Does anyone have a vac with a hose garage intact?

[cfullen]

Hey guys,

More of a call for help here.  I have a CT 36 and have recently purchased a CT mini.  I am on my third garage for the 36 and my new CT mini garage has now cracked in two places.  I have friends with the attic broken into much smaller pieces. 

On my CT 36 I have had success "stitching" the broken pieces together with zip ties.  I had done this in the past with ripped fenders in my 4 wheeler.  It works quite well.  I smeared a good amount of epoxy on top of the joint after stitched with the zip ties and it has worked quite well. The first two garages I lost relatively quickly.  It is a short learning curve realizing how fragile these are.  The third one looks a bit like Frankenstein, stitches all over its face. 

The CT mini is my road warrior.  It now goes everywhere with me.  That's not to say that I do not baby it because of my previous experience with the CT36.  It got a small fracture on the front left corner and did not make the trip home.  I gently lifted up the front to engage the brake foot and "snap".  I was now the proud owner of a two piece hose garage.  I am going to make an attempt to repair by stitching it up, but I don't think I will have much success because it is a compound fracture. 

I will likely be forking out the money for a replacement sooner or later.  Do I have any options?  Should I install a fiberglass backing before I release it into the wild?  (serious question)

The short end of the story is that I cannot be without both of these wonderful dust collectors.  But for the long term, I would like to see a longer life out of the hose garages.  Everything else I own by Festool is rock solid. 

Cheers,
CF

 

[Bohdan]

You could try filling the back of your existing hose garage with polyurathane foam to reinforce it.

 

[Jim Green]

I had to laugh when I read the title of your post. I have a ct 26 and a midi both with broken garages that I have replaced a few times. They tip over in your truck or you look at them and there you go crack! I also have a ct 22 and 33 which seem to be almost bullet proof. They all are good vacs but my older ones are shall we say a little more robust.

 

[Cunningrj]

I just replaced my hose garage and switch today because of damage while in the van. When I was at the connect event, I mentioned it to the repair guys and they said they are aware of it and apparently Festool is looking for a fix. View attachment 1

 

[Klemm]

would not ABS cement (solvent) do a better job for repair with a thin sheet of ABS material as a reinforcement heat formed to conform? - or am I missing the point entirely?
Hans

 

[aloysius]

Have one for my CT22 sitting on top of the shelves.  Used it once only.  Utter waste of time & money.  Whilst it seemed like a good idea at the time, it actually makes the otherwise compact vac uselessly ungainly & (with a box or 2 loaded with sander/s & abrasives) unstably top heavy.

Unfortunately, it seems that later vacs need the stupid "top box" for the Festo toolcase locking lugs etc.

Maybe you could ditch it altogether & screw &/or glue a Systainer "Metadepot" from the Metabo/Starmix vac range to solve the problem once & for all...

 

[mleny77]

I have the CT26 still intact but I don't move it around a lot. How does the cracking happen? Is it from moving around from job site to job site or when you store and remove the hose? When I first got it unit I thought that it seemed a little tight to remove the hose from the garage.

 

[sigmatango]

I just replaced my hose garage and switch today because of damage while in the van. When I was at the connect event, I mentioned it to the repair guys and they said they are aware of it and apparently Festool is looking for a fix. View attachment 1

Nice to see someone else whose Festool stuff looks like its been actually used...

 

[semenza]

Does seem that there are a lot of cracked CT garage housings. But so far my two CT Minis that go to job sites are holding up.  Knock on wood......... or plastic.  [smile]

Seth

 

[leakyroof]

3 vacs, no broken parts or Garage issues. It will interesting to see what develops from this going forward next year.

 

[DrD]

My CT 26 is 3 yrs old, was moved in 2 house moves in that period of time & everything is intact.  No issues.

 

[PreferrablyWood]

4 or is it 5 year old CT Midi no cracks, it doesn't get bounced around in the back of a pickup truck or thrown down stairs though..

 

[Paul G]

Both my 36 and mini garages are intact. But I don't drive around with them much. 

 

[sigmatango]

I have noticed that I need to buy a sysRoll. I have a tendency to stack all my Festool stuff on my CT26. That could cause future problems...  [scared] [eek]

 

[antss]

My CT26's is intact. But, that's because it's brand new this summer. The garage , not the vac.

My opinion is that the plastic on this generation of vac is not as robust as the 22/33 series- especially the garages. 

However , I was looking at the new sortainers & sys combis this week and plastic on the drawers feels a bit more supple than to old sortainer drawers. 

My observations only - as I have not conducted any scientific analysis on any of the materials.

 

[McNally Family]

Does seem that there are a lot of cracked CT garage housings. But so far my two CT Minis that go to job sites are holding up.  Knock on wood......... or plastic.  [smile]

Seth

Just don't knock too hard........

 

[Jason Kehl]

I have 2 Midi and 2 CT-26 on site and 1 CT-36 in the shop. I replaced one of the CT-26 house garages, but otherwise no problems. They get used daily, but not abused. The plastic is not very flexible so we make a point of not banging them into things on site and take a moment to secure them for transport in the tool trailer so they don't shift in transit.

j

 

[kevin clifford]

Nope! My ct36 is just over a year old and today broke in a third place.

 

[Gregor]

CT36AC, ~2.8 years old, garage broke around the fixed systainer connectors when moving it over uneven ground (with XL700+OF1010 ontop). According to label produced 2012.

Problem with plastics is that the plasticizer giving it flexibility tend to fail after a while, making it brittle.

 

[chrisrosenb]

I have owned 8 CTs of all sizes for many years. One stays in the truck full time the others travel as needed. I have yet to even crack a hose garage. I learned early on that the hose garages is not a carrying handles.