I have a Fein vac that’s 10-15 yrs old that I use for dust pick up from the ROS. I was wondering if either a new Fein or Festool vac has better performance specs compared to what I have. I’d appreciate opinions on this, the Festool is not cheap so this needs to be a one and done. Thanks
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Replies
I cant speak to either of those exactly but i think 3Ms Xtract vac is the same price as the festool.
Im very happy with it. its been about 3 years or so and i havent had a single issue or compaint.
I love its automatic filter cleaning. I havent had to change the filters at all or manually clean them.
I use it for my sanders and miter saw thats it and it goes a really really long time before having to even check the bag much less change it...and i sand a lot lol.
I have a small Festool CTC SYS which is proly not what your looking for. i assume your looking for the larger HEPA CT model but i was never impressed with the Festool CTC even just for a sander...and definietly not at $400.
I have many Festool tools and i love all of them EXCEPT the dust extractor.
Thought id throw a reccomend for 3Ms since its a direct competitior in that group and a really good machine.
Crazy as this sounds, the Hercules 12-gallon dust extractor from Harbor Freight works wonderfully and is only $350. Though I could afford the Festool, I'm not captured by the Festool ecosystem and was looking for something dedicated to my tablesaw.
The Feins have become so much less than they used to be. If the cost is close I would go with the Festool.
What is everyone's thoughts on using cyclones with your dust extractors? Do you feel a name brand cyclone is worth the investment and the additional foot print?
Thanks in advance
It depends on your planned usage and desire to make the most of it. I'm a hobbyist. I used to have the JET Vortex Cone Dust Collector and regretted not getting a cyclone. Yep, the Jet took up a lot of space, with hoses and piping being an added thing to deal with. Sold it when I moved.
Now I use an Oneida Dust Deputy 2.5 attached to a regular shop vac for my router table, jointer, planer, and orbital sander (and until recently my table saw.) I completed making a maple crib in March that had 48 slats (i.e., LOTS of milling) and emptied the bucket six times--and the vac never. It was fantastic! Less dust, more efficient suction, and much easier to empty.
Minor drawbacks: the extra hose and space needed and the vac's suction was just a tad below what was best for the planer, so some chips remained. I vacuumed out the planer as they accumulated.
emtinfl,
You just moved it from tool to tool.
Yeah, it's no big deal to pop the hose off one tool and plug it into the next. I don't want hoses permanently in my way. The video was taken as a 7" piece of walnut was running through my planer.
As for vacuum choice, I would always choose Festool over other brands. Festool vacs have the best dust collection and the best filtration, so almost no dust escapes into the air.
How effective it would be with a tablesaw is open to debate given the volume of dust and wood chips produced during use. You might be able to get by using Festool's 50mm hose, but not the narrower versions. The 36mm and 27mm hoses would likely clog with extended use.
I, personally, would find an affordable cyclone 9which is tough on the affordable side); at least a dust collector which uses a 4" minimum hose and a HEPA filter. Rockler has a small dust collector that can be hung on the wall or rolled around. Laguna has small mobile cyclones which I believe are effective. I think Grizzly has simiar collectors. Among the best out there are Oneida collectors, but very pricey. However, some larger capacity Oneidas could be used for all your larger tools like jointers, planers, bandsaws, etc.
In the end, I doubt that you'd be satisfied with using a vac for your tablesaw because the issue with collecting the volume of dust from a tablesaw. Air movement is the issue not just suction.
I have a Fein Turbo 2 and have been very happy with it. I considered a Festool but couldn't justify the extra $200 for a comparable model.
I use it with a Dust Deputy and it meets all my needs, quiet and reliable.
I have a similar old Fein and have been very happy with it for my Festool sander, router, and Domino, as well as my Bosch mitresaw. If it died, I'd probably go with the Festool just for slightly better integration with hoses and shutoff.
Some people mention tablesaws. For me, the larger tools like tablesaw, planer and jointer and router table are not well served with a vacuum like either Festool. I have a largish Laguna dust collector, which essentially has its own built in cyclone; the larger tools need the larger air volume and hose size to be effective. The smaller ones need the opposite: high velocity, smaller hose diameter.
I have no exposure to Fein. I have festool. The drywall contractor that finished my shop (he does lots of high end work for a pricey top end hope builder) claims the fein is much better. He uses the festool sanding pole with a fein collector.
I have two Festool dust extractors, a 24 and a 36 and both have Festool's cyclone attachment. FWIW, I use the 24 almost exclusively with the 3M Xtract sander which I love. The 36 has the auto filter cleaning feature which is great when you're using it with a plastic filter bag for drywall sanding. With either one, I've noticed no dust escaping into the room, including after sanding a lot of drywall and then floors with the 36. Both are very quiet too.
The cyclones are ok. The problem I find is that the cyclone's bag collapses when producing fine dust. If you are creating something larger like saw dust it's ok. My solution was to make a metal frame that holds the bag open similar to the one in my shop dust collector that has a bag in the 55 gal drum. The cyclone's inlet is also kind of small FWIW.
Hope this helps.
I have a ~10-12 year old Fein with HEPA and I love it. I bought it from a shop that caters to the film industry and the sales staff said the industry doesn’t cheap on the price of tools and they only buy Fein vacs.
It is heavy but it rolls easily. I have it boxed in between my workbench and my chopsaw table so if I need to take it out of the shop (like today up the stairs and outside) it’s a bitch to lift / carry. Not really a bad thing, it speaks to the weight of the motor.
It has a couple features I love. It has a really long hose. I can do most of my shop from one location. I think German tools in general have longer hoses and longer power cords. It also has a two stage on. On always in the on position or on only when the tool is running (tool plugged into the vac). Such a nice feature. Others probably have the same feature but I would never buy a vac lacking this.
Sorry, can’t speak to the Festool but I really love the Fein.
I should note I use the Fein shop vac for sanding, general shop cleanup and jobs outside of my basement shop. As noted by others above for table saw, planer, chop saw, etc. I use a dust extractor with HEPA and 6” pipe and blast gates.