Fein Dust collectors

[EcoFurniture]

Question:

Has anyone compared the Fein vacuums directly ( side by side) with the Festool ones? It looks like the fein brand is a bit cheaper.... I already have a fein multimaster and know about the quality of this brand, anyhow, any comment would be appreciated!

Thanks,
Andreas

 

[Steve Jones]

Andreas,

It's been covered before, but it's quicker to give you a summary than to go look up a reference for you.

The Fein is a great little machine, I used to have one myself for a while, it's only downfall is the lack of a speed control, which is really handy when sanding, especially with festool sanders, they get sucked down too hard at full blast on the vacuum and glide beautifully on the surface with it turned down.

Several members (myself included) experimented with various venting methods (literally drilling holes) in the hose or connector to reduce airflow and vacuum to the sanders, but I think general consensus was that it's better to just bite the bullet and  get the Festool vacs. I have a CT22 that is a good compromise between capacity and portability..

Had I not purchased the CT myself my next planned experiment was to try a router speed control on a vac, since at least the better ones 'pulse' the power to reduce speed (which is how Festool speed controls built into all their tools works) I think it would work, of course the price is probably close to the price difference between the vacs.

 

[Alko]

I intended to just drill a hole in the step adaptor (btw, why would it not do the trick?) that I use to connect my Fein Turbo I to the Rotex 150, but this seems like a very interesting idea (Although I'm not sure whether it is really necessary with my dust collector that is the smallest in the Fein range, and thus should already have a lesser suction power). Found this router speed control on the web:

http://www.mlcswoodworking.com/orderstatus/html/smarthtml/pages/speed_control.html

Do I have to be an electrical engineer to achieve this , or could it be feasible with less knowledge?  : I assume that the vac cannot be directly connected to the outlet via thuis device, as it would reduce the sanders power also...

/A

 

[nickao]

I must be the only one here that does not care about the speed control and never use it and always keep my CT 33's on high and have never had one problem at all. I love the Fein vacs and you do not need to mess with anything except hooking to your RO and using it. I have three Fein machines , two a turbo III and a Turbo II and I have never had a problem with any of the Festool sanders yet.

Nickao

 

[jaegerhund]

I rarely use the speed control unless vacuuming on a surface that needs it.

Justin

 

[Neill]

Andreas -

I also have a Turbo II that is about 8 years old that I have used with all my sanders, Festool and Porter Cable, with much success.  I did buy the Festool hose to use with my RO125, ETS 125 and LS 130.  I have not noticed any problems with the vac running at maximum speed.

If I were to replace it now, I believe that I would get a Festool for the versatility but not because I am dissatisfied with the Fein at all.

Neill

 

[murphyt]

I cannot comment on the fein vac but you might want to look at the available amps on the outlet. I recall reading a magazine review (have been searching the whole morning but cannot find it) that the available amps is  less for the fein.

 

[Julian Tracy]

I cannot comment on the fein vac but you might want to look at the available amps on the outlet. I recall reading a magazine review (have been searching the whole morning but cannot find it) that the available amps is  less for the fein.

The Fein Vac has the highest amp rating of any of the tool-activated vacs.  I think the outlet is rated for 20amps - but at the very least, you can use it with a 15amp tool.  You cannot do that with the Bosch or the porter cable vacs.

Not sure about the CT22 though.

JT

 

[EcoFurniture]

Thanks for the replies!

I already got myself a Festool mini vac. Works really well and I love it! Had at a job site the other day and really noticed how easy it was to get around the house with it.

Festool rocks!