Alex said:
aloysius said:
Which particular tools are you intending to connect? The type, particulate size & volume of swarf produced will be relevant to hose size, vac capacity & adjustability.
Will you require the safe extraction & disposal of potentially hazardous materials: lead based paints, silicates & concrete derivatives, asbestos & other fibrous residue etc? This should determine the safety rating of your extractor choice.
Jeez, talk about going off on a tangent, he is a
hobbyist woodworker.
I doubt he needs it to clean up Chernobyl.
Yet even "hobbyist woodworkers" need the right type of extractor. Personally, I hated the CTL Sys Vac's lack of speed adjustability almost as much as it's puny dust volume. Even with a Longlife bag fitted it was frustrating to use for sanding. The short hosepipe limited its usefulness for sawing, too.
A 15L Midi vac will fill to beyond capacity in mere seconds when fitted to a Festool planer. A larger size, such as the OP's original 40L Fein, is more sensible. Routers can also produce large amounts of swarf.
If you're sanding old lead-based paint or urea formaldehide glued sheet material, then a higher safety-rated model (M or ideally H) will be safer than an L-rated model. Renovating in & around old Fibro or even Hardieflex sheeted buildings mean there's dangerous dusts to deal with. Even raw wood fibres can be harmful: some highly allergenic.
It's not "Chernobyl", but the majority of pre-1970s households here in Oz that have hazardous (& potentially deadly) building materials used in roofing, cladding, insulation, water pipe lagging &/or in older appliances. Similar building materials have been used for a century or more elsewhere in the world.
There's NO safe minimum exposure level to asbestos fibre.
For best results with a large variety of tools, an adjustable-speed vac extractor is more versatile.
To me it makes sense to apply the correct tool to the task, even for a hobbyist.
