Festool and Dust Collection

[lloyd morris]

Anyone have any opinions on how good the dust collection really is on a Festool TS55 Saw and 6" dual mode 150 Sander with their Dust Extractor System? From their website video is looks pretty amazing and effective.

Thanks,

Lloyd

[Cecil Arnold]

Good enough that LOML lets me use it in the house. Seriously, it is about as good as you are going to find. Perfect? No.

[Frank Pellow]

I have that sander and the older Festool circular saw. The dust control on both is better than I ever thought I could get with a hand hekd power tool. By the way, the dust control is not nearly as good with the Festool routers.

[Dave Falkenstein]

Dust collection on the sanders is extraordinary. The only time I see any sanding dust is when sanding narrow pieces, where a portion of the sanding pad is hanging in space. Dust collection with the plunge saws is quite good. There might be some dust at the end of a cut, when the blade exits the material. Using a backer piece can minimize that dust. If you run one of the plunge saws without the dust extraction in place, you will very quickly see just how much of the dust does get picked up - most of it.

[Ed Labadie]

Dust collection with the Festool Circular saw is excellent. I recently cut up a sheet of 3/4 MDF for a new router table top. About 8 cuts & you could have put all the sawdust on the floor in a Dixie cup.
The sanders are also excellent, as others have said.

Ed

[Jim Becker]

From their website video is looks pretty amazing and effective.

It's amazing and effective. I'd not hesitate to use these tools in my living room if the need were to arise.

[Tyler Howell]

Very happy with the Rotex, Scroll saw and Csaw. Haven't seriously worked with the router yet.

[lloyd morris]

Thanks for the thumbs up on Festool dust collection. Does it matter which Festool Dust Extractor System you get?

[Peter Pedisich]

Been using my ATF55/MFT/RS400/CT22 lately in my basement/office just a few feet from my computer. No problems.

It has changed where and when I can work with wood (plywood! ), in a very positive way.

The dust collection and build quality of Festools are the features most often talked about, but the ergonomics are first rate.

Pete

[Robert Waddell]

Lloyd,
I just bought the 150/5 sander and I'm using it with a Fein Turbo II. No dust at all except on narrow peices as someone else said. I would think you would want to go toward the larger size vac with a circular saw. If for nothing else the larger capacity for the chips coming of the saw.
Rob

[Dave Falkenstein]

Thanks for the thumbs up on Festool dust collection. Does it matter which Festool Dust Extractor System you get?

The Mini is aimed at portability, and has a smaller CFM rating for moving air. The CT22 and CT33 are the same specs. The CT33 has a larger dust holding capacity. I use a CT22 in my home shop, and find the bag capacity is plenty for my needs. The bag is actually quite large on the CT22, and seldom needs changing, unless you use it on tools that generate huge volumes of chips, like a planer.

[Paul B. Cresti]

Anyone have any opinions on how good the dust collection really is on a Festool TS55 Saw and 6" dual mode 150 Sander with their Dust Extractor System? From their website video is looks pretty amazing and effective.

Thanks,

Lloyd

LLoyd,
When I was doing installations I was able to use my ATF55 right inside my clients home with the CT22. It created a bit of dust but no where near what it does with out. I also sanded in those same homes with little or no dust spill over. Like someone els said as long as you keep the sander down on the surface, I would say darn near 100% is picked up. The routers and jigsaws are another story though...very hard to work with those cleanly. I would say for shop work the Ct22 is best. The Mini is really sized as an installers dc and the CT33 is just a bigger capacity version of the Ct22

[Frank Pellow]

The CT22 is by far the most popular Festool vacuum and it's the one I have. It is great in the shop and is portable enough that I don't mind (too much) taking it to job sites.

[Scott Brihn]

I've got the Festool saw and CT22 vac but use the smaller ES125 Sander.

I built a portable cutting table for sheet goods and this winter have sliced up a couple sheets of baltic birch in my finished basement right next to my home theater gear with minimal cleanup. I find the dust collection on the saw does not work as well when just "trimming" the edge of a board (straight line ripping or cutting down a door). I'm not surprised and execute these types of cuts in the shop or garage.

Like others have mentioned Festool sanders when hooked up to a vac are basically dust free. I'm not sure I needed Festool to acheive this as my trusty PC 333VS was basically dust free when hooked up to the Fein Turbo II. I do like the variable suction capability of the CT22 and reduced vibration of the ES125. Together they have enabled me to damper down the suction, noise and my hand no longer turns into a "claw" after an extended sanding session.

[Jim Becker]

Scott, the abrasives will last a little longer on the Festool sander because of the DC design with the center hole. This elminates the build-up that gets "cooked" onto the disks with many other sanders.