Festool Extractor

[Millwright]

Are these Festool Extractors and their sanders really as good as they claim? I've seen videos (from Festool) of someone sanding walls and ceilings with no dust fallout what so ever. I've tried regular sanders with a vac and it was next to useless, so is the Festool the way to go?

 

[opps]

I have 4 Festool dust extractors and each of my electric sanders are Festool (bar my Dewalt belt sander).

My smallest dust extractor is the CT-Sys. It is great for scaffolding work because it is so small, but the bags are tiny and sanding plaster or filler clogs the pores in the bag pretty quickly. The next size up is the mini and midi. Unlike the CT-SYS they have variable suction and wheels.

In general, the antistatic hoses are 3.5m long and the cable flex is 5m. Once you plug your sander into the dust extractor and turn on the sander, it automatically turns on the dust extractor.

The amount of dust captured depends on the sander. The 150mm Festool Rotex has bucket loads of holes in the pad/paper. The 180mm Festool RAS has no holes in the paper and captures less dust.

Mirka, Metabo and Nilfisk are other options to look at.

I would add that the woven festool hoses are gorgeous. The ribs in the original anti static hoses would snag on sharp edges (slightly).

Whichever you go for- 3.5m of hose is really useful. Antistatic is a bonus- if there are wood chippings on the floor (left by the chippy), it will not cling to the hose.

Price wise- if you don't want to pay the Festool premium, then IMO it would be prudent to find an appropriate machine from either Metabo or Nilfisk. Nilfisk make dust extractors for other companies. Their antistatic hoses are cheaper than the Festool equivalent.

 

[Millwright]

I don't mind spending the money, if it really is as good as the videos show, that you can sand the walls of a room flat and not have a dust cloud!

 

[^woody^]

No better than a Henry for filtering.

TBH, all the main brands are equal on filtering, but differ on other criteria. For me, noise would be a main criteria and when I looked at some recently, Mirka was the quietest by some 10db.

I did like the power take off/bluetooth control though and the non-kink hose on the Festool units

 

[opps]

I don't mind spending the money, if it really is as good as the videos show, that you can sand the walls of a room flat and not have a dust cloud!

Yes you can. However you need a sander which has been designed to work with a dust extractor. In my opinion the best sanders are made by Festool and Mirka. Rupes get decent reviews but I have never used them.

 

[opps]

No better than a Henry for filtering.

TBH, all the main brands are equal on filtering, but differ on other criteria. For me, noise would be a main criteria and when I looked at some recently, Mirka was the quietest by some 10db.

I did like the power take off/bluetooth control though and the non-kink hose on the Festool units

I have never owned a Henry but when I first started decorating I had the George sized unit with the auto power take off. When sanding wall fillers the bags would split within 20 minutes. I complained to Numatic and they sent me a secondary filter. The bags still kept splitting though. The short hose was a PITA. In those days the bags were paper, I believe they now have cloth bags.

The airflow on a Henry is 2880 litres per minute, the airflow on a Festool CT26 is 3900 l/min. That is quite a big difference. It is also worth noting that a Henry does not have adjustable airflow. If I use my Festool RTS 400 sander on MDF it will bounce unless I turn down the air flow (because it is trying to stick to the surface).

TBH the noise is not too much of an issue for me given that I am primarily using sanders at the same time.

Other considerations are things like brakes (each of my Festools have brakes to stop them moving when in transit- also useful when you are sanding stair strings and have the extractor at the top of the stairs). Cost of bags- the festool ones are not cheap. I have only used snide ones once, although fabric, they split. When I took the remaining backs to the store, the guy looked at me and said "what do you expect, they are cheaper"...

 

[Wayners]

Shop vac and make a cyclone with a 150mm knock off sander is cheap way but the proper kit is amazing. Poor earnings in the trade sees many not able to afford the kit but its a must have.
I have it. Vac. RTS. ETS and a RO 90

 

[opps]

Shop vac and make a cyclone with a 150mm knock off sander is cheap way but the proper kit is amazing. Poor earnings in the trade sees many not able to afford the kit but its a must have.
I have it. Vac. RTS. ETS and a RO 90

Is your ETS the newer model (read: brushless). I get the impression that it is far more comfortable to use when working over head. I guess it weighs a lot less than my Rotex 125 and 150.

I love my RO 90 but when it comes down to the delta attachment, seriously, the discontinued DX93 is better. Less bounce when sanding in corners. The DX93 is also easier to handle when it comes down to weight distribution. I would recommend that you try to find one ebay.

 

[Millwright]

Yes you can. However you need a sander which has been designed to work with a dust extractor. In my opinion the best sanders are made by Festool and Mirka. Rupes get decent reviews but I have never used them.

That is what I'd be looking at, the Festool extractor and the Festool sander. Expensive, yes but as I say, worth every penny if they actually work like they say they do.

 

[opps]

That is what I'd be looking at, the Festool extractor and the Festool sander. Expensive, yes but as I say, worth every penny if they actually work like they say they do.

Which sander? I have the LS130, RTS400, RAS180, RO125, DX93, RO80 and RO150. The list is kinda the order in which I use them (the least to most).

One of the things I like about the RO models is that they have an "angry" mode (rotary as well as random orbit), it means a greater rate of stock removal. However, you then need to revert to the random orbit for a paintable finish.

The brushless ETS EC is something on my shopping list because it weighs much less than the RO150 (making it better for sanding ceilings), but it only has one mode and you need to decide if you want a 3mm orbit or 5mm orbit at the point of purchase.

I only do domestic work (each of my extractors are L class) . If you work on proper sites, you may need to purchase a M class dust extractor- even more expensive.

Each of my sanders are corded. If you go for a cordless festool sander you will need one of the Festool sanders with bluetooth to initiate the auto turn on function.

 

[Wayners]

L and M class are the same vacuums. Same bags and filters.
Only difference is an alarm if the flow has obstruction or bag is full.
That's what I heard

 

[blup]

Are these Festool Extractors and their sanders really as good as they claim? I've seen videos (from Festool) of someone sanding walls and ceilings with no dust fallout what so ever. I've tried regular sanders with a vac and it was next to useless, so is the Festool the way to go?

Any hepa class extractor is up to the job IMO unless a specific extraction standard e.g M class is a requirement of the site. Sanding walls inevitably produces a lot of non recoverable dust.