36mm Hose for a Festool Midi?

[gvega9889@gmail.com]

I have an older Festool Midi that originally came with a 27mm 3.5m hose.  I have 2 Festool 36mm silver hoses that I'm planning on so I don't  have to haul the Midi in my 30' x 32' shop.  I will use the Midi with a 125 Rotex, ETC EC125, Domino 700XL, TS 75 or a Kapex.
First off, will I gain any flow using the larger hose(s) or will I just minimize flow lose as a result of a larger run?
Second, is the Midi large enough to allow sufficient  air flow for each of the tools?

 

[RKA]

You’ll probably lose some flow over 25 ft, but for the domino and sanders it wont matter one iota.  The saws might suffer a bit, but try it and see.  It might still be acceptable.  I would suspect the 75 will be fine and it would be more important to keep the blade encapsulated so the dust extraction can be effective.  The Kapex isn’t perfect anyway, so the question is “is it good enough for you” on the longer run.

 

[mbrusso]

I  hope this is answering what you are looking for, (maybe not)

I  have a CT 26 which is 138 CFM and the new gen MIDIs are rated at 130 Cfm - I  am unsure of the rating of the older gen MIDIs.

I  started with a 27 mm hose (stock) x 3.5 M  with the CT26 and after 5 years finally upgraded to the smooth walled 36 mm hose and the gains in dust extraction especially with the Kapex were significant. It makes for a much improved sawdust capture - There is WAY less on the work table with the bigger diameter hose.

Mark

 

[semenza]

The older, much older now, were 99cfm.

Seth

 

[gvega9889@gmail.com]

I looked at the model number and build date and got the following:  #498250 & 02/13 build date.  I'm  a new follower of Festool so how do I determine if my MIDI  flows 99 cfm.  I tried looking for a Festool manual for that model number but could only find one for the newer models.
The one manual I did find has of pic of the midi and it is exactly the same.  It says flow of 222 m3/hr.

Thanks

 

[lshah72414]

I googled the conversion of m3/h to cfm the conversion is .588788.
222* .588788 = 130.71
So I think you are approximately 132cfm.

 

[Coen]

Call Festool. They know what serial number they started with the higher flow

 

[lshah72414]

I would agree with Coen. I went and looked at my midi, which was a 3/16 manufacture date and it is 222 also. But Festool probably can tell you for sure which one you have. Good luck

 

[gvega9889@gmail.com]

Just found an online 2012 catalog that was posted on this site in 2012.  According to the data listed the Midi has 3700 l/min, larger are 3900 l/min.  This calculates to roughly 130 and 137 cfm.

For the small increase in air flow (5%) on midi vs. the larger units, I would guess the vacuum turbine are the same. Can anyone verify and know what is different?

 

[AlexThePalex]

For the small increase in air flow (5%) on midi vs. the larger units, I would guess the vacuum turbine are the same. Can anyone verify and know what is different?

Festool stated around that time the smaller vacs now got the same turbine as the bigger vacs.

If your vac is from 2013 and you've found a 2012 catalogue where they already mention the higher CFM of 130 then I think you're good.

Problem is that around that time Festool started to upgrade their vacs but the upgrades did not all came at the exact same moment, and as your vac does not have the T-Loc connection on top, it might be an older one.

You can call Festool as suggested and give them your type and serial number and they might be able to give you the information you want.

You could also open up your vac, if you're comfortable with that, and look inside at the turbine. I have a picture of my older Mini with the older, weaker turbine, and it looks different from the newer, better one.

Old:
[attachimg=1]

New:
[attachimg=2]

 

[gvega9889@gmail.com]

Alex, just curious what is the build date on your name plate. Maybe we can narrow the date range of when the flow was increased.  I did send an email to Festool  but it'll  be next week before I get an answer.

 

[AlexThePalex]

Alex, just curious what is the build date on your name plate. Maybe we can narrow the date range of when the flow was increased.

[big grin] Well, mine isn't going to be very helpful with that as it's from 2006.

 

[xedos]

I can shed some light on this as I researched it at the time. 

In summer of 2011, FesTool "upgraded" the mini/midi with a new turbine and HEPA certification.  The latter was how they said you could tell whether you had the newer turbine. 

The same suction, same lift across all vacuums continued for several years.  Then , very quietly the mini/mini were de-rated to have less suction than the 26/36/46 units.  I enquired at the time and was stonewalled , never finding out if they fudged the ratings initially or changed the turbine again. I suspect the former.

I haven't looked into the newest generation to see if the turbine has changed again or even what the current ratings are.

 

[gvega9889@gmail.com]

This is very interesting and sort of confirms my suspicion that the midi vacuum rating was lowered to entice buyers to get the larger dust extractors.  Maybe when I buy the CT48 I'll open it up and verify this.  Thanks for the info.

 

[gvega9889@gmail.com]

Got a confirmation  from Festool, they sent me the operating manual for my machine and it confirms 130 cfm.