How good is Festool dust extraction?

[Richard McComas]

I would like to know well the dust extraction is with the Festool Jig Saw when used with one of the CT dust extractors while cutting vertically, as in cutting in a relight (sp?) in a door while the door is hung.

[John R Lucas]

Rcih, it is hard to put into a grade point type answer. Here are my findiings. I want to use the plastic kerf guard that you slide in against the blade and it cuts the zero clearance exactly. That come first in my thinking. The the dust collector. You have to add the plastic wrap around doo-hickey (my catalog isnt with me). With that in place it works. How well quantitativly, I cant say, BUT I dont use that plastec doohickey because it make it hard for me to see the cut. Bottom line, is I dont use the vacuum with the jigsaw, but I sure love the way it cuts.

[Thomas Walker]

I love the vac on the festool circular saw -- it works great. But I don't use the dust collector plastic piece on the jigsaw either because it makes it hard to see my cutting line, dust collection without it is so-so.

[Jim Becker]

Richard, the dust extraction does work well with the jig saw when all the parts are assembled, but as stated, it's harder to use with the clear guard over the nose for visibility reasons. I use it when it's not a critical or curved cut, but don't when I really need to see the line.

[Frank Pellow]

I am with the group that does mostly uses the jig saw without the plastic thingamgig because I want to see the line. When I use the plastic thingy, the dust collection is quite good.

[Richard McComas]

Thanks for the replies guys; as some of you may know I work in the carpentry maintenance shop for the school district here in Anchorage Alaska. One of the tasks I do fairly often is to go into a school and install relights kits in classrooms and other doors. Most of theses door are quite heavy and since I work alone I usually make the cut with a jig saw leaving the door in place. Most of these doors have a particleboard type interior and cut easily with a jigsaw. Since the trim kit has a huge margin around the cut it sounds like I could make these cuts with this plastic piece in place, as the cut need not be that precise.

Of course I am trying to get the school district to purchase this setup for the shop, I gave my boss a demo of my the CT22 and my Festool ROS and he was quite imprested stating that he may add a couple of these units into the next budget. Hopefully over time I can convince the district to purchased some more of the Festool line mostly because of its dust extraction capabilities. I think these tools would save us consider time and effort with clean up because of the work environment I am in.

BTW did I mention the school district has a policy the lets us check out district tools over our 3 day weekend, we work a 4-10 scheduled.

Thanks again for your help.

[Jim Becker]

Richard, when I recently cut out a hole for the electrical box to serve my DC switch over the jointer I used the Festool jigsaw with the vac and all the various pieces in place since it didn't have to be a "perfect" cut. It captured over 90% of the sawdust which is nice in an almost "overhead" situation! (This was an angled surface under the stairway) It sounds like your situation is perfect for this setup...