Considering first festool

[Dave Sabo]

They do but it is not like the Mirka Coaxial cord as in the cord is not literally built into the hose but is in a sleeve outside the actual hose. I make my own with braided sleeving from Wirecare (available from a lot of places) and heat shrink tubing. I have them made up for both Festool and Mirka. One of the things I like about these hoses is the corrugations from the hose don't have a chance to catch on any thing.

Should be noted that this sleeved hose/cord has been discontinued by festool. You can still find them at a few places if look hard enough though. I got rid of all mine because I found them too heavy for everything; and too restrictive for just about everything but sanding. They were a tapered design if I recall correctly.

I have an EC sander for 5” and 6” and I’ll throw in my contrary opinion: I don’t like it as much as the peanut gallery does. Mine has also been in for service because of a blown ecu board - and others have had the same part blow. Nothing like the amount of kapex woes , but enough to have a couple of threads about the issue. It’s not annoying enough for me to sell, but it doesn’t get used that often. Next to carvex, my least favorite festool. Try it in the store and really use it within 30 days - you’ll get a good sense of whether it’s for you or not. If not , return it and get a reg. ETS.

I also have or had just about every premimum tool activated vac down the pipe (and some screamers too). Wap, Fein, Alto, Festo (nilfisk), Porter Cable and Festool. Craftsman, Ridgid, and ShopVac cheapies. I’ve been satisfied with all of them except the craftsman. They all did the jobs intended, but I would not want to sand all day with the ridgid any more than I’d want to use the festool to clean up debris from a tile job.

What Ive learned over the years is that you need to match the vac AND hose to the job. A small , longer hose is preferable for sanding especially if you’re using it to do walls and ceilings. A larger, shorter one is better for large debris cleanup or things like planers. Sometimes a tool will dictate the hose. Some guys like the. 36mm hoses for routers, but you really can’t use that size with an OF1010 or a DeWalt 611. I’ve grown to like the the anti static type hoses that festool and Bosch have. Worth the xtra spend for me.

Some have said there are cheaper alternatives to festool vacs. True. But when you compare apples to apples they really compare favorably. Other vacs may be cheaper but by the time you upgrade to HEPA and get an antiststic hose or longer one, the savings are eroded. That’s before you even start to look at the turbine power. Festool isn’t the best/strongest but it’s right up at the top. And should you ever want to go mobile, they pretty much best everyone with portability and the systainer stacking.

Then there’s the tool triggering. Plug up whatever you want into a festool vac. Plug your mitersaw into a Porter Cable or WAP tool socket and you’re going to be sending in for service and receive a sizable bill for a control board.

[Van Huskey]

Should be noted that this sleeved hose/cord has been discontinued by festool. You can still find them at a few places if look hard enough though. I got rid of all mine because I found them too heavy for everything; and too restrictive for just about everything but sanding. They were a tapered design if I recall correctly.

Just a note, they did discontinue the 3.5M one but the 5M and 10M sleeved hoses are still catalog items. I also agree the sleeved hose is heavy. I bought one of the clearance 3.5m ones for $125 (I like the tapered ones for sanding and mine are suspended from the ceiling on tracks) while I haven't actually out it into service
yet I figured even if I hated the sleeve the Systainer, hose and cord were worth more than $125.

[Dominik Dudkiewicz]

Have you tried the newer festool sanders. The ets-ec models. If so I’m interested how the Mirka is better? I’ve thought about buying one but ended up with the festool.

I am the opposite. I was interested in both the Festool ETS-EC and the Mirka Deros. Ended up with the Deros because I could get it about 35% cheaper than the Festool. Don't regret it, it's a nice sander. But I feel I would have been at least equally happy with the Festool. The two things I dislike about the Mirka is not having a permanent on-off switch and that without an over-head dust hose boom/support the sander is unbalanced with a dust hose attached at the back - requiring you to concentrate on applying a forward moment to keep it flat on the work - something a heavy sander like my Bosch Gex 125-150 doesn't suffer from (but I find this sander too bulky / heavy in general and it doesn't get much use). I actually still prefer using the DTS400 over the Mirka Deros to be honest.

But on the whole I don't sand much - preferring a hand-planed finish for most work.

Cheers,

Dom

[Derek Cohen]

I have not been on the power tool forum that long, having come from the hand tool side. I think that the guys here like tools even more than over there. And they cost a LOT more over here!

Greg, buying Festool is like buying a premium handplane, such as Lie Nielsen or Veritas. There are a lot of other planes around, and some of them better. But the premium brands are the desired ones .. just because. You have to remember that a lot of really superior woodwork gets done with very basic tools. Festool, et al are nice, but not necessary.

I have been tempted to get a 150/3. I have the forerunner, an ET 2E , purchased around 20 years ago. It is still going strong several pads down the track, and now used with Mirka Abranet mesh. It's hard to justify buying the 150/3 as I rarely sand anything - I prefer hand planes or scrapers for finishing. And then the Mirka Deros seems to be a superior sander to the Festool.

I now have a Festool CT26E vacuum. Bought it 2 years ago after a Fein blew up (my fault). The CT26 is excellent, but not that much better than the Fein, and certainly not nearly 50% more expensive.

I have two cordless drills. One is a Panasonic 12v that is now 20+ years old. The other is a Festool C12 (10.8v). I love the lightness of the Festool, and consider that is the perfect drill for a shop, where it is used for drilling screw holes and driving screws. I like the accessories, for getting into nooks and crannies. The Panasonic is more powerful and does not weigh much more. A great, balanced drill. I am really not convinced that the C12 is better. It is just more versatile. A new 14.4v Panasonic looks very attractive.

About 18 months ago I purchased a Domino, the DF500 model. This was used to build a kitchen-full of frame-and-panel doors. It did a decent job. Since then it has been unused. I don't want to sell it (yet) as I hear how it transforms everyones woodworking world. It has not transformed mine (yet) as I prefer to make mortice-and-tenon joints the old fashioned way. I find the result superior to a Domino, being more rigid and it is possible to create a wider variety of mortice-and-tenon joints than one can do with a Domino. Then again, I am just a hobbiest. It may be different if I was cranking out pieces all day long.

I almost purchased a Festool router! It was the OF2000, which was the forerunner of the OF2200. That was back in about 1990. However I preferred the Elu 177e, when I used them alongside one another. The Elu was simply smoother and better balanced (of course back then we did not consider dust collection to be that important - cannot beat Festool for dust collection). I have 4 Elu routers, and still to get a Festool. I'd like a Festool. They are good, I hear. One day.

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Greg Parrish]

Thanks for all the replies. I’m still looking to get the CT26 or CT36 with the boom arm setup to become a dedicated sanding station vac. I’m not sure which sander would be best yet for me to start with but I’m still reviewing comments and doing my research. Thanks again.

[Jim Becker]

Greg, unless you have a reason for the larger extractor, the CT26 is the better choice of those two, IMHO. I don't use my Festool vac for general shop cleanup ever...it's dedicated to small electric tool extraction because of the bags that collect the debris from the tools and help with the filtration. For shop cleanup, I have a small, inexpensive Ridgid shop vac as well as the floor sweeps on my cyclone system.

I'll again suggest you seriously consider the better 5" unit that can also take the 6" pad. Best of both worlds. I'd buy that "today" if I didn't already have what I have.

[BrianD King]

Thanks for all the replies. I’m still looking to get the CT26 or CT36 with the boom arm setup to become a dedicated sanding station vac. I’m not sure which sander would be best yet for me to start with but I’m still reviewing comments and doing my research. Thanks again.

Do the research for sure, and you will eventually come to a conclusion. And then you'll end up buying another Festool sander. And then maybe another! I started with the ETS-EC 125 for finish sanding. It's a MASSIVE upgrade over the standard Dewalt ROS I was using before. But like all round ROS, it's not so great for edge profiles. So I got the RTS 400 too.

Now, I really want to add the Rotex to the mix, as the ETS-EC doesn't excel at fast stock removal for really rough stuff like live edge slabs. Sigh...

There's a reason Festool has so many sanders...there's no magic sander for all tasks.

For me, Festool is 100% worth the price for sanders and the Domino. The track saw is great too but maybe not so much better than the Makita to justify the $. And the vacs, well I have the CT Mini and it's great too. But then I replaced my do it all shop vac with a Fein Turbo, and it strikes me as just as good at half the price.

[Greg Parrish]

So I’m totally lost on which model to start with. Let’s say I want something for finish sanding stuff like cutting boards and small furniture items and I’ll be using paper or mesh from 100 to 400 grit. Will any of the 5” models fit this bill and will they use the Freud 5” disks and mesh screen pads that I have now? I’ve got hundreds of sheets of that to use up.

Would the ETS EC 125/3 be a good choice here or something else? Or maybe the RO 125 FEQ? I’d prefer to start with a 5” unit even if I add a 6” for heavier and rougher sanding later.

[BrianD King]

So I’m totally lost on which model to start with. Let’s say I want something for finish sanding stuff like cutting boards and small furniture items and I’ll be using paper or mesh from 100 to 400 grit. Will any of the 5” models fit this bill and will they use the Freud 5” disks and mesh screen pads that I have now? I’ve got hundreds of sheets of that to use up.

Would the ETS EC 125/3 be a good choice here or something else? I’d prefer to start with a 5” unit even if I add a y” for heavier and rougher sanding later.

Any of the non-Rotex ROS options would be good for cutting boards and smaller furniture. I've done all sorts of trays, boards and furniture with my ETS-EC 125, and it works beautifully so long as you don't need to remove lots of material -- ie, you are starting with pretty flat stock that isn't pocked or otherwise really rough.

You can't use Freud Diablo sanding disks with Festool unless you're ok with losing all dust collection because the holes don't line up. To me that's a big part of the reason to use. Also, the Granat paper from Festool is amazing even if expensive.

[Jim Dwight]

I am still resisting although I have a couple festool items (hand sander and plunge base for multi tool which fits my fein). My favorite sander is a Bosch 1250DEVS. It is a 6 inch that works like a Rotex - bosch calls the additional mode turbo mode. In that mode, it is nearly as fast as my small belt sander. Much faster than my 5 inch DeWalt, even when in orbital mode. I use it one handed but it is a bit big for that. I hook it to my rigid vacuum that has a dust deputy on it using a Bosch 5 meter hose.

I have the Rockler hose but I do not like it, too heavy.

I use a DeWalt track saw I like a lot. While I am sure Festools are nice and for professionals where time is money they probably pay, there are equivalents in other brands for most of their items. But not the domino. I will probably get one before I retire. My hollow chisel mortiser works well but the Domino would be faster and take up less space.

[Greg Parrish]

Any of the non-Rotex ROS options would be good for cutting boards and smaller furniture. I've done all sorts of trays, boards and furniture with my ETS-EC 125, and it works beautifully so long as you don't need to remove lots of material -- ie, you are starting with pretty flat stock that isn't pocked or otherwise really rough.

You can't use Freud Diablo sanding disks with Festool unless you're ok with losing all dust collection because the holes don't line up. To me that's a big part of the reason to use. Also, the Granat paper from Festool is amazing even if expensive.

Thanks Brian. So this stuff doesn’t work either? https://www.homedepot.com/p/Diablo-5...H10I/301439866

[BrianD King]

Thanks Brian. So this stuff doesn’t work either? https://www.homedepot.com/p/Diablo-5...H10I/301439866

Not really, unfortunately. I donated all my Diablo sanding disks to a local school's woodshop

[ChrisA Edwards]

[Nick Decker]

Thanks Brian. So this stuff doesn’t work either? https://www.homedepot.com/p/Diablo-5...H10I/301439866

Actually, Greg, I believe those Diablo SandNet discs will work fine. No holes to line up with the holes on the sander. Many of us use the Mirka Abranet discs for that same reason. Whether the Diablo mesh works as well as Abranet, I don't know. My guess, since they're cheaper, is that they won't last as long.

[BrianD King]

Actually, Greg, I believe those Diablo SandNet discs will work fine. No holes to line up with the holes on the sander. Many of us use the Mirka Abranet discs for that same reason. Whether the Diablo mesh works as well as Abranet, I don't know. My guess, since they're cheaper, is that they won't last as long.

It's a question of how well you want the dust collection to work.