Kapex and dust collection

[morrisericd]

At the risk of a repeat - and I have read through many, many posts - I'm looking for a suggestion based on your experience.  My first Festool was the 55 saw which I've used on many construction jobs cutting plywood for built-in's, etc.  I have moved into full-time furniture with a dedicated shop but there is always the possibility of on-site work in the future.  I use the Domino for almost all of my furniture projects and have found it and the Rotex sanders indispensible.

Last week I went into my local Festool shop to "look" at the Kapex.  I needed to replace a Hitachi 10" slider that has served me well.  I have about 15 hours now on the Kapex including cutting about 1000 short pieces of walnut today for a series of butcher blocks.  I use a CT22 for my sanders, saw, rotex's, etc. and need some input about the dust collection with the Kapex.  I did a quick test today - I cleaned the area around my saw and hooked up my CT22 with a 36mm hose and did about 200 cuts of 2" wide walnut.  I then repeated the same number of cuts with my 5 year old Rigid shop vac with the same hose hooked up through one of those auto-on switches.  Both vacuums were at about the same level of dirty - the filter (not a Hepa, but one of their small particle filters) on the Rigid was pretty clean and the bag in the CT22 was about 1/4 full.  On noise alone the CT22 wins hands down.  I really wanted the CT22 to win in the dust collection because I've had my eye on the new 26 but it didn't.  There was as much if not slightly more dust behind and around the saw with the CT22 as the Rigid. 

Have others had similar experiences?  It seemed if I started the saw and paused for my cut with the CT22 it did a slightly better job than the quick cuts I was making today.  If I use a small particle or Hepa filter on the Rigid, besides the noise, what am I getting out of the Festool vac?  As an aside, the Kapex was a joy to use.  I'm pretty tall, so the handle height/configuration doesn't bother me and the dust collection with either vac is at least twice as good as the Hitachi.  I'm looking forward to your experiences.

 

[ccarrolladams]

The permanently installed Kapex in my shop has a standard pull-over saw dust collection shroud behind which is connected to the shop DC system. A CT22 is connected to the Kapex extraction port with a 36mm AS hose.

Before I had my shop I used that same Kapex with the same CT22 and 36mm hose on sites. I collected dust as well or better than my other miter saws. I added the shroud behind to improve dust collection and save time hand cleaning the Kapex area.

 

[paul_david_thomas]

Go for the 36mm hose, will improve pick up. Equally, a slight pause prior to cut also improves as the extractor is fully upto speed.

Paul.

 

[jonny round boy]

Go for the 36mm hose, will improve pick up. Equally, a slight pause prior to cut also improves as the extractor is fully upto speed.

Paul.

Paul,

The OP is using the 36mm hose already.

Morris,

If you can dedicate a hose purely for the Kapex, then you could improve the dust collection further by shortening the hose. I did that for my Kapex (albeit with the 27mm hose) and the collection improved significantly. I used half for the Kapex, and half as part of the boom arm I built, so nothing was wasted.

 

[paul_david_thomas]

Mmmm... Started at 7:00am, finished at 7:30pm... Eyes obvious turned off !

Like the cutting the hose shorter idea... I might just do that myself - many thanks !

 

[Neill]

Morris,

I have had somewhat the experience.

When I initially bought my Kapex I used the 27mm hose with my CT22.  I was disappointed with the dust collection so I went with the 36mm.  I didn't notice any significant difference.

I think the problem may be in terms of expectations rather than reality.  After reading posts here, I expected virtually total dust collection.  That was not the case.  I imagine it still does a pretty good job compared to other combinations but without doing a controlled test, I really don't know for sure.

I really don't want to get into sticking hand made add-ons to a $1,300 saw to improve it.  Shouldn't have to.

As far as Jonny's suggestion of shortening the hose, I need all the length it has to be able to put things were I want them.  

I still love this saw and the CT-22.

Neill

 

[Tim Sproul]

IIRC, the cfm values for Festool vacs is not a reason to spend the extra money on Festool.  Those numbers are in the same range as most other shop vacs.

For dedicated shop use, hooking up to a large DC could improve dust collection, as long as the restriction isn't too much - use a short length of 36 mm hose or even larger diameter, if possible.

 

[Bob Marino]

Go for the 36mm hose, will improve pick up. Equally, a slight pause prior to cut also improves as the extractor is fully upto speed.

Paul.

Agree with Paul, the 36 mm hose will make a difference, BUT depending on the specs of your Ridgid vac, the Ridgid still may (or may not) have more suction. So, if you are going to keep that as your Kapex vac and refit with an additional filter, other than noise level, using an outboard switch and loss of the antistatic feature, the differences are negligible. The differences (adjustable suction, low noise, easy to maneuver, etc.) would be best appreciated at other times.

Bob

 

[Texastutt]

I have a Fein and now a CT26... Maneuverability is an issue on site. and the CT26 wins hands down... Both quite both HEPA, Both good CFM's but shooting down a hall way loaded with sytainers and piled with other stuff on top... OH wait... the fein can't get piled with other stuff... leave it in the garage for the stationary tools.

 

[morrisericd]

Thanks for the input. Bob, you're right. Except for the noise factor, I think my Rigid vacuum hooked up to the Kapex via a 36mm hose offers almost the same overall collection as the ct26 would. And I really wanted that new 26! 

 

[semenza]

Hi,

If I am doing a lot of cuts in succession, especially small / short cuts, I find that turning the CT on to run continuously does a better job than having it switch on / off between cuts.

Seth

srs