HELP, Dust contol with hand sanders

[Jerry Todd]

Need advice on dust collection for my hand sanders. Favorite hand sander is the PC330 that has no built in dust collection. Am considering the Grizzly Vacuum Sanding Table that would be large enough to place a large blanket chest onto. Model H2936 in the Grizzly catalog. Has anyone on the creek used it?
Jrerry

[Todd Burch]

I don't know what that bad boy costs, but with my Festool 6" ROS connected to it's mating Festool CT vacuum, I get ZERO measureable dust. And that's a fact Jack! (er, Jerry)

Todd.

[Terry Hatfield]

Jerry,

You might consider building a down draft box. You can see how I built this one my site if you are interested. It is very effective. I am still using air powered ROS left over from my body shop days. If it ever dies I would buy the Festool, but for now the dd box does a really good job of keeping the dust captured.

Terry

[Dave Avery]

Jerry,

I'm with Todd. I have the Festool Rotex sander and you wouldn't believe how well it picks up dust. In addition, it's a great sander. I wouldn't want to use on all day long - it's a bit large and heavy - but for a hobbiest, it's absolutely great. Dave.

[John Miliunas]

Jerry, I believe Todd and Dave have the right idea. I only have the Festool 125 sander and, instead of the Festool, I hook it up to my Fein Mini Turbo. Does an absolutely phenominal job of both, sanding and getting rid of any appreciable dust. Dave refers to the "big dog" Rotex, but Festool has a number of different sander configurations. Hook any one of them up with a quiet sander, like the Festool or Fein, and you've got a winning combination for about the same $$ as the Grizz downdraft table. In addition, you have the flexibility of using a premium (and quiet) vac for any number of other uses. I think, too, that you'd find just about any one of the sanders a joy to use and probably consider it an upgrade over your present PC. Just MHO and we all know what they're worth.... :cool:

[Mark Valsi]

Man, since I got the Festool sander and vaccuum, i have found that there is almost no dust in the air while sanding !!

Amazing machine !!

[Halsey MCCombs]

I have the Festool 125 and connected to a Fein vac and it works great and no dust.Halsey

[Steven Wilson]

Need advice on dust collection for my hand sanders. Favorite hand sander is the PC330 that has no built in dust collection. Am considering the Grizzly Vacuum Sanding Table that would be large enough to place a large blanket chest onto. Model H2936 in the Grizzly catalog. Has anyone on the creek used it?
Jrerry

That table, the Delta, or a Denray would be great with a PC330.

[Bert Johansen]

Consider upgrading to the PC333, which I use. It comes with dust collection and it WORKS GREAT. I sanded for about two hours last evening and there was NO discernible dust at all. Worth every penny.

Bert

P.S. I have it connected to my big shop vac, rather than the useless little cylinder that comes with the ROS.

[JayStPeter]

I'm with Bert. PC333 connected to shopvac. I guess it's the poor mans festool :). Need earplugs though.
If you like the buzzy sheet sanders, my PC340 connects to the same rig and works OK (a little dust still gets away). But, after going to the ROS, I rarely have any desire to use a sheet sander.

Jay

[Todd Burch]

I have both systems, a PC333VS (OK, 3 of them) with a 16 gallon shop vac, and the Festool ES150/3 with a CT33 (the larger vac), and I can say there is a difference.

Yes, the PC333VS with a shop vac is certainly better than the mini canister, but don't forget to add the continued cost of the duct tape to hold the shop vac hose to the sander. Also, I'm left handed, and the Festool is hand independent, while the PC is designed for a right-handed person.

The Festool is better suited to work up close to an interior wall on both left and right sides, while the PC "fat bellied" dust-shoot gets in your way when sanding on the right-side, and if you aren't careful, smack-smack-smacks your project in the process.

The Festool shuts-down faster when turned off. If you don't have time as a factor in your endeavors, then this one won't matter to you.

I bought the Festool sight-unseen (except for the testimonials given here), and I have been very pleased with the tools that I have used so far, and to put it mildly, I'm pretty particular. (OK, anal retentive)

Is Festool the best thing since sliced bread? Probably not, but they are industrial strength and the products do what they advertise them to do.

That's all I'll say on it here. You need to weigh the decision for yourself.

[Steven Wilson]

Consider upgrading to the PC333, which I use..

I have the PC333VS and the PC330. Going to the 333 is not an upgrade. They are very different sanders. The PC330 is a wonderful finishing sander. It gets into drawer corners easily, leaves a very fine scratch pattern and you can use it where any other PC sander would be inappropriate. I'm not sure if there is a Festool sander that compares to the finish quality of the PC330. The PC330 is a truely great sanders.

[Jeff Grimes]

I have the PC333VS and the PC330. Going to the 333 is not an upgrade. They are very different sanders. The PC330 is a wonderful finishing sander. It gets into drawer corners easily, leaves a very fine scratch pattern and you can use it where any other PC sander would be inappropriate. I'm not sure if there is a Festool sander that compares to the finish quality of the PC330. The PC330 is a truely great sanders.

I use the PC333VS attached not to a shop vac, but my large Dust Collector. A simple 4" to 2"?? reducer works great. Drop was (old shop) in the ceiling which kept the hose out of the way...

[Tom Gattiker]

I agree. I use a Makita and I get very little dust as long as the whoe pad is on the workpiece. I hook it up to a 2.4 inch hose attached to my dc. you dont need a lot of air flow because the machine seems to be designed to channel dust thru the dust port anyway--because of the air flow generated by the motor I guess.

[Lee Schierer]

I connected my Porter Cable 33? to my dust collector system with a 1-1/4 shop vac hose. It is quieter than a regular shop vac and all the dust on the surface gets picked up so there is little if any sanding residue left when you are done sanding and no dust in the air. I had to wrap three turns of electriacl tape around the outlet on the PC sander to get a snug fit ont he ID of the shop vac hose, but it works great and my investment was minimal since I already had the shop vac hose.