Good dust extractor for sanding stairs - portable and effective

[ReneS]

I have been prepping my main stairs to paint the risers and have been using Bondo wood filler for the deeper holes. (They had carpet on them, and of course, they were peppered with nails and staples.)

I'm going to sand the risers, and I'm looking for a dust extractor that has good dust extraction and can be hauled around fairly easily.

I'm inclined to get a Festool, and I would appreciate any feedback and recommendations.

Thanks in advance.

 

[nclemmons]

I have a CT-SYS - the battery powered systainer-sized vacuum unit. Given you are on stairs, I'd suggest it as it does a good job on dust collection and it is easy to just place it on a stair tread. I've found it very useful for jobs where portability is important. I also have a CT-26 with a boom arm which is my go-to shop vac.

Beyond the CT-Sys, the other vacs would either require the vac at the top or bottom of the stairs and potentially a longer hose. If you are OK with that, the CT26 or CT Midi are both good options. All have variable speed suction which is great for sanding.

 

[mwolczko]

I just refinished a flight of open tread stairs. Each tread was previously carpeted so I too had to remove hundreds of staples and fill the holes. I used a RAS for initial aggressive cleanup and then an ETS for most of the work and a DTS for corners and such. I have a CT Midi and found the hose easily reached from the ground floor to the top tread.

 

[luvmytoolz]

+1 for the Midi.

They're a great little unit that performs great and is still reasonably luggable. I've got 2 that I drag all over the place and they're seriously useful and convenient.

 

[leakyroof]

Does Festool still offer the cloth covered long hose with the cord encased next to the hose? With my CT26, that's been my hose to reach spaces/jobs where the Vac couldn't be too near or it would be in the way of ladders. Ceilings come to mind more often than stairs in my case...

 

[mino]

CT Midi and get a second D36 hose - ideally from one of the Festool cleaning sets, for US RS-HW D 36-Plus.
The D36 hose directly connects with the default D27/32 hose that ships with the vac.

Also make sure to get one of the Bluetooth remotes. Those 7 meters are pretty far and you really want a remote so you do not need to drive the sander from the vac.

@leakyroof

Suction Hose D 32/22x10m-AS-GQ/CT USA

www.festoolusa.com

 

[Cheese]

Does Festool still offer the cloth covered long hose with the cord encased next to the hose? With my CT26, that's been my hose to reach spaces/jobs where the Vac couldn't be too near or it would be in the way of ladders. Ceilings come to mind more often than stairs in my case...

Ya they're pretty slick. I use the 5m version in the shop and another 5m version in the garage. They're especially nice for use with a sander.

 

[ReneS]

Thanks for the replies, everyone.

I ended up dragging my CT 26E out of my garage shop and using that with a DTS 400. I was looking for an excuse to buy another cool toy and told myself that unplugging the 26 from behind my snowblower and under my sheet goods rack was a bridge too far. (Yeah, I know...) I believe the CT 26 weighs about the same as the Midi, so there would be no portability gain for me, as far as I can tell.

The DTS 400 is working really well for this application. I can get right up to the edges of the treads and stringers without dinging them. With 120 grit, I am getting good results without a ton of work.

For quick clean up, I just ordered a Milwaukee 12 volt vac. It is smaller than the 18 volt, but it accepts bags, which is a big plus for me. I almost got the M18 Packout vac, but it doesn't have a carry handle, so even though it takes bags, the lack of a handle was a deal killer. Funny thing, the smaller vac came with a free M12 5 volt battery at Home Depot.

 

[Michael Kellough]

Ya they're pretty slick. I use the 5m version in the shop and another 5m version in the garage. They're especially nice for use with a sander.

The cloth covered hose/cord is very convenient for swapping tools at the working position but I wish it wasn’t so stiff. Makes it more difficult to get the sander flat on the ceiling.

 

[ReneS]

My apologies. The M18 Packout vac does have a carry handle.

In the many pictures I looked at, it was not easy to see, as it was folded down and the angle of the pictures made it very difficult to get a good view of the top of the vac.