S
six-point socket
Guest
I'm in love. Well, as far as one can fall in love with a tool.
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A lot of what I do on a day to day basis whenever I find the time is fairly small stuff. Drill a few holes, make a few cuts, light sanding and keeping the car clean. I wanted a dust extractor for this type of work that would be easy to transport and set up, but most importantly with enough power to qualify as a real dust extractor.
Not as a replacement for a shop vac but additionally, to keep the shop vac, exactly, in the shop.
Now the power of the CTL SYS surprised me. It can keep the Drilling dust nozzle D 27-BSD attached to the ceiling without any problems and the suction is still high enough to make drilling overhead a pleasant experience, almost dust free. What doesn't work so well, but I guess it's rather the nozzle than the vac, is attaching it to clinker (stones), it simply doesn't get a hold on it. Maybe more suction would help it to stay in place but I'm not sure. It seems the sealing lid is pretty hard and to small to effectively seal off the gaps between the clinker (stones).
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In conjunction with my Bosch Professional GST 135 CE it works like a charm. Of course best when the small, clear plastic cap in front of the saw blade is installed, but also without it dust collection is at about 93-95% (estimated guess) which makes me pretty happy.
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The auto on/off feature is another great feature that I'm happy to have now, another real time saver and rated up to 1200W it's suitable for most tools I have - nicely done Festool! Building such a small vac to this standard is the work of a genius. I was skeptical at first, also because of the fairly small dust capacity (if you just compare numbers) but after a few weeks of using the CTL SYS this thoughts have vanished completely and I'm happy to have made the purchase.
[attachimg=4]
Speaking of the capacity of the dust bag/dust collector it seems it is high enough to easily last through a day or three with typical workload. I mean, I wouldn't recommend it for large scale sanding work (drywall i.e.) but when you need a highly compact vac to work on window frames, maybe while standing on a ladder/scaffolding the CTL SYS makes your ideal companion. Same goes for drilling stone and concrete - maybe not for use with large diameter hole saws but up to 12mm diameter drill bits (as set out by the drilling dust nozzle) I don't see any problems at all. I think it would also work for up to 16 maybe 20mm diameter drill bits without causing real problems but I haven't tried that yet, rest assured I will
What I'm not a 100% happy with is the hose and cable storage. While it is clear that with such a compact design there have to be compromises I wish the hose depot would habe been a little larger. The hose itself fits perfectly, but the cable is always a bit tricky to get in, especially when you want to add other Systainer on top you need to roll and place the cable pretty neatly to make it work. It's a little bit of a hassle but, again, no real problem. Maybe at some point there will be some changes to the hose depot, that would be great.
Another Idea would be a large "Cleaning/Installation Kit" that includes everything from the floor cleaning accessories to the brushes drilling dust nozzle and a pair or two of CT-Wings - all in one Systainer, neatly packed. Maybe with extra space for additional consumables (Filter and Bags).
All in all I'm very, very happy with the CTL SYS and I don't want to be without it ever again. Useful, compact and fits perfectly with the tools.
Kind regards,
Oliver
[attachimg=1]
A lot of what I do on a day to day basis whenever I find the time is fairly small stuff. Drill a few holes, make a few cuts, light sanding and keeping the car clean. I wanted a dust extractor for this type of work that would be easy to transport and set up, but most importantly with enough power to qualify as a real dust extractor.
Not as a replacement for a shop vac but additionally, to keep the shop vac, exactly, in the shop.
Now the power of the CTL SYS surprised me. It can keep the Drilling dust nozzle D 27-BSD attached to the ceiling without any problems and the suction is still high enough to make drilling overhead a pleasant experience, almost dust free. What doesn't work so well, but I guess it's rather the nozzle than the vac, is attaching it to clinker (stones), it simply doesn't get a hold on it. Maybe more suction would help it to stay in place but I'm not sure. It seems the sealing lid is pretty hard and to small to effectively seal off the gaps between the clinker (stones).
[attachimg=2]
In conjunction with my Bosch Professional GST 135 CE it works like a charm. Of course best when the small, clear plastic cap in front of the saw blade is installed, but also without it dust collection is at about 93-95% (estimated guess) which makes me pretty happy.
[attachimg=3]
The auto on/off feature is another great feature that I'm happy to have now, another real time saver and rated up to 1200W it's suitable for most tools I have - nicely done Festool! Building such a small vac to this standard is the work of a genius. I was skeptical at first, also because of the fairly small dust capacity (if you just compare numbers) but after a few weeks of using the CTL SYS this thoughts have vanished completely and I'm happy to have made the purchase.
[attachimg=4]
Speaking of the capacity of the dust bag/dust collector it seems it is high enough to easily last through a day or three with typical workload. I mean, I wouldn't recommend it for large scale sanding work (drywall i.e.) but when you need a highly compact vac to work on window frames, maybe while standing on a ladder/scaffolding the CTL SYS makes your ideal companion. Same goes for drilling stone and concrete - maybe not for use with large diameter hole saws but up to 12mm diameter drill bits (as set out by the drilling dust nozzle) I don't see any problems at all. I think it would also work for up to 16 maybe 20mm diameter drill bits without causing real problems but I haven't tried that yet, rest assured I will

What I'm not a 100% happy with is the hose and cable storage. While it is clear that with such a compact design there have to be compromises I wish the hose depot would habe been a little larger. The hose itself fits perfectly, but the cable is always a bit tricky to get in, especially when you want to add other Systainer on top you need to roll and place the cable pretty neatly to make it work. It's a little bit of a hassle but, again, no real problem. Maybe at some point there will be some changes to the hose depot, that would be great.
Another Idea would be a large "Cleaning/Installation Kit" that includes everything from the floor cleaning accessories to the brushes drilling dust nozzle and a pair or two of CT-Wings - all in one Systainer, neatly packed. Maybe with extra space for additional consumables (Filter and Bags).
All in all I'm very, very happy with the CTL SYS and I don't want to be without it ever again. Useful, compact and fits perfectly with the tools.
Kind regards,
Oliver