Ct midi (pre 2019) vs ct midi 1

[luvmytoolz]

To be clear, for a CT I would never suggest "home-made" bags. There is just no way to even approach the filtering of micro-dust the SelfClean filters do.

And yes, treating the "normal" bags as reusable is absolutely feasible /when one does not employ a cyclone/. Especially so with the CT 26/36/48 series bags which are as high a quality as I can imagine a bag to be. They are just out there by at least a class over anything else, including the MINI/MIDI bags.

When I hear people asking for 3rd party bags for a CT 26 I cringe. You buy those vacs for the bags along with the horizontal main filter interface enabling the SelfClean to work, not the other way round .. Festool does an absolutely atrocious job at (non)marketing this, to be fair.

All my CT's are so old none have self clean. I use the genuine Festool long life bags for most of the small CT's, as well as in my CT36 that lives connected to my CNC via a Dust Deputy.

I think I've emptied the CT36 maybe twice, possibly three times, in the last 15 years or so. The DD just works so well for the CNC collection, could not imagine working without one.

 

[Biggambi]

I know Festool states it is not recommended to use the longlife bags for fine dust. I am assuming this would include sanding wood, finish coats, paints, etc. My question is what happens if you do use it with fine dust. Is it that they do not filter the fine dust well, it is too difficult to empty and clean, or it greatly shortens their lifespan?

 

[Cheese]

I know Festool states it is not recommended to use the longlife bags for fine dust. I am assuming this would include sanding wood, finish coats, paints, etc. My question is what happens if you do use it with fine dust. Is it that they do not filter the fine dust well, it is too difficult to empty and clean, or it greatly shortens their lifespan?

I think the issue is how do you remove the fine dust from the long life bag? With the regular bag you just toss the bag…problem solved.

 

[luvmytoolz]

I know Festool states it is not recommended to use the longlife bags for fine dust. I am assuming this would include sanding wood, finish coats, paints, etc. My question is what happens if you do use it with fine dust. Is it that they do not filter the fine dust well, it is too difficult to empty and clean, or it greatly shortens their lifespan?

I have several long life bags in use, in the Midi's I use them for sanding mainly, and have never had any issues with suction or emptying the bags into larger rubbish bags and then given a gentle walloping to clean out the finer dust lining. Mine don't have the self clean option though, so that might make a difference as Mino mentioned earlier in this thread.

After using Festool extractors for 40+ years, I've found they are practically indestructible, and will keep sucking even when the bag is so full and hard it's like a massive brick. It's when the dust starts backing out the nozzle end you realise it's apparently full! ;-)

I wouldn't be concerned about fine dust in the long life bag at all, yes it's probably not recommended, but in practical use you'll likely find it makes zero difference, that's what I've found over the years.

 

[Biggambi]

I have several long life bags in use, in the Midi's I use them for sanding mainly, and have never had any issues with suction or emptying the bags into larger rubbish bags and then given a gentle walloping to clean out the finer dust lining. Mine don't have the self clean option though, so that might make a difference as Mino mentioned earlier in this thread.

After using Festool extractors for 40+ years, I've found they are practically indestructible, and will keep sucking even when the bag is so full and hard it's like a massive brick. It's when the dust starts backing out the nozzle end you realise it's apparently full! ;-)

I wouldn't be concerned about fine dust in the long life bag at all, yes it's probably not recommended, but in practical use you'll likely find it makes zero difference, that's what I've found over the years.

Glad to hear this, coming from a dust collector that had a permanent reusable filter bag, nice to know it will be money well spent in the long run.

 

[luvmytoolz]

Glad to hear this, coming from a dust collector that had a permanent reusable filter bag, nice to know it will be money well spent in the long run.

Out of all the brands I've used over the years (never had a Fein one though), the Festool CT's really are in a class of their own. Brilliant robust units that just keep chugging along!

 

[Cheese]

Out of all the brands I've used over the years (never had a Fein one though), the Festool CT's really are in a class of their own. Brilliant robust units that just keep chugging along!

FWIW...I've had a couple of Fein vacs...can't really say anything bad about them other than the ones that the bag has to curve around the motor assembly don't fill completely and are difficult to remove. Other than that they are durable, quiet and work well. However, interestingly enough, I've since replaced the Feins with Festool vacs.

 

[luvmytoolz]

FWIW...I've had a couple of Fein vacs...can't really say anything bad about them other than the ones that the bag has to curve around the motor assembly don't fill completely and are difficult to remove. Other than that they are durable, quiet and work well. However, interestingly enough, I've since replaced the Feins with Festool vacs.

I have (and had) some Fein power tools and without exception they are all superbly engineered and have given me great service and value over the years, so I'd always imagine the dust extractors would be really good but they were never really as available as the Festool's, certainly early on anyway.

 

[mino]

FWIW...I've had a couple of Fein vacs...can't really say anything bad about them other than the ones that the bag has to curve around the motor assembly don't fill completely and are difficult to remove. Other than that they are durable, quiet and work well. However, interestingly enough, I've since replaced the Feins with Festool vacs.

Point of record. Fein does not make vacs.

They have others make them for them. Nilfisk is a very big such maker which Festool usually contracted with /Narex still does/ and one other German company, not remember the name, which Fein contracts with.

Festool makes their own vacs starting with the CT 26/36/48 series onward. The CT 22/33/44/55 series were still co-designed-by-them but not made-by-them from what I gather. The last non-Festool-made CT was the CT 17 they have taken over from the Protool closure.

The "strength" of Festool in the vac space is they have focused on the woodworking space almost exclusively in designing the CT 26+ series as well as the CT Mini series with their SelfClean* concept which is excellent for light/fine dust from sanding and such. Others tend to make more "universal" vacs, thus mostly falling being Festool in their niche.


*) SelfClean to work requires quite specific dust composition to truly shine, making it sub-optimal for "universal" design targets and why even after patents expired I do not see /that/ many makers following suit in Festool's wake.

 

[mino]

...
I wouldn't be concerned about fine dust in the long life bag at all, yes it's probably not recommended, but in practical use you'll likely find it makes zero difference, that's what I've found over the years.

If you do not work in an unventilated enclosed space, the very fine dust not being caught is not /that/ much of a concern indeed.

That is not the same as stating it does not matter.

This argument is the same as people destroying their main filters by compressed air to be "happy" those filters last so long clean. Sure they do. Their lungs took those filter's job for them.

The long life bags simply do not capture some of the finest dust *by design*. There is a class of fine dust which is captured by the one-time bags of the CT 26+ series but is not caught by the long-life bags. If it was caught, the bags would clog. I cannot comment on the paper bags of the CT 22+ series, so there you may be correct. Yes. The main filters on the CT 26+series vacs are coarser than the one-time bags cloth is. They are more an insurance against a bag breach than actual filtering elements as discussed in other threads.

 

[bertv]

After using Festool extractors for 40+ years, I've found they are practically indestructible, and will keep sucking even when the bag is so full and hard it's like a massive brick. It's when the dust starts backing out the nozzle end you realise it's apparently full! ;-)

True, a while ago I noticed that dust wasn’t sucked up and checked the vac and the separator. Solid block of dust in machine (bag) and the first 4 inches of the tube…

 

[onocoffee]

I know Festool states it is not recommended to use the longlife bags for fine dust. I am assuming this would include sanding wood, finish coats, paints, etc. My question is what happens if you do use it with fine dust. Is it that they do not filter the fine dust well, it is too difficult to empty and clean, or it greatly shortens their lifespan?

I think Cheese's reasoning is the most probable. With the regular bags, you close the shield and toss it. Cleaning out the bags exposes you to potential risk. But during normal operation, I believe the HEPA filter is enough to prevent any microparticulates, that may escape the bag, from blowing into your environment.