CHECK YOUR BAG!

[mastercabman]

I was ripping some 6/4 white OAK on my table saw,and hooked it up with my CT 22.
I noticed that a lot of dust was flying out and i know that the CT with my BOSCH table saw worked pretty good in the past.
So i toughed that maybe it was the table saw(something stuck in the shroud maybe).
I did not have much to cut so i kept on cutting.
I did not think to check the bag in the CT because i know that i replaced it not too long ago.
So when i was done,i took the hose off the saw and turn the vac manually and try to clean up the mess.
I looked at the end of the hose and it was filled with saw dust!  also the hose felt very heavy!  So took the hose off the vac and noticed the hose connection on the vac was filled,compacted with saw dust.
I opened the vac,and sure enough,the bag was full!    I mean really full          so full that i could not remove the bag out!!!!
After fighting to get the bag out,i decided to clean the vac and get all the saw dust out of the hose(36mm)
The hose was so full,i toughed i had to call ROTO-ROUTER to snake it out!
Well,after about 15-20minutes of tapping the hose and blowing it out with air it's all back to normal.

Lesson learn,i will check the bag more often.

 

[Mike_Chrest]

Time for a mini-cyclone ;D

 

[Sparky977]

Time for a mini-cyclone ;D

Thats a good idea for Festool!  They should make a mini-cyclone that fits in a tall systainer and can be locked right in place on top of the vacuum. 

 

[Jimhart]

I'm strictly a hobbyist. I thought an empty bag on a CT33 would last me about a year. I'm doing some stairs for a neighbor and glued up some large slabs. After going through the various grits to get them where I wanted them, the dust collection decreased just a bit. My neighbor said, 'I bet the bag is full'. I laughed and said No Way. It was packed.

Not a spec of dust on my clothes or anywhere in the room. I could not believe how must dust would have been everywhere without the dust collection.

I learned exactly what you said, Check the Bag.

Jim

 

[Dave Ronyak]

Time for a mini-cyclone ;D

I wholly concur.  Ripping, routing, dadoing operations generate a lot of sawdust.  A planer/jointer will even more.  I bought a Dust Deputy and haven't changed a bag in my CT-22 in over a year.  It's very easy to check the level in the DD and to dump it.  A single cam action hoop clamp holds the steel top to the 10 gallon steel can.

Dave R.

 

[tenfingers]

I'm a hobbyist woodworker but have been busy testing and practicing with my new festools and so far have built 5 simple bookshelves and a desk for my daughter for Christmas. Yesterday I checked my bag and it was full to the brim (I'd noticed some dust falling out of the CT22 when I disconnected the hose at the end of the day), so I had to run and get some more bags since the dealer in town closes at noon on Saturdays. I did empty it outside into a large 5 gallon bucket and saved the bag, just in case I want to reuse them. I looked up some stuff about reusable vs disposable bags and came across this comment from Mr. Oltzscher regarding dust bags:

"You can use the CT22E without a filter bag. However, we recommend that you use the long life main filters (Longlife-HF-CT /2, $39.50 USD) if you plan to use the CT22E without a filter bag. If you don't vacuum water and wet material, the Longlife-HF-CT /2 filter will last you a very long time. "

Link:
http://www.thewoodshop.20m.com/festool_atf_55e_part2.htm

Anyone use the CT22 without a bag?

 

[mastercabman]

Anyone use the CT22 without a bag?

I would not do it.        It would be messy and awkward to dump it out!

 

[gkeas]

I've had my CT22 for over a year, and recently I noticed the suction, umm, sucked.  I checked my bag and it was PACKED full, much like the poster of this thread.  Almost everything collected for the last year had been sanding and saw dust.

I recently completed a router table and purchased the HL850 planer, and within a couple of weeks I had to change my bag again!  I really made some dust (and shavings) in the last month!

 

[Dave Ronyak]

I suggest that you get a reusable bag or a mini-cyclone if your work causes you to fill up your CT bags frequently, or the filters mentioned by Christopher O.  I personally opted for an Oneida Dust Deputy and have not had to change a bag in my CT 22 in over a year.  I have also used my CT 22 / cyclone setup to vacuum out the bag in my Fein Turbo II when I did not have a spare bag, and certainly could hook up the mini-cyclone to the Fein and use that setup to suck out the contents from the bag in my CT 22 a few times if I wanted to pinch those pennies (actually $) a few more times.  The mini-cyclone collection drum holds 10 gallons and is easy to dump; a single cam-action clamp ring secures the cyclone and top to the drum.

Dave R.

 

[markchamness]

I owned a vacuum cleaner that had an indicator showing how full the bag was (probably measured by loss of suction).  Too bad Festool vacs don't have such an indicator.