Lets see your festool/vac boom arm setups.

[Mike Heidrick]

Acquired a ct22 today on trade and am ordering the boom and handle tool holder set. Loking to see pics of your setups and if you ran the power cords up it to.

Mikie

[Steven Wayne]

I have a CT36AC with a boom arm and I love it. It is used in the shop at the MFT for sanding, track saw and domino.

I also have a CT33E with boom arm that came in a package deal. I use it mostly for general shop cleanup. I've actually considered selling the boom arm setup. I like the handle though.

I can't see going wrong with the boom arm. Once you start using one you'll love it!

[Mike Heidrick]

I am liking the idea of the hose overhead of my bench - night now I drag it on my work so I end up holding it up. A buddy solved this by putting a Turbo 2 in a box and suspending the whole vac above his bench and put his hose on a wire al la shower curtain style. The vac was virtually free as I did not pay much shy of sweat for the tool I traded for it. I figured I could spring for the boom/handle/holder setup for $365. Vac has teh long life filter bag in it too which is a lot of coin from festool too! I will use it with the sanders, tracksaw, and domino as well. Wanted one for a long time but could hardly stand to drop $500ish for a shop vac and another $65 for the boom.

Also - any of you guys have the ultimate dust deputy on your setup too or mod an orginal to a regular systainer? May not be needed much with that bag but I like that cyclone idea.

[Rick Christopherson]

Well Mike, you did say "boom arm", but you didn't specify which model. So can I play? :D

Actually, if you can take your eyes off the tool porn at the ceiling for a moment, you can see that I still have the original boom arm still attached to my CT22. You will appreciate having the power cord running overhead with the vac hose. I've seen that a lot of woodworkers have wrapped their hose/cord combination with a flexible wrap to keep them together. I am lucky enough to have the European hose with integral plug-it cord, and it is one of the most valuable additions to the shop. Even if you hold your cord and hose together with just cable ties, you will find it very handy.

Edit: Oh, by the way, you would be most interested in what is holding the hose up in this picture. That little red/black object obscuring part of the Festool name is called a "Tool Balancer", and I bought it used on eBay for $25. It is a spring loaded (and adjustable) cable that pulls up on what ever you have hanging from it, but will extract out as far as you need it. Normally my hose is pulled up in a loop at the boom arm, but in this picture, the hose is actually connected to my TS55 saw sitting on the floor. It keeps the hose out of the way when I am not using it.

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