Using a Festool ROS sans Festool Dust Extractor

[Glen Blanchard]

How well will dust collection work on a Festool ROS (specifically the 150/3) if hooked up to a generic dust collector (not the Festool dust extractor). I know it will not work as well as if the extractor is used, but I am wondering if it will work at least as effectively as my P/C 333 does when hooked to the dust collector.

[Scott D Johnson]

I have been wondering the same thing. No way the budget allows for both. But everyone raves about the "feel" of the sanders, so I am tempted to get one sometime.

[Jim Becker]

It will work fine connected to a "regular" shop vac. (Just noisier...) You may want to consider getting the Festool hose, however, so you have the handy flexible rubber connector that adapts, shape wise, to all the Festool tools.

[Glen Blanchard]

It will work fine connected to a "regular" shop vac. (Just noisier...) You may want to consider getting the Festool hose, however, so you have the handy flexible rubber connector that adapts, shape wise, to all the Festool tools.

I was thinking more about a traditional dust collector (Delta, Jet, etc.) rather than a shop vac. I would think, that if a shop vac will work, so will a regualr dust collector.

I thought the sanders came with the hose. No?

[Jim Becker]

Dust collectors do not work well with small tools. Dust collectors are principled around moving a lot of air at very low static pressure. Vacs move a little air at very high static pressure. You "can" use your small tools with the DC, but you will not get the same performance as you would with the "correct" extraction system. That said, it would be workable as an interim solution, but if you have a shop vac...use it.

[Bob Marino]

Glen,

What Jim said is right on.

Bob

[Jim Becker]

I thought the sanders came with the hose. No?
No, the hose comes with the vac, but they are available separately, too. For example, there are many folks who own the very nice Fein vacs which are some of the few that are performance (and quiet) competitive with the Festool extractors. Using the Festool hose, you can use the tools with any "standard/typical" shop vac including the Fein.

Sorry...I missed that question on my earlier reply.

[James Biddle]

I use a Fein vac with the Festool sander. It was a pain before I bought a Festool hose, but now its pretty easy to hook up any of my tools to the vac between the ends of the two hoses.

Also, I've used the Festool sander with a DC at a friends shop. It does an OK job at clearing the sander's dust, but it leaves a lot of the dust in the hose that makes a real mess when you disconnect the hose and roll it up.

[Greg Funk]

James,

Which model Fein vac do you have? I was looking at getting the Festool saw and router but wasn't sure if the Fein vac I have would be good enough. I have the mini-turbo which is rated at 116cfm vs 134 for the Festool CT-22.

thanks,

Greg

[Jim Becker]

Greg...it will work fine. I run my CT-22 with the speed setting halfway between the tortoise and the rabbit when sanding. (Literally the way it's labeled!)

[James Biddle]

James,

Which model Fein vac do you have? I was looking at getting the Festool saw and router but wasn't sure if the Fein vac I have would be good enough. I have the mini-turbo which is rated at 116cfm vs 134 for the Festool CT-22.

thanks,

Greg

Jim's right. I have the Turbo II and it (and a lot of vacs I suspect) are overpowered for sanding. You may need to empty the bag more often when you use your router, but what the heck...

[Greg Funk]

Jim, James:

Thanks, good to know!

Greg

[Jim Becker]

James, if your Turbo II doesn't have a way of "dialing down" the system like the CT-22 and CT-33 have, you can similate it by creating a bleeder port on the hose. It will help a lot with sanding, especially when you get to the finer grits and the sander is effectively closer to the workpiece.

[Steve Clardy]

I run the fein mini with a 150/3
Works just fine

[Bob Marino]

When using another vac, I would just try to get the best/finest filter available for that vac. Otherwise, particularly when sanding, you are blowing that fine dust all over da place!

Bob

[Rich Torino]

I use my ridgid shopvac with my Festool circular saw..
I bought the Festool hose and it works just fine. Again probably not as well as with the Festool unit but none the less very little sawdust to sweep up...

[Glen Blanchard]

As I understand it, the primary advantage to the Festool dust extractor is that not only does it pull air from the hose, but apparently there is a secondary hose into which it pushes air. My understanding is the blown air is pushed out the center hole of the sandpaper and enhances dust extraction. It is beginning to sound, from this thread (as there are many here who are using alternatives to the Festool dust extractor) that the air blown into the sander is not crucial in extracting dust. To what extent does this blown air enhance dust extraction? To put it another way, if, for the sake of illustration, the Festool extractor eliminates 100% of the dust created by one of their sanders, what percentage is extracted if a shop vac or Fein extractor is used in its place? I am trying to get a feel for the degree of performance loss if something other than the Festool extractor is used.

[Rob Blaustein]

I use the Festool sander (150/3) with my Fein Turbo II and after fiddling around trying to rig various connectors (including cutting a rubber one--made by Fein--to size) I threw in the towel and bought a Festool hose. That connection works well but my only complaint with this setup is that I think the Fein pulls too hard and I will probably make a bleeder valve as Jim suggested. The sander functions best with just the right amount of vac--too much and it tends to suck the sander down to the piece which defeats some of the airflow design. BTW, I think I got the info for the rubber connector from John Miliunas--you might PM him. This question has also been discussed on the Yahoo Festool User Group so you might come up with it searching there.

[Rob Blaustein]

Glenn--Just saw you post after posting mine. I may be wrong but I don't think it's the Festool hose that provides the airflow TO the sander, I think it's the action of the sander itself. And it's not so much an issue of adequate dust collection with the non-Festool vacs it's more an issue of how well the sander functions. I've not compared the two setups side by side, but it's possible that with proper vacuum you get smoother sanding. That said, it works pretty well as is with the Fein (on which I insalled HEPA filter). But my advice would be that if you don't have a good shopvac to hook up to the sander, go with the Festool. By the time you add the HEPA filter to the Fein, I'm guessing it won't come out to much less than the Festool (which come with HEPA filters, at least the 22 and 33 models).

[Larry Crim]

Bob, Jim and others hit on a key element I used a rigid shop vac with mine when I first got it and the sander was hard to controll on the work surface. When I finially got the Festool vac with the speed controll and set it like jim between turtle and hare it worked considerbly smoother. with a shop vac you would need a bleed port as stated.
Larry

[Bob Marino]

As I understand it, the primary advantage to the Festool dust extractor is that not only does it pull air from the hose, but apparently there is a secondary hose into which it pushes air. My understanding is the blown air is pushed out the center hole of the sandpaper and enhances dust extraction. It is beginning to sound, from this thread (as there are many here who are using alternatives to the Festool dust extractor) that the air blown into the sander is not crucial in extracting dust. To what extent does this blown air enhance dust extraction? To put it another way, if, for the sake of illustration, the Festool extractor eliminates 100% of the dust created by one of their sanders, what percentage is extracted if a shop vac or Fein extractor is used in its place? I am trying to get a feel for the degree of performance loss if something other than the Festool extractor is used.

Glen,

Festool has a patented system for it's ros's called "Jetstream". This allows for air in the center hole, to be "blown" or pushed out, forcing the dust that ordinarily gets clogged in the pad's center, out to the perimeter holes, where it can and is, extracted. The internal fan on the sanders can do this minimally, but nowhere near as efficiently as when hooked up to a vac. It can be any vac, not just Festool's. I would never use a sander without hooking it up to a vac. I would repeat, get a vac with the best filters and being able to adjust the suction accaording to application would be another positive feature.

Bob