Official Luthiers Forum!

I hear fesstool sanders mentioned oin this site often, how is the dust collection system on them ? where do you purchase them online, and do they take standard sanding disc sizes? thanks Jody

Jody - one word - superb!

I have the Festool ES 125 5" ROS and the Festool CT-22 HEPA rated dust extractor (affectionately named Monica....) and the combo is about the nicest power tools that I own along with a Festool cordless drill.

Dust collection is excellent because the dust extractor connects to the ROS with a 1" hose and Festool uses special papers and has a patented mechanism for dust extraction on the ROS. You can use the ROS without the dust extractor and it comes with a little bag and the dust collection with the bag is excellent too but not HEPA.

You can use other papers but I don't know why anyone would wish to do so. Festool papers are excellent quality, last a very long time, and are not expensive. When using other papers the hole patterns are not the same so the dust extraction is not as good.

Woodcraft sells Festool and can have one to your door in a couple of days. I ordered some papers last Wednesday and there were here Friday with standard shipping.

Thanks Hesh! I have a little refinish work to do for a customer, dust is an issue, I may as well buy a sander I can use for the GEE-TARS as well. thanks again Jody

Jody - thought I'd chime in here...I also have the Festool CT-22 and it is an excellent vacuum system all on its own, but...

I added the dust deputy on the top. This thing SUCKS! (I mean, its awesome!)...The festool vacs use bags, which are cleverly designed and also kinda expensive. I've emptied this dust deputy SEVERAL times and there is still nothing in the bag that is in the machine. The contents of the dust deputy is like cake flour. It has enough suction to keep up with my 16/32 sander and my bandsaw...

_________________
Mitch

Mitch your set-up in on my "list".... - it would be nice to use fewer bags.

Todd,
I am not understanding what you are talking about. 150 ? 125?
Link

_________________
Cut to size.....Beat to fit.....Paint to match.

Model numbers.

_________________
Waddy

Photobucket Build Album Library

Sound Clips of most of my guitars

Model #'s for the vacs, hoses, sanders ? I am interested because I am looking to up grade. Need to cut down on the dust. I have always use a shop vac with a gortex filter but the hose is cumbersome. I like that the shop vac with the clean stream I believe it is called is easy to clean. I just go outside and bang it against a tree. With the festool and the fein it seems as if you have to deal with bags and extra filters and such. I would like to consolidate to whole deal.
Link

_________________
Cut to size.....Beat to fit.....Paint to match.

OK, I'll explain Todd's post. You can take a PC(Porter Cable) vac hose and take off the adapter end. It will then fit a Shop Vac and the dust collector port of the Festool.

He said the Festool model 150 which is a 6" ROS is better and jumps around less than the 125, a 5" ROS.

_________________
Waddy

Photobucket Build Album Library

Sound Clips of most of my guitars

I also have the ES-125, but I use Festool's MIDI vac. It's a bit less expensive, which was a factor for me. The dust collection is literally second to none and the papers are great. Sadly, I haven't been able to use the vac with the sander for about six months because of a clog that I'll hopefully fix today.

Thanks Waddy,
The funny thing is I have a Festool 6". I don't know the model #'s by memory though. In fact I don't much of anything buy memory anymore.
Link

_________________
Cut to size.....Beat to fit.....Paint to match.

thanks everyone, the dust collection is an important opart of the equation for me ... Jody

Jody, thanks for this thread. It reminded me to go get a plumbing snake and spend 15 minutes to unclog my 1 1/4" hose

Ouch...........

Jody:

I bought a Festool 125 on Hesh's recommendation and love it. I use my Home Depot shop vac and it works fine with it. I use the Festool papers, as well, but as I have other ROS's I just used the Festool for the finer grits to begin with. However the dust collection is so much better with the 125 I now use it for all grits.