Miter saw Vac - Fein vs Festool

[Greg Parrish]

Looking to add a hepa vac that will be dedicated to my new Makita LS1019L miter saw setup. I just bought a Festool CT26 with boom arm and sander for my dedicated sanding station, and wonder if the Fein would work just as well for the miter saw. Benefit to a second CT26 would be sharing a box of bags, but otherwise how would the Fein Turbo II Hepa vac compare to the CT26? It’s a lot cheaper so that’s why I’m curious. Thanks.

[johnny means]

We have a problem with dust sneaking past the Fein filters and caking on the fan blades. I've taken it apart multiple times and it just keeps happening. It's been related to house keeping duty. My Festool vacs have never had an issue in over a decade. Well, I did have to do the worn out plug repair.

[Dave Sabo]

Greg, couple of questions:

Do you want to plug the saw into the vac ?
-or-
are you going to plug it into a separate dedicated circuit ? That saw is 15a if I recall. Most vacs draw 10a +/- at full bore.

Do you really need HEPA filtration ? The saw is going to fling a bit of uncaptured dust , negating the finer HEPA rating anyway.

Does the vac need to live under the saw ? How much room (height) do you have under there ?

Do you have or plan on getting a 36mm or 50mm diameter hose for the miter vac ?



Lots of cheaper vacs out there with the same or more suction as a CT26. But they may or may not fit your needs.

[Greg Parrish]

I wanted to plug it in to have triggered dust collection. Hadn’t really thought about it since people tend to plug the kapex into them.

Doesnt have ave to be hepa but want to collect as much fine airborne dust as possible. Also want it to be quiet like my current CT26.

Would order a 36mm hose to go with a CT26 if I went that way.

Yes, it would need to live under the miter stand. Will have to measure.

[Greg Parrish]

Hmmm , now I see what you mean. The manual says 12A total and max of 3.7A on connected tool. That doesn’t seem like much so I wonder how others are handling this?

Maybe I need to just add a light weight hood and tap into a line from the Oneida cyclone. That’s probably a better route and cheaper than a second festool extractor.

[Bernie Kopfer]

I have dedicated a older model Fein II to do dust pickup from a Kapex saw.The saw is plugged into the vac and
I have never noticed any power problems with the saw. I use generic bags w/o any problems.

[Dave Sabo]

That helps narrow it down Greg.

People do plug their Kapex into the CT’s and they work. Sort of. A lot of guys report their Kapex blowing motors and conventional wisdom has it that they aren’t getting enough juice. FestOol has been mum on the subject for years. The vac is using electronic trickery to allow a large saw to work when connected. The max. juice allowed through the vac for a tool is 9a +/-. And that’s on the lowest suction setting. Conv. Wisdom also recommends plugging Kapex up to a separate 20a circuit from the vac to allow enough current to reach the saw. This of course negates the tool trigger. But , for a few dolllars more you can buy a remote control that can be integrated into the CT’s. This allows any high draw tool to be adequately powered and still have a reasonable on off option at the tool.

Makita’s own 12gal vac is a bit of a gem as far as price / performance is concerned. $200+ less than a festool and it comes with a lot of accessories. Which you don’t need for the saw station. It is a lot taller than most vacs , so it might not fit under your station. And it’s connected tool rating is only 5a.

Nilfisk makes 26l vac for under 300 bucks with good suction too. Comes with accessories , but HEPA is $100 more if required. Tool. socket won’t support a 15a saw, and it’s taller than a CT. So..........

I think your correct that the the absolute best collection is by using the cyclone with a capture hood and a 36mm sucTion hose connected in tandem. But , that gets problematic if you just make a lot of onesy, twosy cuts every couple of minutes. Big inductions motors don’t like to be cycled on and off frequently. They also take a while to spool up and deliver suction at the tool. And it’s a lot louder than a vacuum.

[Jack Lemley]

Greg,

I have a CT22 w/boom arm and a Fein Turbo attached to my Bosch Gluider. It has worked with no problems at all. I can't tell any difference between the performance of the Fein and CT and the Fein is quite a bit cheaper. My Bosch is plugged into an iSocket Auto Switch $43.99 at Woodcraft 15a rated.

Jack


Looking to add a hepa vac that will be dedicated to my new Makita LS1019L miter saw setup. I just bought a Festool CT26 with boom arm and sander for my dedicated sanding station, and wonder if the Fein would work just as well for the miter saw. Benefit to a second CT26 would be sharing a box of bags, but otherwise how would the Fein Turbo II Hepa vac compare to the CT26? It’s a lot cheaper so that’s why I’m curious. Thanks.

[Jim Andrew]

Have you used the new miter saw enough to comment on it?

[Greg Parrish]

Have you used the new miter saw enough to comment on it?

Havent used it at all. Got it last weekend. Was gone all this past week. And just working to get it setup on the new stand today, but I’m feeling under the weather and moving slow.

I will say that this Makita is huge compared to other saws. The base is very large and as such I had to move the wood mounts to one of the offset positions to get the saw far enough back to have enough adjustment in the blocks to get the wings to line up with the fence. This causes the stand to have more weight to the rear of the stand which you can feel and I’m sure will require extra care when folding and moving the stand so I don’t let it fall over backwards. For usage, I’m going to put some sort of counterweight on the front of the stand. Just a little weight on each front leg will take any worry out of the slight off balance feel during use.

I need to finish dialing in the alignment to get everything calibrated, and I need to get a right angle adapter for the dust connection as the port points straight back or down at a 45. Either way the hose hits the wall behind it and puts stress on the plastic fittings. A 45 or 90 adapter would be better.

Ill share more more once I give it some use today or tomorrow.

401011

401006

401008

401009

[Justin Ludwig]

Buy a $65 vacuum (https://www.amazon.com/Shop-Vac-5989300-5-Gallon-Stainless-Vacuum/dp/B075MWCF8L?keywords=shop+vac&qid=1547379161&sr=8-3&ref=sr_1_3), a $56 dust deputy (https://www.amazon.com/Oneida-Molded-Dust-Deputy-Cyclone/dp/B002JP315K?crid=1EJL5XGRE908H&keywords=dust+deputy&qid=1547379218&sprefix=dust+deputy%2Caps%2C252&sr=8-5&ref=sr_1_5), an extra hose and 5 gallon bucket with lid and then send me the other $350 you would have wasted on a hepa vacuum for a shop.

I've been using that system for almost 3 years and that cheap vacuum is still going. I'm on the original filter and have had to clean it 4 times of the ".1%" fine dust that gets through.

Your welcome.

[Greg Parrish]

So I picked up a new hose for my 4 gal ridgid to use with my floor brush and other cleaning tools and then took the cheap original plastic hose that kept kinking in use and cut it to length for the miter. I will just unplug at the vacuum and plug the new hose in for cleaning. No real extra cost as I planned to replace the hose anyway so we will see how this works.

One thing to note on this saw is that the vac connection spot is very tight to work with. I found that by removing the cord clip next to the vac hose and moving it to the next screw higher gets the cord out of the way and helps with clearance around the vac port.

401124

401125

401127

401126

401128

This is is the dust after 6 multi angle test cuts on a 1x6 pine board. Not all captured but not terrible given the lack of dust hood behind the saw. The floor and surrounding area didn’t appear to have much on it but it’s hard to say on the concrete shop floor. Regardless I don’t think it sprayed chips everywhere. I may look to improve this with a hood over time. A hood combined with the vac port would probably solve any issues. Not sure how a kapex would compare to this saw though as I’ve never used a kapex.
401129


Still ill playing with getting this setup but right off the bat one issue I have with this fence/stand is that the saw can’t rotate to the full 60 degrees without spacing the wing further away or considering cutting it.
401130

Overall, I’m pleased with the saw. I still need to dial in the calibration on the blade, fence, miter scale but will need to also tackle the stands wings as well. Once I get them situated and the saw dialed in I think it will be a great tool even if I only use it for initial material breakdown most the time. It is my first sliding miter saw and time and use will tell if it was worth the premium over a basic chopper.

[Matt Putnam]

Greg,
im curious if you’ve refined your setup since these posts? I have same saw and also have it connected to shop vac. I’d planned to get one of the smart outlet/switches for vac initiation but the saw drawing 15amps makes it a no-go.
I saw a pic of someone’s setup in which they split the dust vac intake hose at the vac and had 2 hoses clamped directly to the saw - apparently that gave them better collection than the Makita connecting hose.

[Neil Gaskin]

We have 3 festool vacs and two fein vacs in our shop, mostly relegated to sanders with occasional use on the track saws and domino. I prefer the Fein to the Festool from a cost and performance basis. I've not had a problem with any of the Fein's and I like the feature that they stay on for a few seconds after you turn the tool off to clear the line.

I had one issue with a Festool that required sending it back in twice to have it looked at. They ended up replacing the motor I believe after about a year of service and the second time was some anomaly that self resolved. The suction was bad even after a tear down and cleaning. Festool couldn't find anything wrong with it and it seemed to work when they shipped it back. This was the larger model, I believe a CT36. The flip side of this I have a CT-Mini that has been a work horse, been abused, and still going strong after about 12 years or so.

My real complaint with Festool is the cost vs. Fein and their receptacle/electrical connections. I've had to replace the receptacles on all of the festools as they wore out. That seems to be my biggest gripe both with the receptacles on the vac's as well as the connections to the sanders for the cord which seem to wear out frequently.

In either case I think you would be happy.

[Bobby Robbinett]

We have a few Fein Turbo 2’s at work used mostly for sanders. I might talk the boss into ordering a CT Midi or CT Mini soon. Do they make a boom arm for the CT Midi or CT Mini?

[Curt Harms]

Does the Makita have a laser or other light? I just got a Hitachi 10" slider with the fixed sliding bars. If I plug it into my Fein Turbo II in auto mode the vac turns on as soon as the saw is plugged in. I guess the power supply for the laser/LED light draws enough power even when off to turn the vac on. The dust collection isn't perfect but it's better than I was expecting. Sliding compound miter saws are notorious for difficult dust collection. I did make one worthwhile discovery rigging this up. I have 2 hoses joined with a coupling. That makes it easy to disconnect and reconnect the dust collection. I have the vac in a semi-fixed location and it's convenient to separate the two hoses when I'm not using the saw. I had an old black stiff shop vac hose but needed another 10'. Did a little checking around and wound up with a 10' length of clear PVC hose from Peachtree via Amazon. The stuff is great, very flexible and no 'memory' so it'll lay wherever I put it. I hooked it up, put my hand over the end and turned the vac on. It sucks together from 10' to maybe a foot but maintains its diameter, no restriction to speak of.

https://www.amazon.com/CLEAR-COLLECTION-PEACHTREE-WOODWORKING-PW367/dp/B001JBANX8/ref=sr_1_4?crid=Q5NKW0PEAN1X&dchild=1&keywords=peachtree+dust+collection+hose&qid=1597410709&sprefix=dust+hose+peachtree%2Caps%2C148&sr=8-4

I did have to get a couple screw-on tapered ends. The threaded portion works, I just had to trim the PVC away between the wire coils in order to get it to thread. It holds so far and if it doesn't there's always hose clamps.

https://www.amazon.com/Shop-Vac-Vacuum-Threaded-SVR-4515-4pk/dp/B00KB82874/ref=sr_1_2?crid=1U7YZVB70YJG&dchild=1&keywords=2+1%2F2+hose+fittings&qid=1597411099&sprefix=2+1%2F2%22+hose+%2Caps%2C155&sr=8-2

[Dave Sabo]

Do they make a boom arm for the CT Midi or CT Mini?

Festool does not.

This guy does, thoughit's not portable:

http://www.rts-engineering.com



Does the Makita have a laser or other light?

Yes , but there is a switch to turn it off and on independently.

[James Jayko]

FWIW, I have a CT26 and the Fein Turbo II. The smaller size of the Fein is great and I have used it regularly on my Kapex as well as on an older Ridgid chop saw. It has worked great and never given me a problem, either in terms of power or in terms of dust collection. The CT26 is great as well, but a bit of a beast to drag up to the third floor to work on a flooring job or whatever.

I've also used it quite a bit with the OF1400 and the OF2200 (which I would imagine had a larger power draw?) without a problem. Just my two cents.

[Garrad Miller]

I've got a Flex dust extractor that works great using the on board plug with my 15A Delta Cruzer 12" miter saw.

[Curt Harms]

Does the Makita have a laser or other light?
Yes , but there is a switch to turn it off and on independently.

Hitachi is the same deal. The thing is that the switch is after the laser's power supply so the power supply is energized even though the laser is switched off. The power drawn by the power supply is enough to turn on the Fein vac. The Delta CMS I had before was the same although it wouldn't turn the Fein vac on but it would sometimes prevent the vac turning off. It doesn't take much current draw at all to turn the Fein vac on. Mine is from the mid or late '90s, the newer ones may be less sensitive.

[ChrisA Edwards]

I have a CT26 and now use it with my Shaper Origin. I have the same issue with the Shaper Origin being powered on all the time, so I added the Festool Bluetooth switch, which just attaches on any part of the hose.

It makes turning the vacuum on and off manually, easy, without having to move away from the tool.

[Dan Gaylin]

I guess I am the dissenter here but I bought a Fein and a CT26 to try them both out about 2 years ago. I found the Festool quieter and more effective, and I returned the Fein.

[Dave Sabo]

I guess I am the dissenter here but I bought a Fein and a CT26 to try them both out about 2 years ago. I found the Festool quieter and more effective, and I returned the Fein.


This has been the conclusion of independent testing too. Price often plays a factor though, so Fein keeps hanging in there.