Festool Dust Extractor

[Git]

I have a CT36 along with several other Festools - but there is something you need to keep in mind:

Festool does not condone nor support the use of any non-Festool engineered, designed, and manufactured accessories or consumables with Festool products.

What does this mean you may ask????

Well, someone was using a $350 Festool JigSaw to cut a sink opening in a counter top and hit a screw that he did not know was there... It ended up trashing the jigsaw so he set it in for repair under their 3 year warranty (it was only about 1 year old at the time) He was told that it would cost $355 to repair a $350 jigsaw since they declined his warranty coverage because he wasn't using a Festool Jig Saw Blade!

Look at the post by the forum admin to see for yourself:
http://festoolownersgroup.com/festo...of-jigsaw-at-1year-into-a-3-year-warrenty/60/

I have also seen Festool turn down warranty repairs because people used a Dust Deputy with their vac and Festool claims the static electricity can fry their circuit boards...

So, do you really need a "hepa" system?

Also, I bought a second vac to use with my miter saw- but it wasn't a Festool. It was a Bosch VAC090S. Very happy with the purchase. It doesn't have variable suction control or a Hepa filter - but keep in mind it was only $480 when I bought it in Feb. (I see Amazon now has them at $550)

Also - the Bosch L-BOXX will clip onto the top, the filters are cheaper and Bosch usually stands behind their products

 

[Vinko]

I have a CT36 along with several other Festools - but there is something you need to keep in mind:



What does this mean you may ask????

Well, someone was using a $350 Festool JigSaw to cut a sink opening in a counter top and hit a screw that he did not know was there... It ended up trashing the jigsaw so he set it in for repair under their 3 year warranty (it was only about 1 year old at the time) He was told that it would cost $355 to repair a $350 jigsaw since they declined his warranty coverage because he wasn't using a Festool Jig Saw Blade!

Look at the post by the forum admin to see for yourself:
http://festoolownersgroup.com/festo...of-jigsaw-at-1year-into-a-3-year-warrenty/60/

I have also seen Festool turn down warranty repairs because people used a Dust Deputy with their vac and Festool claims the static electricity can fry their circuit boards...

So, do you really need a "hepa" system?

Also, I bought a second vac to use with my miter saw- but it wasn't a Festool. It was a Bosch VAC090S. Very happy with the purchase. It doesn't have variable suction control or a Hepa filter - but keep in mind it was only $480 when I bought it in Feb. (I see Amazon now has them at $550)

Also - the Bosch L-BOXX will clip onto the top, the filters are cheaper and Bosch usually stands behind their products

I saw this Bosch on Amazon -- is it made by the same co. that makes for Metabo? I thought at some point it was, but I wasn't sure. Anyway, I gave consideration to the Bosch when I bought my Metabo a week or two ago.

 

[rice rocket]

Bosch switched mfgs to Karcher with their latest model. The older models are made by Starmix, which makes vacs for Mafell, Metabo, Hitachi, CS Unitec, and a bunch of other European brands.

 

[mobiledynamics]

I have both the Festool and Bosch AUTO.
The Auto Purge is a lifesaver when working with fine dust.......beats the hell out of stopping , taking out filter, cleaning, vac and then the same cycle process all over again.

Festool is the garage queen that mainly sees sawdust.
The Bosch is the beater, which get's everything thrown at it. Grinding concrete, etc. It get's abused

 

[Jefe]

Festool does not condone nor support the use of any non-Festool engineered, designed, and manufactured accessories or consumables with Festool products.

Wow, that's shocking. Someone in that thread correctly points out that voiding a warranty because of use of aftermarket consumables is illegal thanks to the Magnuson Moss Act, and the Festool employee ignores that comment and closes the thread. There's probably more to the broken jigsaw story as others recounted similar situations with satisfactory resolutions.

 

[Git]

Well, he apparently admitted to using a "non-festool" blade and then they had him

BUT - you have to think, he hit a screw AND IT RUINED the machine... $355 jigsaw...

Here is a thread where a guy was using a dust deputy with his Festool Vac and the static electricity fried the circuit board

http://festoolownersgroup.com/festo...-ct22-motor-module-(thanks-to-dust-deputy)-!/

 

[Nefirefighter03]

Best money I ever spent on a vacuum was the Bissel garage pro! I loved it so much I bought two! One is in my shop and the other is in the laundry room in the house. It has a 30 or 40 foot hose and you can go from dry to wet vacuum without changing the filters or anything. I have a 30x40 shop and its install on the middle wall and it will reach around my whole shop with ought removing it from the wall, you can swap the hose to the exhaust side and use as a blower to blow leafs out the door. I bought them on Amazon for $160 ea, absolutely worth the money. If you buy a magnet holder for mig welding gun you can strap the hose to it and set it on you tools while you cut to collect dust.

 

[transplant_wi]

My wife liked my CT26 so much I bought her a CT Midi for house vacuum duty.

 

[lawbc]

Festool dust extractor , I have had one for 3years never think of buying anything else just plain works and works the best . My friend painter has the wall sander setup and swears by it ,no drywall dust in his high end clients homes , makes him look good .

 

[CSRPenFab]

For that money you could put in one hell of a dust collection system that will work better and be quieter. I did this ShopFox wall mounted system for around $300 all in. It's quiet and could **** the chrome off a trailer hitch. It really works great on my lathe, tablesaw and bandsaw using Rockler's "Dust Right" connections....

 

[scottydosnntkno]

Festools are not primarily designed for stationary shop use. They're products are designed for the high end professional tradesman who is in and out of different job sites and locations daily. They're tools provide the same quality of dust collection as a nice stationary shop setup but in a Mobile application.

So yes you can find cheaper stationary systems, but the entire Festool product line is the best all in system you can buy with dust control in mind

 

[overkill 19]

I love my Festool track saw and will be buying a router soon. But I couldn't justify the Festool vac for the amount I use my saw. So I opted for a Fein Turbo l , it has the same motor as the turbo ll. I almost bought the turbo ll for $40 more but like I said I don't use my saw much so I opted for the smaller tub size more for storage and portability reasons. Plus I can buy the turbo ll as well for close to the same price of one Festool vac $870cad ! Granted the Festool is a hepa so can't compare apples to apples. The new Fein turbo l doesn't have variable speed but does have the auto tool start feature which is very handy IMO. It also bigger motor 1100w and 151cfm vs 1048w and 116 cfm on last years model.
I ordered mine on Amazon.ca. $480 CAD free shipping to my door.
I'll have to source out some adaptors to adapt to my track saw, hitachi miter saw and Bosch table saw.

 

[Daniel Dudley]

Just putting in my 2 cents worth, I have no experience with the Festool but the $700.00 price tag leaves me out...I do use the Ridgid shop vac from Home Depot for $99.00 and they work great, you can buy seven of them for the price of one Festool...
http://www.homedepot.com/p/RIDGID-14-gal-Professional-Wet-Dry-Vacuum-WD1450/100081216

I have a shop vac that takes the yellow drywall bags. I can vac up all the plaster dust in a house and still have suction, although I am sure the filtration leaves something to be desired at a HEPA level. But I use a respirator while I am working dust.

The nicest thing about the Yellow filter bags is that you just pull the bag and dispose of it instead of cleaning out the machine. And of course the conventional filter in the machine is so much cleaner, and not clogged.

If you are working in a house where people live, HEPA is very important when sucking up lead paint chips, etc.. If you are talking about wood chips in your shop, a dust collector that bags the sawdust for disposal is really where it is at. I do prefer the collectors where the filter is on top, and a garbage bag is strapped to the base. I use 55 Gallon bags, and that is a Lot of sawdust. Of course you can change out a bag in about a minute.

Once again, the yellow bags are fine for non-hazardous materials. I use them all the time in renovation, and yes, they will also hitch up to a table saw or sander in a pinch.

Right now I am operating out of a newly set up wood shop with no dust collection, and I have two table saws, a planer, a shaper, chop saw, router table, etc., and it is ridiculous trying to keep up with the shavings. I'm quite sure I made 80 gallons yesterday, so a shop vac as a collector is not going to cut it...

There is no excuse for that in this day and age, but I also like to balance the tool needed to the job being done. Having a good, (reasonable) dust collection system, a decent shop vac, AND a good HEPA vac as a set might make sense for some people. Of course, Your Mileage May Vary...

 

[sledneck32!]

Have bought half dozen 14 gallon shop vacs in past year. Some plastic drum and some metal. ALL of the switches start getting finicky after about a week. Not impressed. You gotta monkey around with the button everytime to get it to stay on or off. Been considering sending them all in for warranty. Just seem chinsy compared to what they used to be.

Sent from my LG-H811 using Tapatalk

 

[info2x]

I'm sure it's a nice product, but for my use it's way overkill on price. When I started getting concerned about dust I found this video online:

I ended up getting the dust deputy and have been really happy with it. The festool system still beats it, but for the value I'm happy where I am.

 

[mark11]

It depends on application. The Festool DE isn't really intended as a general purpose shop vac and it's not a chip collector though it will collect chips and clean your shop floor. Hepa is important because it's not the dust you see that gets you it's the dust you can't see. I love being able to use my Track Saw in places you'd never consider using your circular saw and I really like that there's no mess to clean up when I'm done. When you hook a router with good dust collection such as Festool's to a dust extractor it's such a pleasure to use because a router can put a saw to shame when it comes to making a mess in a hurry.
The adjustable suction is awesome for sanding but if you don't need that capability there are a couple options other than the green one that will serve you well.

 

[mark2457]

As part of the Festool system, unquestionably yes.

If you intend to use it as a Shop-Vac, you will need the larger hose kit in the anti-static version.

The Festool vacs are HEPA rated which is quite different from putting a so-called HEPA filter into a Shop-Vac.

The Festool can be used all day without issue. The variable speed control is useful. It is also very quiet.

The Festool bags will not clog with fine dust like drywall dust. Yup, the bags are expensive for what they are.

Bear in mind that this is a tool made in Germany, not China, and the price reflects it.

The Festool pricing is pretty much in-line with non-disposable professional quality wet/dry vacuums: https://www.nilfisk-alto.com/en/products/Pages/category.aspx?CategoryId=10130125

https://www.milwaukeetool.com/power-tools/corded/8925

Yeah I put a hepa filter on my rigid. turned to complete ****. Suction must have dropped 50%

 

[FMC1959]

I love my Festool track saw and will be buying a router soon. But I couldn't justify the Festool vac for the amount I use my saw. So I opted for a Fein Turbo l , it has the same motor as the turbo ll. I almost bought the turbo ll for $40 more but like I said I don't use my saw much so I opted for the smaller tub size more for storage and portability reasons. Plus I can buy the turbo ll as well for close to the same price of one Festool vac $870cad ! Granted the Festool is a hepa so can't compare apples to apples. The new Fein turbo l doesn't have variable speed but does have the auto tool start feature which is very handy IMO. It also bigger motor 1100w and 151cfm vs 1048w and 116 cfm on last years model.
I ordered mine on Amazon.ca. $480 CAD free shipping to my door.
I'll have to source out some adaptors to adapt to my track saw, hitachi miter saw and Bosch table saw.

To you and others that have mentioned the Fein vacs, I saw Fein has HEPA filters that can be purchased. I was also reading on the Dustless Technologies vacs mentioned by another member on this thread; they state that adding a HEPA filter to a vac versus an actual HEPA vac is radically different. (which I would not expect them to say differently)

http://www.dustlessvacuum.com/

Anyone have any comments to the validity of this? Does Fein have HEPA rated vacs like the Festool and some other HEPA vacs?

At some point I would like a vac that has HEPA filtration and curious if the Fein (or other brands) would be as good as the Festool for less

 

[scottydosnntkno]

A hepa vac system(Festool) is NOT the same as putting a hepa filter on any vacuum. I have a Festool ct36 auto clean, which even if I put the exact same size Festool hepa filter in it would not be hepa rated as my ct26 is. Professional quality hepa vacs are rated as a system, and do not count the same in a retrofit situation.

 

[katmat]

If someone is looking for a great vac/duct collector, I have a couple of new Viking dustless vacuum systems. They were intended for use w/ body shop air tools but could be adapted for a lot of uses. they are 240 volt single phase. If sold a donation will be made to the site.
Matt Murphy
Chicago Illinois

 

[overkill 19]

From what I can tell the Fein is the same vac just with a better $100 filter. Meaning turbo ll vs.turbo ll HEPA.

http://www.cpofein.com/fein-dust-extractor-vacuums/fein-dust-extractor-vacuums,default,sc.html

 

[overkill 19]

Must be too good to be true. Been trying all morning with no response. !

http://www.kijiji.ca/v-power-tool/e...ls/1115309297?enableSearchNavigationFlag=true

 

[JPinohio]

These work great for commercial drywall projects!!

 

[capww8]

I've had my CT26 for about a year now, and simply won't go back to cheap shop vacs. It's quiet, it has (and keeps) great suction, and obviously it works very well with all of the other festool stuff.

Really, that last part is the biggest reason for my endorsement... if you aren't using Festool sanders / routers / saws, then there are probably better and cheaper alternatives, but if you are using festool, the systainer doc up top is just enough of a great stupid feature to make it worth while.

My next move is trying to decide if I want to add a CT-Mini or CT-Midi to the mix... then whether to sell the CT26 to buy a CT36AC (for use with drywall sanders).

 

[slodat]

I have two, a CT36AC and an older CT22, both with boom arms. I plan to add a smaller one for my Kapex. I really enjoy using my Festools. They make so many things easier, cleaner, more fun and in many cases simply possible.

 

[Xicaque]

Worked with a buddies Festool vac last weekend and it was nice. Turned on/off with the saw and did a good job. Can't address the "is it worth the money" question.

Agree. Pricey but fancy. I'd say wait for the other manufacturers to copy the concept. In the mean time, a bit of dust in the shop is fine for me as it gives it character

 

[carbon]

I use a Cleanstream goretex filter (hepa?) in my ridgid 16 gallon vac, plus Ridgid's "High-Efficiency Dust Bags." Also added the exhaust filter, which quiets it down even more. No dust at all comes out.

 

[Gordoninc]

How has your festool held up since you bought it? Would you use it instead of a full dust system?

 

[kbs2244]

I would guess a set of brushes for the Craftsman would be a whole lot cheaper.