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Thread: Fein vacuums questions

  1. #1
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    Fein vacuums questions

    I use: Festool table, Festool 55 track saw, Festool Carvex (PS 420), Festool 1400 router, Fein MultiMaster. I have a Festool CT 22 E vacuum. I have a couple very old home store vacuums that I am planing to toss. I am thinking of buying a Fein Turbo 1 or 2 to replace the old shop vacuums.

    I am not a fan of the floor cleaning attachments for the Festool vacuums. I have the stainless steel set. They tend to come apart easily during use making it tough to do larger cleaning jobs. The volume of the CT 22's bags is a little on the small size when I try to use it with tools and for clean ups. My idea is to dedicate the Festool vac to my Festool tools at my Festool tables and use a Fein for general cleaning and the single Fein tool I have.

    I did research on old threads and understand that the Festool vac uses proprietary size hoses. I believe the hose size may make it hard to use attachments not made by Festool with the Festool vac. I am hoping I will be able to find more and better tools to fit the 35mm hose on a Fein. The Fein appears to be: lighter, quieter, a little larger volume bag, even on the Turbo 1 and considerably less expensive. Am I missing something?

  2. #2
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    I have an older Fein Turbo II and a brush attachment from Festool fit it perfectly. It was even less expensive than a replacement from Fein. I'm guessing that other Festool stuff will fit Fein as well, since I'm sure both are metric measurements.

    I love the Fein vacuum. It's quiet and powerful, better than any other I have tried.
    Last edited by James Gunning; 05-19-2016 at 11:19 AM.

  3. #3
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    Hi James,
    I believe my Festool vac came with a 27mm hose. The stainless attachment set I bought with it came with a larger 36mm hose. If I understand what I have read, the 36mm and 35mm hose attachments may work with each other despite the 1 mm difference. The Festool brushes/attachments "sort of" fit inside the 36mm hose and outside the 27mm. I usually have the smaller hose on my machine, as it fits the Festool tools. The heavy cleaning tools tend to fall off the small hose and I do not stop to change hoses between shop/tool jobs. I was just trying tools on the larger hose and it seemed hard to get the tools on that hose.

    The 27mm hose is around 3/4" diameter and the 36 round 1 1/2". The small hose works well for sucking dust from small tools but may have limitations when it comes to general clean up.

    The Festool CT 22 E vac also has larger wheels at the rear of the housing. These do not swivel like the front casters making it harder to use it for clean up, in terms of mobility, at least in my experience.
    Last edited by Mike Holbrook; 05-19-2016 at 1:18 PM.

  4. #4
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    I am on my 2nd Fein Turbo II. First one lasted about 18 years, just wore it out. Bought another about 5 years ago with the normal differences over that amount of time and am very happy with it. Love that it is one of the quietest on the market. Great suction and love the long 12 ft (I think) hose. I bought both new, second one on sale. No regrets. Never seen or used Festool vac so can't comment, other that stuff is really pricey. I think both are German. Randy

  5. #5
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    +1 on the Fein Turbo ? It was underwater for a few days during an el nino (can't find the tilda) rainstorm but is still purring 15-17 years later. The PU sound deadening foam rotted out, but was OK to replace.

  6. #6
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    The current Fein Vacs have almost nothing to do with the ones people are saying work great. I WAS a big Fein fan and have 3. One is basically a quiet vac made about 25 years ago. It doesn't have a place to plug a tool in that will turn the vacuum on. It also doesn't have variable suction. The other two are a Turbo II HEPA and a Turbo III made a few years ago. I really like them for the price I paid but my Festool Vac is clearly a better vacuum in most ways. Possibly worth the extra money depending on your needs.

    The current ones with the same names are not similar. Not even made by the same company or even in the same country. They are certainly not made in Germany but are made in some East Europe factory that makes vacuums for other companies. No variable suction. I'm not really sure why anyone would buy one and neither is the local Fein dealer who dropped them completely
    Last edited by Greg R Bradley; 05-21-2016 at 9:47 PM.

  7. #7
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    I did read that the new Feins do not have variable speed suction. I was not sure if I needed it, what the advantage is?

    Any suggestions for a general purpose vac? I have the Festool CT22 which works well with my Festool tools. I am looking for something with a little larger capacity but not as big as the 18 gallon Lowe's monster I am about to toss as all the plastic is breaking. I would like something with good attachments and hose. I would like it to be a little more mobile than the Festool too.

  8. #8
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    Variable suction is used with sanders as they will stick too hard to the work and chatter badly depending on the sander, grit, and work. Your list of tools would all use full suction. Perhaps the "new" Fein would be fine.

    Just don't assume that because lots of people, including me, are happy with their older Fein's that you can assume the new one is the same. I think they have been out for about 2 years so might still be too new to see if they last.

    If you are cleaning up shop debris or big stuff, a big hose always seems to work better. They all have big hoses available. Big hoses tend to be shorter.

    My Festool and 5 year old Feins have decent mobility and will follow you if you reach the end of the hose and keep moving. My big ShopVac from Lowes has horrible mobility with the wheels trying to go everywhere but where you want to go. It doesn't even move well with the handle.

    Pretty sure I don't have a good answer for you. Sorry.

  9. #9
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mike Holbrook View Post
    Any suggestions for a general purpose vac?
    Rigid or Craftsman (both made by Emerson) 12-16 gal wet/dry vac. You can get one for $100 or so, get whatever additional attachments/hoses you may want from Evenfall Studios. Get the Gore-Tex HEPA filter from Home Depot, NOT the Craftsman "hepa-ish" filter. You can use it for general cleanup without being worried about ruining it, save a bunch of money over one of the premium units. The premium units shine for "point of generation" collection, the standard wet/dry are da-bomb for post-generation collection, plus they're great for wet cleanup.

    One upgrade that I rarely see mentioned on the Rigid/Craftsman is replacing the casters with better ones. The crappy "double plastic wheel" stem casters that mine came with would constantly fall out, were such small diameter that they'd hang up easily on debris, and broke fairly soon. I replaced 'em with single wheel stem casters with 3" rubber wheels. (IIRC). MUCH better mobility.

    The biggest drawback to the generic wet/dry vacs for general cleanup is they are much louder.
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