Thread: Festool Dust extraction

Next weeks' Aldi brochure features a shopvac type dust extractor with the same feature, ie you can plug your power tool into it and it will switch on and off with the power tool.
Sounds quite useful, and costs the princely sum of $99.
Guess that would not constitute a deposit on the Festool?

Originally Posted by Big Shed

Next weeks' Aldi brochure features a shopvac type dust extractor with the same feature, ie you can plug your power tool into it and it will switch on and off with the power tool.
Sounds quite useful, and costs the princely sum of $99.
Guess that would not constitute a deposit on the Festool?

Thanks for the response BS but thats pretty much what I got now and doe'snt begin to compare with the Festo system.

Cheers

Hi John,

I have two comments:

1) There is a newly released CT-MIDI. It is essentially the CT-MINI with a bigger container and bag capacity.

• CT-MINI capacity container/bag is 10/7.5 litres.
• CT-MIDI capacity container/bag is 15/12.5 litres.

It is only slightly more bucks than the MINI. I really like the CT-MIDI I do for this extra capacity and less frequent bag changes .

2) You will find some of the Festool bags seem dearer than other brand vacs, but Festool machines use considerably more of the container volume for the dust bag than the average shop vac. This is because Festool put the filter outside of the container area instead of inside it like most others. So instead of having the filter waste a lot of container volume (up to 50% on some machines) the Festool bags can use up to 95% of the container volume. This means the bags are generally a lot bigger than other bran vac bags. So don't compare the price of a X brand bag for a 3 litre dust extractor with a Festool bag for their 33 litre dust extractor. The other brand bag may only hold 15-20 litres of dust, the Festool bag will hold 30 litres of dust. Therefore far less bags used over the lifetime of the machine. Also, some bags are only single layer, where all Festool bags are double layer and have a great closing cap so when you take them out of the machines lifting, pressing or moving the bags does not spew dust over you . Although the excellent caps are more applicable to the CT 22-55 models, not the CT-MINI/MIDI.

Apart from that, performance for a small vac is excellent as you would/should expect.

I use the Festool CT22 ... and I am more than happy with is.

When connected to my Rotex for example I can do a lot of sanding wearing my black tuxedo and leave for the party afterwards without having to change clothes !!

I mostly use the long-life-non-disposable filter bag !

I've got a Festool CT Mini and I reckon it's great. I'm only a hobbyist and a lot of the time I use mainly hand tools so I don't find I need to change bags all that often. I use the CT Mini on my Festool router, my Makita power saw and my Bosch ROS and it does a great job. I also use it as a shop vac from time to time and to vacuum the inside of our cars.

[QUOTE=nt900;467312]Hi John,

I have two comments:

1) There is a newly released CT-MIDI. It is essentially the CT-MINI with a bigger container and bag capacity.

• CT-MINI capacity container/bag is 10/7.5 litres.
• CT-MIDI capacity container/bag is 15/12.5 litres.

It is only slightly more bucks than the MINI. I really like the CT-MIDI I do for this extra capacity and less frequent bag changes .

Thanks Anthony, for your response the bag capacity between the 2 models is something worth noting, however judging by the other responses I may look at the comparisons in pricing and decide further on whether to go with the midi or with the mini.

Cheers

The only difference between the MINI and MIDI are capacity, all other specs and performance remain the same (yet again because of the top filter arrangement). But sometimes, smaller is more physically suited to the location it will be used.

About the cost of bags and filters:

Invest in a longlife bag which reduces the most of the cost. Festool also has longlife filters, I have no experience with those but I'm thinking to buy a pair since my filters (I have been using them for three years!) seem finally to clogg-up.

I use a CT22, a great vac!

Hi all,
CT 33 works well for me: i use it always in confined space but only with festool gear (circular saw, plane, jigsaw and... domino).
Used it once with a Makita circular saw and the result, for the dust extraction, wasn't so good: i now stick with Festool products mainly for this reason .
I find the CT 33 heavy, especially when the bag becomes full: having to climb stairs with it plus your toolbox and systainers and i bet you would then orient your choice to a smaller, lighter unit.
But if transport isn't an issue (you may have one or two apprentices to carry your tools ) the price per volume of dust collected is lower on the long run with a bigger unit.
The long-life bag is also something to consider, but can't comment on this being without long-life bag .

John, I'm using the CT22 with great results. Not only with my Festo sander and router, but with my PC sanders, PC circular saw, Bosch jig saw and hand planer, PC biscuit joiner (for sale, cheap--come on Domi ) and for general cleanup. Not a production shop, just a hobbiest, but have used only 4 or 5 bags in a year, so the bag cost is a non-issue. And boy, is it quiet!

For job site work, I might go with the Midi or even Mini--I'm getting too old to lug around heavy stuff.

John I agree with everyone that the festo CT Mini works well.
I use it mainly on the Surcare sander which pumps out a lot of dust, it struggles a bit to keep up when using the 40 and 60g but above that there is no problems. I also invested in the vacum kit to go with it to use for those cleaning up jobs as well. They are fairly quiet running and easy to talk over.

Thanks to everyone for their positive and enthusiastic responses regarding these dust extractors,I will probably run with the small CT22 as it will suit my area and pehaps look at the option of using the longlife bags as Anthony & Zuma & Rene kindly pointed out.


Now to wrest Visa off of SWMBO and head on down to my local bloke.

Cheers

The connection on the 27mm hose which suplied standard with Festool vacs also connects easily on my Bosch Vario (a great small pro. belt sander, Bosch stopped producing the pro. version and festool still has to invent one ) and Dremel sander (yup I needed something that was even smaller than the Duplex but unfortunatley I've already killed the Dremel).

You already know my opinion via the review, but as an update, the CT-MINI is still going great guns here ;-) It definitely gets...