Festool DC alternative for Festool sander?

[Byron Trantham]

I have jsut the opposite of your situation. I have the PC 5" ROS and a Festool Vac. I made an adapter to connect the two. If I leave the Vac on "Hi" it will suck the ROS to the wood! Since the Festool has variale speed I turn it down to about half speed and Wa La - no dust and it runs smooth.

[Jason White]

I wonder if you could plug your vacuum into some type of box with a rheostat that would allow you to dial down the power, thereby dialing down the suction?? I've seen them for controlling router speeds, like this one...

http://www.rockler.com/ecom7/product...etest=1&gord=1

Any electrical engineer folks here who see a problem with this idea? Would it cause any damage to the vacuum's motor?

Jason

That's the other side of it. I don't really "need" a new vacuum, mine works, just too well. I could get away with $60 festool hose and vent it like we talked about above, but if I am spending $60 it makes me look around at alternatives. Quieter would be fantastic. I often have to quit working on things at 8pm or sooner and take breaks on the weekend when its nap time because my daughter's bedroom is over the garage (seemed like a good idea at the time ). So usually at that point powertools are out of the question, so weekdays I can't get anything done by the time I get home and get settled and set up. But if I could sand quietly then it would be a different story. The sander itself is fairly quiet, for a sander. So that is the hidden reason I am looking at alternatives. I wonder if there is a small portable shop vac that is fairly quiet of if the fein is the cheapest.

What is the fein hose like? easy to work with? (compared toa shop vac hose)

[Ben West]

If you're buying solely for DC during sanding, the discussion of which unit is the most quiet is meaningless. Any of the 3 models will be significantly quieter than the sander.

All of the "top-end" vac-type dust collectors are very quiet...much quieter than a shop-vac or equivalent. Because of this, IMO, many other considerations are much more important than the noise level produced.

I have the Festool CT33, and it's been great. I got it as part of a package deal with a RO150, which saved me some $$$. If I were to be buying again though, I'd certainly consider the Fein or some of the other better units. They all would meet my needs, so I probably would make my decision based on price, cost of bags, and customer service.

Happy buying!

[Bill Neely]

I bought a new style Fein Turbo III that has variable speed and a new rocker switch replacing the old two switch scheme which was a little bit Rube Goldberg-ish. I've been using a Festool non-static hose and it works great.

I haven't tried yet with the new Fein but CleanStream HEPA filters fit the old style Feins. Cost ~$30.00.

[Dave Haughs]

Welp, 6 5/8" holes in my hose was all it took to work perfect!