Fein, Festool Vac owners... Questions

[Anthony Scott]

I am considering a Fein or Festool vac for duct collection. All my current tools have a 2 1/2" or less dust port. I don't have a full size dust collector. I am looking at these vacs mainly because of sound levels and portability. I think that for my modest needs the vacs would suffice, at least for a while.
I noticed though that except for the Turbo III, it looks they all come with 1 1/4" or less hose. How well does this work for a tool with 2 1/2" port, using an adapter? For the actual owners of these vacs, how well do they work in general for dust collection, at least small scale dust collection?

Thanks

[Chris Padilla]

I have the Festool vacuum and it works very well with the Festool powertools. I think as a general vacuum, they do pretty well, too. I think what you may find is that the design of the tool's dust collection is 99% of the deal. Poor dust collection design, poor results hooking a vacuum up to it.

I always wear hearing protection when I run things but for sure, the Festool vacuums are quieter than say a good ole shopvac.

I think you'll be happy with either one.

[Van Huskey]

I am considering a Fein or Festool vac for duct collection.
Thanks

My 2 cents is that you would be MUCH better off getting the 2hp Harbor Freight DC and putting on a canister filter. Cheaper than either of the vacs and significantly more effective for machine DC. Not that those vacs aren't excellent and function well with hand power tools, they just have no where near the amount of air movement needed for effective DC of machines.

[Callan Campbell]

The Fein Vacs allow a small basket to be placed on top of them as a cargo carrying add-on-. The Festools offer all sorts of options that allow you to expand your storage, usage and even intergrate a cyclone from Oneida since the CT-'s are popular enough that Oneida designed a box cyclone to sit on top of the Ct-22 or CT-33 to greatly enhance the dust collection with 2 stage DC . For me, that's more of a reason to go with the Festools, as both Fein and Festool make an excellent vacuum, and have tool/vacuum activation electrical sockets to turn on the vacuum unit when you're plugged through it for power. I bought my CT-22 in 2004, and yet still keep updating it with more items as I discover another way to work with the tool/machine.
You can also buy larger diameter hoses for the Festools. I have both the small stock 27mm hose for all my regular sanding, and the larger 36mm hose for higher capacity sanders like my Clarke 8" Drum Floor sander. They also offer a 50mm hose as a longer distance or even higher capacity hose if you need it. For that application, they also offer a splitter/Y-pipe to tee into the vacuum with 2 hoses for certain work applications to speed up the job with two tools.
I also have the spark arrestor unit that's basically a safety drum with internal plate to kill metal grinding sparks if you want to use your dust collector/vacuum to work with metal instead of just wood or paint etc.
What I DON'T understand is how FEIN let Festool do all of this. I remember Fein being WAY before Festool with these higher quality vacs, yet they stopped at the accessory level dead cold.:confused:
Unlike Festool:p
Watching the new vacs from Festool which have just come out, and basically the same older design versions from FEIN makes you wonder if they've just given the market for these vacuums to Festool without putting up much of a fight?
Anyway, you can see I'm sold on Festool for the above reasons.;)

[Jon McElwain]

+1 on Festool/Fein being good for hand power tools but not so great for machines. They have strong suction, but they are simply not made to move lots of air like a dust collector. Think of a small vacuum being able to pull enough suction to pick up a small board at the end of the hose. A dust collector may not be able to pick up the same board, but it is moving a lot more CFM's so it will be better at catching all the little dust particles being generated by a larger machine.

All that said, my CT33 does a reasonable job at dust collection on the miter saw, but it would get buried under sawdust from a large tablesaw or bandsaw dust port.

If you are using smaller machines the Festool/Fein will work okay, if small hand power tools definitely get the vac (my preference for many of the above reasons - especially adaptability is the Festool), and if you are using primarily large stationary machines like tablesaws, bandsaws, stationary sanders, sanding tables, planers, jointers, lathe etc. definitely go for the dust collector.

[Bruce Page]

I use a Fein T-3 for all of my hand power-tool dust collection, it does an impressive job. I’m sure that any of the Festool vacs would also. As mentioned, they fall short when it comes to chip collection from a planer, jointer, drum sander, etc.

[Callan Campbell]

+1 on Festool/Fein being good for hand power tools but not so great for machines. They have strong suction, but they are simply not made to move lots of air like a dust collector. Think of a small vacuum being able to pull enough suction to pick up a small board at the end of the hose. A dust collector may not be able to pick up the same board, but it is moving a lot more CFM's so it will be better at catching all the little dust particles being generated by a larger machine.

All that said, my CT33 does a reasonable job at dust collection on the miter saw, but it would get buried under sawdust from a large tablesaw or bandsaw dust port.

If you are using smaller machines the Festool/Fein will work okay, if small hand power tools definitely get the vac (my preference for many of the above reasons - especially adaptability is the Festool), and if you are using primarily large stationary machines like tablesaws, bandsaws, stationary sanders, sanding tables, planers, jointers, lathe etc. definitely go for the dust collector. While you are truly right about reaching the limit with these vacuums, you should have seen how much dust my set-up handled with running a drum floor sander. 36mm Festool hose hooked up to the drum floor sander and the Oneida cyclone unit sitting on top of my CT-22.
Sanded floors away, and as long as I kept the cyclone collection box lower than 1/2 to 3/4 full, suction was never a problem. Watching the clear hose and cyclone on the Oneida unit was pretty cool too!:D
For stationary or bench machines, the largest sanders I hook up to are my 1 x 42" belt sander, and a small 4 x 36" belt sander. Having 2 stage DC with the cyclone enables me to handle these two machines easily, but you're of course absolutely right that they're no match for true DC, either single or 2 stage units.:)
For that, I turn to my single stage Delta DC. Someday I'll get a large cyclone, but for now, having a portable one with my Festool CT-22 works out great for many tasks.:cool:

[Gary Curtis]

I have the Fein Turbo II. Used to clean the shop and to attach to smaller hand-operated power tools.

The smaller hose is real nice because it is lighter and more flexible than a 2.25" hose. I wouldn't even consider it for DC on a big power machine. You can get a 1.5hp roll-around Dust Collector that does a much better job.

I know, the cost of all this stuff adds up. But my Fein has been commandeered by my wife to Vacuum the house. It is a superb machine. Tougher than the Chinese made stuff, but a bit scaled down from Festool in design and cost.

Gary Curtis

[Jim Becker]

My 2 cents is that you would be MUCH better off getting the 2hp Harbor Freight DC and putting on a canister filter. Cheaper than either of the vacs and significantly more effective for machine DC. Not that those vacs aren't excellent and function well with hand power tools, they just have no where near the amount of air movement needed for effective DC of machines.

He would get poorer performance with this setup, Van, because he has all small ports on his tools. The HF DC or similar require a lot more air to flow than can physically get through a small tool port and the resulting drop in air movement at such high static pressures will be disappointing. The dust extractors from Fein and Festool are optimized for small tool dust control and perform at their peak in that environment.

That said, it would absolutely cost less in coin to go the DC route, but it's a pretty bad trade-off relative to performance.

[Van Huskey]

He would get poorer performance with this setup, Van, because he has all small ports on his tools. The HF DC or similar require a lot more air to flow than can physically get through a small tool port and the resulting drop in air movement at such high static pressures will be disappointing. The dust extractors from Fein and Festool are optimized for small tool dust control and perform at their peak in that environment.

That said, it would absolutely cost less in coin to go the DC route, but it's a pretty bad trade-off relative to performance.


I disagree, the maximum airflow on a Festool vac is about 130 CFM, no? This is FAR below any recommendation for standing machines, not even half what is considered a minimum so that leaves them short no matter what. I agree that a 2.5" port is going to cut the CFM from a DC down a HUGE amount but I am pretty confident it will still produce more than 130 CFM.

The bottom line is the vacuum WILL fall short of the required CFM for a machine but I will accept the DC may also, but would proffer it would be closer to the minimum requirement than a Festool or Fein vac.

[Callan Campbell]

I disagree, the maximum airflow on a Festool vac is about 130 CFM, no? This is FAR below any recommendation for standing machines, not even half what is considered a minimum so that leaves them short no matter what. I agree that a 2.5" port is going to cut the CFM from a DC down a HUGE amount but I am pretty confident it will still produce more than 130 CFM.

The bottom line is the vacuum WILL fall short of the required CFM for a machine but I will accept the DC may also, but would proffer it would be closer to the minimum requirement than a Festool or Fein vac.
Van, PM sent regarding Fein.

[Kent A Bathurst]

I use a Fein T-3 for all of my hand power-tool dust collection, it does an impressive job.

+1. I have the older model T-III. No experience w/Festool. Quiet. Very quiet. Upgraded after a few years with filter [not the HEPA, tho] and the collection bag. Shoulda done that from the get-go. Emptying an open barrel full of sander fines is not a happy day.

I'll guess that for benchtop stationary tools, it would do pretty well. I use it on a Ridgid oscillating belt/spindle - works fine. Would think it would do fine for a router table also - stuff like that. Not for TS, though. OTOH, my cyclone would be the wrong choice for the hand-helds.

[John Piwaron]

My 2 cents -

I have a CT-22. It has it's place but it's not a dust collector.

I also have a Craftsman shop vac. My experience is that I used that Craftsman for a long time as a dust collector on my DeWalt planer. It got a lot of chips, maybe 80% of them. That was nice. But the shop was still dusty.

So I got a single stage dust collector. That has far higher CFM air handling. Now I get 99% of all the chips from the planer. And I collect from the TS. Due to how the TS works, still not getting the stuff from the blade guard.

The area where the Festool CT-22 excells are my routers and sanders. Absolutely hands down the best thing I could have done with them. It's collecting most of the stuff from the router and all of it from the sanders. The CT-22 is perfect for the hand held tools to which it connects directly to with it's standard hose. The hand held tools I'm collecting from are all Porter-Cable brand. The routers are used both freehand and in the table. I'm collecting from them used both ways.

But I'd never ever even try to use the CT-22 on the TS or especially the planer. It doesn't have the air movement necessary and even more important it'd fill the internal bag in a jiffy. For the average project in my shop that might be 3 or 4 bags. Maybe more. I assure you, Festool bags are expensive.

So, the work of handling the big iron goes to the dust collector, the rest of it to the Festool CT-22. The shop vac is still my choice for general shop clean up.

Best of all, my wife has stopped complaining about how much dust there is in the house. :)

[george wilson]

I have had a Fein for years. Fortunately,a soft plastic Sears 2 1/2" vac. hose will fit just fine into the opening where you take out the original Fein hose. I never use the fein hose except for portable power tools.

The Fein is just as powerful as ANY of the other shop vacs with "alleged "6.5 HP,and it is decently quiet. I will not ever go back to a noisy vac..

None of the shop vacs are really big enough for handling machines,though. You need AT LEAST one of those 2 bag cheap vacs,but buy the extra fine filter bag,because you can see right through the fiberglass looking weave of the factory bags,and they stop NO fine dust at all,which is the dangerous stuff. Those thick flannel looking bags you have to buy extra aren't real cheap,but they are what you must get to stop the dust that you do not want to breathe,or to settle all over your shop.

[Jerome Stanek]

I have a fein trubo III and a trubo II both have the 2.5 inch inlets but the Turbo II came with the 1.5 hose. I use 2.5 on each for vacumn hold downs never used them as dust collectors. The filters are as clean as when I got them

[Anthony Scott]

Thanks. Great info.

[Dan Karachio]

I really went kicking and screaming to buy a $500 vac, but we had the same issue with our house vacs. Too many cheapos that died in a year or two and performed poorly. Pay more and you get better perofmance and they last for years. So now we have an expensive vac in the house (a Miele) and I have an expensive one in the shop (Festool CT22). I absolutely love this thing. In some ways it is almost my most used tool. Along with using it on all my Festool stuff, biscuit joiner, belt sander, dovetail jig and more, I got the cheapest attachment kit and now I clean up that shop all the time. When cleaning I see no need for ear protection. I also have a DC for the bigger tools. I'm sure Fien is also excellent, I just don't have experience with them.