CT26 as tool DC?

[guitarchitect]

Hi Everyone,

Kinda my first post here - I recently joined the Festool owner club by purchasing a CTS Drill as a first all-around festool tool... it seemed like a reasonably priced flexible little thing, and it certainly was! I've now got a TS55, CT26, and ETS-EC 150/5. How quickly things escalated out of control...

I'm in the process of building a new shop, and I'm curious about how practical it would be to treat the CT26 as the go-to vac in my shop. Not only as the surface/floor workhorse, but as a mini-DC to cart around from tool to tool (like bandsaw, drill press, SMALL sander, router table etc). Has anyone done this? Is it practical? I feel like central DC is overkill for my 11x26 shop, and it's also overkill for things like bandsaws, at least at the 10-14-inch range. I'd like to avoid the need for an air cleaner too, so I want to do as much source collection as possible. I have a ridgid shop vac that I use for the floors currently, but space is at a premium so I want to toss it!

To be clear, I have a regular portable DC for my planer, jointer and tablesaw. I guess my biggest concern using the CT26 constantly is the cost of bags! And from Festool's description, the long-life reusable bags are only meant for larger debris / chips... which would mean using a different setup for sanding operations. And as much as I'd love a sanding-devoted CT, I'd rather get a domino / OF1100 first!

 

[rst]

Get yourself an Oneida cyclone, either a kit, DYI, or the Festool model.  I have three of the steel versions that I put on 20 gallon grease cans that extract my various stations.  I've been doing this  for about 10 years and have yet to replace a filter and bought no bags.

 

[guitarchitect]

do you mean the dust deputy?

certainly an option, it's just that there is something really, really yucky about those! hose everywhere, impossible to move around.... the best thing about the CT26 is how compact and easy to manouver it is, and it stows easily under a bench.

i just had a thought though, if I could get the CT26 to live right in the middle of the shop, as long as my hose(s) reach the corners I'd never have to move it, so a dust deputy could be very practical in that case

 

[Timtool]

Given the size of your shop, you'd probably not want a vac in the way on the floor that you roll along to every tool, it's the only tool that works from a distance, so use that to your advantage.

I'd place it under a bench against a wall in a strategic position, then build a home made hinged boom arm to lead the hose up along the wall and then give it sufficient reach to connect it to you tools on the workbench, and the machines you want to connect. Perhaps even two hoses/arms with a blast gate against the wall, so you'd have a 36 or 50mm hose for the stationary tools, and a 27mm for the powertools.

 

[guitarchitect]

Given the size of your shop, you'd probably not want a vac in the way on the floor that you roll along to every tool, it's the only tool that works from a distance, so use that to your advantage.

I'd place it under a bench against a wall in a strategic position, then build a home made hinged boom arm to lead the hose up along the wall and then give it sufficient reach to connect it to you tools on the workbench, and the machines you want to connect. Perhaps even two hoses/arms with a blast gate against the wall, so you'd have a 36 or 50mm hose for the stationary tools, and a 27mm for the powertools.

I've been thinking along this line (central with ceiling-located hose) ever since realizing I could do a central vac location - seems like a good approach. I'll have to do quite a bit of research on a hinged boom arm though, that could get complicated quite quickly! If you've ever seen anything like you're describing I'd appreciate a link!

Side note - HUGE fan of your channel, I've probably seen all of your videos... and would be lying if I said I wasn't planning to base my workbench heavily off your own! Were you able to get your bench dog holes in a perfect 90 degree grid? If so, how? I'm hoping with my limited space to maximize every surface, and fitting out my bench/assembly table with MFT-style holes seems like the best way to accomplish that. There's a jig to do it but it's not cheap!

 

[Distinctive Interiors]

Here's a picture of my CT26 in my workshop. I mounted it up high on a small platform and made a swivel boom arm out of 50mm glued together PVC pipework.

[attachimg=1]

The hose from the CT is a 7mtr 36mm hose and it reaches everywhere I may need to cut, rout or sand.
The green Velcro is there to hold an extra long Plug it cable next to the hose.

 

[guitarchitect]

Here's a picture of my CT26 in my workshop. I mounted it up high on a small platform and made a swivel boom arm out of 50mm glued together PVC pipework.

[attachimg=1]

The hose from the CT is a 7mtr 36mm hose and it reaches everywhere I may need to cut, rout or sand.
The green Velcro is there to hold an extra long Plug it cable next to the hose.

i daydream about that kind of ceiling height, haha! I'm 8' to the underside of my (open) joists. Instead of a boom arm I might actually be better off with a track that the vac hose can ride around on. Lots to think about.

 

[Timtool]

I've been thinking along this line (central with ceiling-located hose) ever since realizing I could do a central vac location - seems like a good approach. I'll have to do quite a bit of research on a hinged boom arm though, that could get complicated quite quickly! If you've ever seen anything like you're describing I'd appreciate a link!

Side note - HUGE fan of your channel, I've probably seen all of your videos... and would be lying if I said I wasn't planning to base my workbench heavily off your own! Were you able to get your bench dog holes in a perfect 90 degree grid? If so, how? I'm hoping with my limited space to maximize every surface, and fitting out my bench/assembly table with MFT-style holes seems like the best way to accomplish that. There's a jig to do it but it's not cheap!

As you can see it doesn't have to be complicated, if you search for "festool boom arm" you'll find dozens of examples, I just attached a beam to a hinge against the wall, and attach the hose to it with an elastic band. But that doesn't really give me much reach, it just gets the hose out of the way. But I'm planning on building something proper as well, with the hose coming up against the wall and some form of extensible bi-folding boom arm that would allow me to reach every corner of the shop.

On the bench dog holes, I didn't try to make those for the wall-bench perfectly true, I don't ever use that one for cutting as I have a panel saw. For the MFTC I did manage however by using the LR32jig, but it's a bit complicated to explain. Now there are commercial jigs available and other methods have come up, by example using perforated hardboard as a template.

 

[rvieceli]

[member=64037]guitarchitect[/member]

You might want to consider some unistrut and a trolley as a sliding hanger.
https://www.unistrutohio.com/unistrut-channel-sections-one-and-five-eights-inch/
https://www.unistrutohio.com/techta...em-offers-support-to-varying-load-capacities/

Ron

 

[Laminator]

If it is strictly shop  bound vac, you might get more economy bag wise from a 36 or 48. Just a thought.

 

[guitarchitect]

If it is strictly shop  bound vac, you might get more economy bag wise from a 36 or 48. Just a thought.

as I say, I think I'd rather spend my funds on a domino than a beefier vac! It's true though, the 36 or 48 would be better. The 26 gives me the ability to more easily set up inside when doing built-ins, which is nice...

 

[Steven Owen]

It would pay to have both.  You have 137 CFM on a CT 26 and 1200 -2000 CFM on a dust extractor. 

There’s a lot of DC under $500 that are good enough for a small shop like yours.  It’s up to you.  Tools like planers and router tables do better with 4 Inch hoses and 2 HP DC connect to a Cyclone. 

The CT 26 has a place in your shop for all the smaller tools.

 

[guitarchitect]

It would pay to have both.  You have 137 CFM on a CT 26 and 1200 -2000 CFM on a dust extractor. 

There’s a lot of DC under $500 that are good enough for a small shop like yours.  It’s up to you.  Tools like planers and router tables do better with 4 Inch hoses and 2 HP DC connect to a Cyclone. 

The CT 26 has a place in your shop for all the smaller tools.

yeah, sorry if i wasn't clear, that's what I was asking about! I have my DC which rolls around and hooks up to tools - I'll probably go for a magnetic port system so that it's less of a pain in the butt. I'm just wondering how practical it is to dedicate the CT26 to, well, everything that's not a tablesaw/planer/jointer. I was hoping I could use the CT26 for my bandsaw but further study shows that's probably not for the best, so I'll use the DC on that too once I get one that can accommodate it.

In a perfect world I would duct to everything but my shop is a little small for that. I'll post a build thread some day soon!

 

[bnaboatbuilder]

My woodshop is 12'x24' and I use a very basic 4" ducting system on one long wall waist high with four blast gates to a bandsaw, table saw, planer and drum sander. Pretty easy to setup, makes using the tools even easier. On the other side are my tools which are better suited to my Fein vac.

Swapping out a single hose from your DC to each tool each time you need to run a task is not practical and a lot of wasted time. Have them connected all the time.

 

[jarbroen]

The CT26 is great for what you're asking.  The one thing it won't do well is bandsaw collection.
On the plus side, the bandsaw doesn't really spew dust like a sander or other tools.  Most of the mess collects on the table or around the dust ports.
I just use my CT26 to clean up the bandsaw when I'm done.

The CT26 is great for using around the shop on the smaller power tools.  I just upgrade to the 36mm hose and it works way better on the router and track saw.
I still haven't figured out the best way to move the vacuum around the shop.  I do most of my work on a large work table/bench that I built.  There are lots of great ideas about boom arms.  Or, if you want to blow some money, there's the CT cart boom arm.

I usually move my vacuum to whatever sector I'm working in and stick it in the corner.  That's the plus of the CT vacs, very easy to move around.

I'm just a hobby/diy kind of guy and the bags last quite a while for me.  Plus, I like the convenience of swapping out a clean bag.  I loathed the old HD special vacuum that I had to clean out the filter and dump the debris all the time.

 

[guitarchitect]

My woodshop is 12'x24' and I use a very basic 4" ducting system on one long wall waist high with four blast gates to a bandsaw, table saw, planer and drum sander. Pretty easy to setup, makes using the tools even easier. On the other side are my tools which are better suited to my Fein vac.

Swapping out a single hose from your DC to each tool each time you need to run a task is not practical and a lot of wasted time. Have them connected all the time.

Great point - a duct on one wall might actually work well. Here's a huge favour to ask - could you take some photos of your shop? I'm probably going to end up with a shop the same size (my wife wants 6' at the back for storage so I'm losing that, and going from 12x30 to 12x24). I'm having a hard time wrapping my head around how I'll fit everything in. I've been leaning the same way - a big-tool wall and a hand-tool wall, but seeing other people's solutions is always such a big help!

What's the capacity of your DC?

 

[Steven Owen]

A Festool CT and a dust deputy could handle a band saw as long as the band saw is not being used to dimension raw materials over 3 feet. 

 

[rst]

I use a Fein connected to 2.5" Loc Line hose and fittings to collect from my bandsaw.  Bandsaws are much like jigsaws in that there will always be a certain amount of dust escaping.  I figure mine setup collects probably 85%.