Browsing another forum sparked some interest in high quality shop vacs. At least something better than my current vac that seems to create more dust than it picks up. Does anyone have any experience with Festool or Fein shop vacs. What are your opinions of those. Other than general shop cleaning I am looking for dust control for my random orbital sander. Currently the porter cable VS (which has the words works dust canister which falls off every three minutes!, but that’s another thread) or other hand held tools. Has any one connected their ROS to their central dust collector system? I would think that the fines would clog my 5 micron bags much quicker. I also wonder how the fines clog up shop vacs that are equipped with high quality bags (1 micron) and even HEPA filters. How much have you guys spent on filters and/or bags in a year for Festool or Fein Vacs?
Thanks,
Aaron
Replies
I've got a Fein III that I use with my PC 6" ROS and it works great. It leaves no dust at all.
Very quiet (compared to my old craftsman).
I just use the filter that came with the unit and have had no problems.
I could kick myself thinking of all those years that I used that ROS without a vac.
As to hooking your sander up to your DC, I don't think it would work very good. What you need for a hand sander is suction, not cfm. However I could be wrong. Give it a try, it shouldn't be too hard to jerry-rig.
The proof is in the puddin'
I have the Fein turbo II. Possibly the best money I ever spent, Picks up pretty much all the dust from my old bosch ROS. I also use it with the Delta BOSS spindle sander and any other power hand tool I can rig it to. Hose is very flexible and not cumbersome. Also very quiet. I have never used the festool but Im sure it is very good also.
BTW I hope I dont come across as ignorant but I have not fiqured out what "lol" stands for in many of these postings.
Brian
LOL - Laugh Out Loud
The Fein works great with any sander that I've hooked up to it - 1/4 Sheet palm, RO, Belt, Fein Detail, even my Dewalt biscuit joiner and Makita slider. I just knock the dust off every once in a while. Don't worry about spending a bunch of extra money on hose adaptors for every tool you have. A couple of wraps of duct tape where the bag hooks on is all it takes or you could spend $28 on PC universal adaptor. At 58 DB the Fein Turbo II is as quiet as they get. Even the hose is a big plus. It's 16' long, flexible, and has good swivelling ends which are replaceable. Bite the bullet and get one and the accessory set, you won't be sorry.
I tried my DC and it didn't work. A DC just doesn't have the suction to pull through a small hose.John O'Connell - JKO Handcrafted Woodworking
Life is tough. It's tougher if you're stupid - John Wayne
Thanks for the replies! Anyone have any experience with the Festool?
One further comment re the Fein. I've got the little one. It works great with my PC. I use a random vac filter bag over the standard Fein filter, keeps the expensive Fein filter clean, and no visible dust comes out of the vac. The bags do clog in with time, and you'll notice that by an increase of dust on your work/in the air.
The only real complaint I have about mine is that, so far, I've not found any bags to fit it, other than the expen$ive Fein bags. I use the bags only when vacuuming particularly nasty stuff, so it's not a real big deal.
Also, for some applications, the little 1.5" hose is a pain, but the larger diam hose fits the vac just fine.
I've got the CT-33. It's an unbelievable improvement over my old Home Despot shop vac. It's quiet and gets just about all the dust from any thing I hook it to. I use it regularly with my PC ROS. It also works great with a biscuit jointer. They are pricey, but so is a lung tranplant.
Mike
I got the Fein sander and vaccum before the Festool system came out. I love it and it is a brilliant set up, however I would have gladly spent more for the Festool.
It is by far the most impressive set-up ou will see. The vac & sanders are far more advanced in design than anything!
The Fein is very fine at any rate.
RK
I have had the big Fein for about a year, and wish I had pulled the trigger much sooner. At first I had a PC 334(?) with the little "filter" which always fell off. I duct taped the hose adapter to the output of the PC, and it worked well. Then the PC died, and I replaced it with the Metabo 6" ROS. I have never had the Fein filter clog, and there is never any dust released, at least that I can tell. I also take this hose, tape it to my router table top, and fix my DC hose to the bottom, and get most of the dust. The floor sweep is great also. Just a pleasure to use so it does get used.
My wife liked using my Fein on the floors so much that she asked for one for her birthday last year. I got her the little one. We've been married 29 years next month and that's the only time she ever asked for an "appliance" for a gift.John O'Connell - JKO Handcrafted Woodworking
Life is tough. It's tougher if you're stupid - John Wayne
I've an earlier model Festo which I lent to my dad for a project - ended up having to buy him a CT22 just to get mine back. Can't recommend it too highly. If I don't use it a floor sweep, the filter bag will hold several years worth of sanding.
Hi Aaron,
I have a Festool CT 22 and really love it. I use it primarily hooked up to my Festool ROS and for general clean up. As far as I know the Festool has a one micron filter. Festool offers a longlife filter and a filter for wet extraction too. I don't think you have to replace the filters if you use your vac carefully (don't extract nails and stuff like this). Besides, the Festool vacs have a cleaning device for the filters.
You can use the Festool vacs with a standard bag, a longlife bag or without bags. I use it with the standard bag because I'm only a weekend woodworker and can't justify the costs for the longlife bag. I wouldn't use it without bags because emptying the vac would really mess up your shop.
Does the Fein have variable suction?
The Festool's have for sure and it's a very useful feature. All Festool vacs have the auto on/off feature, I think the Fein Mini doesn't.
Festool offers an extremely wide range of accessories and comes with a anti static equipment.
Currently Festool has a nice special offer on their vacs. http://www.festool-usa.com/portando/index.cfm
I can recommend to contact Bob Marino (hobby woodworker and Festool ISA) at [email protected]
I've emailed him several times and he's been particularly friendly and helpful.
There are a couple of reviews of the vacs:
http://benchmark.20m.com/reviews/FestoolCT22/festoolct22review.html
http://www.cjohnhebert.com/Festool.htm
http://www.thewoodshop.20m.com/festool_atf_55e_part2.htm
http://www.woodshopdemos.com/men-fes.htm
Hopethis helps,
Christian
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