Why is a Festool dust extractor magical?

[Mr Eddie]

I have a Midi and a CT26.  Bought the Midi for $350 and the CT26 for $400.  Both in like new condition.  The CT was still in the box and the Midi came with extra bags.  If you have the time to wait you can often find one for 50-60% of retail.  However it does take some effort to constantly scan CL, Ebay, etc.

Lonnie

[EvilTwin]

There are alternatives.  Besides the Fein and Bosch vacs, there is the Nilfisk.  I bought one about a year ago for around 300 and change and it has the switched outlet and the right sized hose.  It also comes with some quality attachments, which I understand are lacking on some of the others.  It can use bags or just the filter and you can regulate the suction at the hose end.  I've used it with both a festool and bosch sander and it works great.  True, it doesn't have a systainer base,  but it is cuter and looks sorta like R2D2.  

[03rangerfx4]

I've been searching for a variable suction attachment for my shopvac. 
I have the bosch hose, will the Nilfisk adapter work with the bosch hose?

Thanks

[Rob Young]

Gonna be sanding a while to get that wicker flattened out...

[Robert Adams]

I've been searching for a variable suction attachment for my shopvac. 
I have the bosch hose, will the Nilfisk adapter work with the bosch hose?

Thanks

Use an external router speed controller to control the speed of the shop vac. There are better ways but this is the cheapest and easiest.

[barnowl]

... I have a Festool orbital sander and I like it. Will I like it a lot more if I have it hooked up to a Festool dust extractor instead of a Ridgid shop vac?

That's the one tool more than any other that the Festool dust extractor is head and shoulders above the competition, except maybe Fein.

If the vac is drawing too much suction, the sander sticks to the (flat) work surface, by the very nature of the design.

Just right gives you dust free work and the sander glides.

All the other tools want as much suction as you can give them.

[BloomingtonMike]

I have a small Shopvac, an Orange large shop vac, and two CT22s. Other than noise they all work perfectly fine with my Domino and the 150/3 and my Dewalt tracksaw. Zero issues with the sander sticking to work. If you want to come by and try them all out for yourself let me know. I like that the CT22 can use the boom setup easily. I have also used these CT22s with regular bags, the multi use pricey cloth bag, and the DD systainer setup from Oneida.  All work fine.

[thewizzard]

Use an external router speed controller to control the speed of the shop vac. There are better ways but this is the cheapest and easiest.

Actually a controlled leak is far easier and cheaper 
I have no doubt that the universal motor in a vac can be speed controlled with a router control, BUT what about heat dissipation? Every vacuum I have ever seen relies on air cooling. I'm not sure how long you can run at reduced speed with reduced cooling even when the power requirements are lowered.

I'd really like to hear a real world example and not just speculation.

[Robert Adams]

Actually a controlled leak is far easier and cheaper 
I have no doubt that the universal motor in a vac can be speed controlled with a router control, BUT what about heat dissipation? Every vacuum I have ever seen relies on air cooling. I'm not sure how long you can run at reduced speed with reduced cooling even when the power requirements are lowered.

I'd really like to hear a real world example and not just speculation.

Yes many use bypass air to cool but unless you are going to run it very slow it isn't an issue. Remember if you slow the motor you are reducing the power the motor is dissipating at the same time as the cooling airflow is being decreased. 

      I played around with it years ago in the shop at the hs before they decided to tear the building down and lie about a replacement facility... It worked fine. Shop vacs are cheap as well.  I don't have the need for it as my sanders have the holes and a shroud to capture dust so no problems with too much airflow.

        The real issue isn't the problem with the vac but the cheap speed controller. They are just a variac and often under rated but shop vacs don't pull much current so it would last quite a while. A better solution would be a pwm controller but that's not worth it.

         Did a search and it's a pretty commonly done mod.

[PaulJohnstone]

I got the festool vac a long time ago, when it was still overpriced, but not as outrageous as today.
The automatic turn on switch broke about 2 years after I owned it.
I do like that it has a bag in it to minimize dust being blown into the air.  Maybe the HEPA filter helps in this regard too.
Another cool thing is that it will shut off when the bag is full. (Or at least it did for me, one time I let it fill up).


The vac control has not been helpful for me. I always turn it on full blast when I sand. I do not have the issue with the sander
sticking to the wood that other people have had. Maybe it is because I use a 6" ROS.. Now I believe other people find the vac 
speed control useful, I am just saying that in my case, it doesn't matter.

But is it really that much better than another vac? I doubt it. If mine broke today, I would replace it with a less expensive option.