CT Midi vs CT 36 vs CT 36 AC for a home gamer

[mino]

...
Meh, I'd pay the extra bucks and have the extra motor and hose. At some point the circuit board fails, or the brushes or whatever and you sit with two tubs and no working vac...

Well, you do not sound to me like a "home gamer" a.k.a. a hobby user who needs AC once in a year or two.
[cool]

An average hobby user will not get to the first brushes replacement point (~1000 hours) before his first 10 years anniversary. Then there is the issue of storage space. At my place that 0,5 m2 of floor area an unused vac blocks is equivalent to €50/year. That is + €500 additional "ownership cost" just in the floor space in 10 years. And that is the ideal case, assuming I can magically expand the workshop area. I cannot.

Also, Imagine justifying to MSO buying an €900 tool to have it "laying unused", waiting for that occasional job where AC is needed once in a year or even less so.

Case in point:
I do currently own CTM 36 AC and a CTL 48 AC HD (got it for €250, hard to pass..). Each with its own tub. For practical reasons listed above I cannot use the CT48 for stationary use - not until I splurge on the second tub for it so could just leave a semi-full bag in. That CTL 48 is just taking space now. Space which is very much at a premium for me and yes, already had to fend-off an "attack" on it from MSO. For that exact reason.

With just the tub you end up having an open dust bin around, or having to clean it out every time you switch the motor to the smaller tub. No thanks. Also have to store that filter somewhere.
...

Not sure I got understood above. Anyone using AC vac will always empty the tub after a job. Why one would keep carrying 10-20 kg of dirt around? So that tub is very much available to "host" the main filter carrier. No tub cleaning needed.

Not needing to clean anything (except bottom of the motor unit) is the whole point of having a spare second bag-use only tub. Right after avoiding the problem of moving semi-full dust bags to/from tubs ..

 

[squall_line]

We never got the CT 26 AC in North America, so the equivalent calculus for USA/Canada is a CT 48 AC + CT 26 spare tub rather than a CT 26 AC + CT 48 spare tub.

 

[mino]

We never got the CT 26 AC in North America, so the equivalent calculus for USA/Canada is a CT 48 AC + CT 26 spare tub rather than a CT 26 AC + CT 48 spare tub.

In the US case, yeah, the CT 48 AC is out for a good price, considering the cost of the included tub-attached handle .. The CTL 48 AC is crazy-expensive here now /€1200+ crazy/, so picked the cheaper combo for Coen's context.

My point stays.
If one plans to use a CT AC vac as "the single vac to provide for all", then
1) do look at a 48L tub for AC use, 36L is barely making it
2) do get a dedicated tub for bag use, 26L is fine, bigger may be better if not planning any cyclone, etc.

 

[Coen]

Yes, the mark-up between 26,36,48 is very different on both sides of the Atlantic. Here a complete 26 + a 36 tub assembly == same price as just a complete 36... that is how insane it is.

And that probably explains why next to nobody actually buys a 36 or 48 in Europe. Also, having homes with 3 levels (Europe) instead of the sprawling ground floor + attic just for duct work (USA) also doesn't make the bigger VACs very appealing. You can cart a 48 around in a home without stairs all day easily. Not so much when you have to get two stairs in a 85 cm wide winding staircase.

But the 0.5m^2 for the extra vac is actually only 0.25m^2. And really only a bit of height on that 0.25m^2 as the other scenario would have the tub anyway. Now, if you have a CMS, CS50, MFT, Kapex on stand or anything equivalent and you just dump the CT under there, it doesn't really matter in space taken if the motor is on top of it or not.

 

[leakyroof]

  It's a slippery slope for DC collection systems, sometimes just a Vacuum is not enough, depending on what you do in the future. Allow yourself space in the shop to grow if needed, both electrical needs to power up with,and space to install.
With that in mind, here is my set-up.

I have the CT-26, which replaced my first Festool Vac, the CT-22. It most stays hooked up to my 12" Milwaukee Sliding Miter Saw, sort of under a workbench. Or, it's hooked up to sanders.
I also have the CT 33 Auto, since I do sand Drywall and Plaster, with 1st gen Planex and other sanders. The Auto Vac has the Dust Deputy Ultimate Cyclone on it, it saves filling the bag in the Auto Vac.  That one gets more sander and larger Festool tools hooked to it ,since it has the Cyclone already. And, it's out in the open in my small shop, so it's easier to get to with a hose and cord.
I had, but sold off a Midi and the Sys-Vac.

To Supplement those Vacs, I have a Fein Turbo 1. It's my quiet version of a Shop Vac. The Bags are fairly inexpensive, so it does all the rough vacuuming while not burning my ears with noise like pretty much all of the previous Shop Vacs that I went through in the past... [big grin]
I have the same Fein at work. The long hose and fantastic suction handle anything I need.

If I'm going to move up and down stairs with a Festool Vac, it's easier and nicer to do it with the smaller CT-26.
If I had to pare down to one Vac, it would be the CT-26. Sweet spot on capacity and weight of the Vac, even when filled.

If however, you get into Woodworking Machines, you'll want an actual dust collector , running on 4" hose. The large chips and sawdust from these machines will fill any Vac too quickly. Even if you add a Cyclone, you get into Static Pressure vs Velocity issues that are best read about in other threads and places. So, I own a Single Stage Delta Dust Collector for my Table Saw, Planer, Band Saw, and a couple of Combo Belt/disc sanders. It's a hook up one machine at a time type affair, which is fine for me.  It uses the newer style pleated type filters , versus a messy bag unit that I started out with originally.

To supplement fine dust collection hanging in the air, I have a ceiling mounted JDS air filtration unit.  It's older, I think they're gone as a company, but there are plenty others who make similar products.
If I'm ever in doubt what that Filtration unit is doing, I only need to pull the pre-filter out and see the dust cake on the outside of the filter.  [eek]