Attach Festool to Miele Vacuum for small jobs?

[SGreenberg]

I use the CT22E vacuum in my shop, but occasionally I need to do some small sanding jobs at home.  I know I can use the bag attachment, but has anyone tried to attach a sander to a Miele vacuum?  Any reason you wouldn't do this?  If you've done this successfully, how did you connect the hose?  Thanks.

 

[Tom Ryan]

I've used Miele attachments for my Festool hose with no problems -- no adapter needed.  I don't know if your sanders have an oval (i.e. not round) connection, and if so, how that works with a Miele hose.

The Miele I have has a hepa filter.  An issue is varying the suction -- it isn't variable speed, but you can reduce suction for sanding with a adjustable vent on the intake.  There is one on the Miele hose.

The other issue I can see is capacity -- the Miele bag is very, very small compared to a Festool or Fein shop vacuum.

Tom in SE Pennsylvania (soon in Central Pennsylvania)

 

[AlexThePalex]

I've worked for years with a home vac attached to my sanders. Wasn't a Miele but that shouldn't make any difference.

As for connecting it, there are myriads of possibilities. Tape, rubber reduction sleeves, hoses, adapted objects, and often the standard fitting will work.

Here you can see how I fitted my Deltex and Rotex to my old home vac. Only the Deltex is pictured but it worked for both.

Only problem I had with my home vac is that it would heat up a lot after a while because it wasn't designed for long continuous use like professional vacs.

 

[djwong]

My experience is different.  I wreaked the motor on my Miele Red Star by using it to clean up all the construction dust in my new house.  I tried to let it cool down after an hour or two of use.  As you said, it gets really hot as it was not designed for prolonged use.  I am not sure if it was the heat or all the fine dust I sucked up, by it now sounds like the motor bearings are bad.  A replacement motor is ~$250 (online).  I went out and bought a CT33.  I would recommend not using the Miele with your sander.

 

[mhoy]

While I was having my kitchen renovated this summer, I left my CT22 in there and encouraged it's use.  When they worked late, I told them to go home and I cleaned up for them and always left the area spotless. I think this encored them to do the same during their renovations.  I really wish I had gotten this while I was ripping up ceramic tiles from my floors over the last couple of summers.  I'm certain my CT22 does better with drywall dust than my Miele White Star would do.

Mark

 

[SGreenberg]

Thanks for the advice, everyone.  I was only planning on using it for extremely small jobs, so I think it may work.  Without a car in NYC it's a pain to bring home the CT22. 

But no one yells in my house, and definitely not while I'm cleaning.

 

[balrog]

The Miele salesman told me to extend the cord all the way out to help keep the motor cooler during use.  He also said not to let the cord snap back into the canister body- broken cord return assemblies was a common repair.