$. Buy it!
TP
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