Festool Vac Accesories

[Doug Shepard]

Spotted a thread on FWW that Festool is raising it's prices 4/1/07 so I want to pic up a couple of things for the CT-33. For those that are also using the Festool Vac as a general shop vac - what size hose are you using? I'm leaning towards going with the 2" but none of the cleaning kits with Systainers have 2" hose. They're all the 1-7/16" hose. I'm sure I dont need all the widgets in the cleaning kits but if I go with 2" hose, I'd have to pick up one or two widgets plus the Systainer which probably works out more expensive. And what about Anti-Static vs. standard hose? Any thoughts???

[Matt Meiser]

I'd want the big hose. Even with the bigger hose you still get shavings caught up occasionally. Personally I kept my Ridgid shop vac because I didn't want to fill the bags up fast on the Festool. With it, I use two long tubes and a very wide nozzle for vacuuming benches, floors, tools, etc. Where the wide nozzle is too big, I just use the bare hose. I also have a 2-1/2 to 4" adapter so I can use the floor nozzle with the DC hose which I do fairly often.

[Bob Childress]

Doug,

I've been using the 27mm hose for general shop cleanup and have been quite happpy with it. I might go the the 36mm at some point, but don't feel that I would ever need the 50mm unless I was really makiing a mess with big shavings. :)

Anti-static is good. I used to hate my Shop Vac because more dust stayed outside than made it inside! :rolleyes:

[Steven Wilson]

I bought the Universal cleaning kit and it has worked out well for me (36mm hose). The hose isn't anti-static but I don't mind that for cleanup. It hasn't choked on anything really but then again I prefer to use a shovel for cleaning up lathe shavings. The widgets have come in useful as I use my vac for the shop, boat, truck, and car. My Sears shop vac, with the big hose, sits in our storage area and hasn't been used for a few years.

[Per Swenson]

I would consider the Boom Arm.

Greatest thing since...(insert your own).

Really.

Per

[Steven J Corpstein]

Does the boom still allow easy use for sucking up the floor debris or does it mostly shine when using it for the tools?

[Doug Shepard]

Thanks for the feedback everyone. I had a brief chat with Bob Marino tonight who pointed something else out that I hadn't been considering. So far I've only got a Festool sander with the 1" diam hose. Assuming I expand that stable in the future, I'd want the 1 7/16" diam hose not the 2". So it looks like that's where I'm heading now and probably one of the cleaning kits. Still debating on whether or not to get one of the hose hangers. The boom thing looks sweet but is going to just bang into too much stuff in my space challenged shop. There's 2 other hose hanger choices (3 counting none at all) that I'm waffling between.
My existing shop vac (a 30-ish gal DeWalt) is going to be booted out. I just dont have enough space to store 2 vacs.

[Bob Marino]

Does the boom still allow easy use for sucking up the floor debris or does it mostly shine when using it for the tools?

Steve,

Much better when using the tools, but takes only seconds to "unhook" from the arm hangers.

Bob

[Mike Holbrook]

I bought the Cleaning set for Workshop, item #454767, just recently. It is: an all metal set of extensions, metal floor sweeper and 36x3.5 hose in a systainer. I also got a crevice tool and a couple brushes.

You may also want to consider which hoses fit which tools. That is, there are different cleaning tools for different hoses. I tried to get tools that would work with both my hoses, but one item I got only works with one hose. Some tools will fit outside the smaller hose & intside the larger one.

I have the CT22 and I an amazed to still be using the original bag even after vacuming my entire basement with it several times. Those Festool bags do pack more in less space, just like they say they do. The metal floor vac works great on my concrete and rubber tiled floors, better than my house vac even with the small hose.

I keep 2-4 dogs in close proximity to my shop. The fur and dirt from the dogs clogs up my house vac filters quickly. The Festool vac has handled the dog fur and all the saw dust better than my big shop vac or house vac so far.

[Doug Shepard]

Thanks for all the input. I ended up ordering the Cleaning set for Tradesmen #454766 and a Systainer for Sanding disks #487431. Going to skip the hose hanger options for now as I think the vac will probably be slid at least partially underneath some other stuff when not in use and any upward projecting hanger might just be in the way. I can always add it on later. Think I ended up avoiding $21 in prices increases by buying now.