drywall sanding without auto clean?

[PattyO]

Hi Guys,

I just bought my first Festool(TS55), and I'm looking to add a dust extractor. Im a handyman/remodeler and I do a fair amount of drywall, but not enough to justify a planex…yet. I just came across an ad for the HSK 80x130 vac sanding block, and thought this would be a great option for smaller jobs…My question is this…. Can I use it with a CT26 without the AC feature? If so what changes to the basic set up do I need to make.

I can only afford one dust extractor now and i'm thinking the CT26 is the best option for me….

 

[PreferrablyWood]

I've been using a CT Midi vac for about 2 years now, I think for hand sanding it could handle the dust. Auto Clean is a system that bangs the dust out of the filter when it gets clogged, I speculate that you could do that manually, The Festool Self Clean vacumn bags are pretty effective and take care of most dust so maybe for lighter use you can get by with one of those. I sense the Auto Clean is for pros that use the Planex CT with autoclean function heavily day in day out..

 

[overanalyze]

You can definitely use the CT26 with that sanding block without any problems or changes to your setup. I use a midi and an ets125 for small patches a lot without any issues.

 

[Jaybolishes]

I just did a whole bathroom newly dry walled and mudded.  I sanded the whole thing using the planex and the ct36ac , but without removing the hepa filter and regular vac bag.  I had the Ultimate dust deputy on it though,and it caught almost all the dust, so it would have lost suction very quickly without it.  I can't recommend the UDD enough.  There was some suction loss by the end, so I think if you're talking maybe an hours worth or so of hand sanding, I wouldn't change a thing, but your ct bag will be clogged and needing replacement from the fine dust most likely.  If you really want to sand a ton of plaster, you can buy the drywall filter and the drywall clear plastic ct bags and get the blast gate to manually unclog the filter.  But I really wonder if just plugging your hand over the end of the hose would do the same thing as the blast gate,  may not be as handy though.  The only thing about the auto clean that's different from your ct is the auto clean function that abruptly stops the suction to knock the cake off the exposed filter. So a regular ct can do drywall just fine. Hope this helps.

 

[Administrator_JSVN]

Yes, for sanders other than the Planex, you can use any of our dust extractors. The Planex is capable of producing large volumes of very fine dust in a very short period of time, which is why it requires the Auto Clean.

 

[PattyO]

Thanks a lot for the input. I guess now I just need to figure out what sander/extractor combo I want….

 

[elfick]

If you are doing patchwork, I'm going to throw in for the DTS.