Festool VAC SYS Cart Part 2

[jericho]

Hey Guys,

    Two or three weeks ago I posted a cart on here that I made to display and demo the Festool VAC SYS Clamping System. Well as do most things from Festool, after mulling it over for a while and seeing how effective and time saving the VAC SYS is one of the systems followed me home last week and I built my own cart and made a few changes that really fully unleash the potential for this system and also cleans up the look of the cart.
    The first photo shows the store cart and the next two photos show my cart at home. As you can see the first cart has the foot pedal up on top which is fine for a simple store demo but in real world use really does eliminate the ability to free up both hands to grab a piece when placing it on or taking it off of the clamping modules. So, I made the cart six inches wider and made a center compartment that sits within 3/8" off the floor, allowing the cart to still roll freely and use the foot pedal for what it was intended.The center section which is to ultimately accommodate the foot pedal serves another function and that is it allows the plumbing to be neatly tucked away and hidden out of sight or from possible damage.
    The other major change I made to the cart to make it more user friendly for everyday use is I added a "router table" switch so as not to have to bend over and cut the pump on every time I need it on. This also led to me adding some hooks on the right side of the cart to have a cord wrap for the "router table" switch.
    Overall, I think I made a couple of adjustments that will lend itself to a very long term user friendly clamping/work station. I love my VAC SYS!![attachimg=1][attachimg=2][attachimg=3]

 

[copcarcollector]

Nice! I was wondering about the foot pedal location in the store demo table, I like the way you have integrated it into your personal table.

 

[Mario Turcot]

[member=27413]jericho[/member] , thanks for posting your VACSYS cart. I am in dire need of a clamping system and I was looking into a way to get the VAC SYS system on a permanent setup and yours is exactly what I was envisioning. I see that you have both heads fixed. Do you think it would add more flexibility if the heads were on T-Tracks?

Another question, what is the difference between the SE1 and SE2

Thanks again, Mario

 

[Sparktrician]

Do you think it would add more flexibility if the heads were on T-Tracks?

Ooooh!!!  [member=66597]Mario Turcot[/member], I like your thinking!  [thumbs up]

 

[Mario Turcot]

Ooooh!!!  [member=66597]Mario Turcot[/member], I like your thinking!  [thumbs up]

Patent Pending  [tongue] and thank you!

 

[DynaGlide]

This thread comes at a good time as guess what arrived from the big brown truck today. . .a Recon Vac Sys.

Since I have ample MFT mounting space (3 MFT/3 joined together) I made up the mounting bracket for the Vac Sys from the Conturo manual ahead of time. What I found, for me, was I didn't like how once installed on the MFT/3 aluminum profile I was getting some flex if I rotated the Vac Sys head vertical and applied downward pressure such as when one might be installing edge banding.

I already had this MFT slab made that I kind of use as my catch all workbench so moved it over and lowered the adjustable saw horses as low as they'd go. At 6'2 I think this will work out just fine for me. I like that the two routed profiles on the MFT slab intended for holding the CT hose just happens to work well for guiding the Vac Sys hoses out of the way. And having the pedal nestled against a leg of the sawhorse it doesn't seem to want to jump around when I use it. I may permanently mount the Vac Sys to the top with some screws and wing nuts from underneath if I find I never move it. I like having the pump easy to access on the shelf below for on/off and it's off the floor.