MDF and long life bag

[yoda]

I've got a ct26, kapex and ts55. A large portion of what I do involves cutting and sanding MDF. Anyone else use a long life bag for this and how well does it work?

 

[jonny round boy]

I've got a ct26, kapex and ts55. A large portion of what I do involves cutting and sanding MDF. Anyone else use a long life bag for this and how well does it work?

The long-life bags are designed for coarse waste, for example large chips from routing & planing. They are not recommended for applications that produce fine dust (sawing, sanding), especially in MDF.

Stick with the regular bags. Cutting & sanding MDF, you'll be surprised just how long it takes to fill a 26 litre bag!

 

[jmbfestool]

Well I have had my long life bag as long as I have had the CT22 as I bought them 2gether I hated the idea of buying new bags all the time.  Well you get one disposable bag with the CT22 well I soon filled it so I was glad i had bought the long life.

I'm not sure I think I have had my CT 2years or more well the bag is working fine i have not noticed loss of suction really. Well put it this way the vacuum is still doing it's job taking all the dust my planer kicks out when planning MDF.  I use ALOT of MDF Currently I'm on a job going back when it's been tiled to do more skirting and architrave and bath paneling all out of MDF.

On this job  I have fitted a kitchen,  end panels are MDF and coving, studding around part of the kitchen only half height just above the work tops so instead of a plaster coming n get mess around the units I used MDF and mitred all the corners all the skirting all the window boards I fitted are all MDF.  Under the stairs I fitted a stud wall and a door and used MDF instead of plater board cus the stud is right behind the hand rail spindles and newel post so a plaster would not be able to plaster it.  Basically the entire house is made out of MDF and my CT22 is working fine.  The CT does become heavy though when it starts to get full with MDF dust.

Jmb

 

[AlexThePalex]

Despite all recommendations I have used my CT22 with long life bag for 1,5 years and I threw everything I had against it, sanding dust, MDF, wood and plaster and it never gave me any problems.

 

[Dan1210]

I've got a ct26, kapex and ts55. A large portion of what I do involves cutting and sanding MDF. Anyone else use a long life bag for this and how well does it work?

The long-life bags are designed for coarse waste, for example large chips from routing & planing. They are not recommended for applications that produce fine dust (sawing, sanding), especially in MDF.

Stick with the regular bags. Cutting & sanding MDF, you'll be surprised just how long it takes to fill a 26 litre bag!

i can fill a bag easy on one job with my ct mini, i cut up 8 sheets of 18mm mdf for some wardrobes and profiled some edges, filled a whole bag! i need to get the midi as i regularly fill the bags on the mini and i re-use them around 3-4 times.

having read my post back its slightly irrelevant to the title, my point was that i fill my bags much quicker than i would like and i mainly cut mdf and mfc.

 

[jmbfestool]

I've got a ct26, kapex and ts55. A large portion of what I do involves cutting and sanding MDF. Anyone else use a long life bag for this and how well does it work?

The long-life bags are designed for coarse waste, for example large chips from routing & planing. They are not recommended for applications that produce fine dust (sawing, sanding), especially in MDF.

Stick with the regular bags. Cutting & sanding MDF, you'll be surprised just how long it takes to fill a 26 litre bag!

i can fill a bag easy on one job with my ct mini, i cut up 8 sheets of 18mm mdf for some wardrobes and profiled some edges, filled a whole bag! i need to get the midi as i regularly fill the bags on the mini and i re-use them around 3-4 times.

I think you meant to say CT26  [tongue]

 

[Eli]

I use paper bags for metal waste or  if the whole job is plaster or mdf. Other than that longlife. The strategy of cleaning one vac with the other has served me well. The bags and filters are probably in the 90% performance range when returned to service.

 

[nehardwoodfloors]

I fine sand a few hundred square feet almost everyday. I can fill the long life bag in a day!
It has performed very well no matter what kind of dust Im producing.

 

[yoda]

Thanks for the responses. Any chance there is a third party manufacturer that makes re-usable bags for the vacs? >$200 for a jumbo ziploc bag seems a little steep.  [tongue]

 

[jonny round boy]

Thanks for the responses. Any chance there is a third party manufacturer that makes re-usable bags for the vacs? >$200 for a jumbo ziploc bag seems a little steep.  [tongue]

There's a guy here in the UK that makes them & sells on eBay UK, though I think recently he's started putting them on the German & US sites too. Initially they were just for the Mini & Midi, but I'm sure I saw them recently for one of the bigger bags (can't remember which).

I've not seen one in person, but they look to be just a cotton bag. They may be more than a single layer, but I don't know. I'm not sure I'd trust them to be as well made as the Festool ones - if they don't hold the dust well, you're going to be renewing the filters a lot more often...

 

[tbellemare]

The Festool Long-Life Bags are significantly more than any Ziploc I've come across. A Ziploc more accurately equates to a disposable filter bag.

The Long-Life Bags are tough as nails and have the same filtration as the disposable filter bags (5 microns). The reason they are not recommended for hazardous or fine dust is that you have to empty them and the dust can go airborn in the process. If you are emptying the bag and the dust goes airborn, you're likely breathing it.

Tom

 

[jmbfestool]

The Festool Long-Life Bags are significantly more than any Ziploc I've come across. A Ziploc more accurately equates to a disposable filter bag.

The Long-Life Bags are tough as nails and have the same filtration as the disposable filter bags (5 microns). The reason they are not recommended for hazardous or fine dust is that you have to empty them and the dust can go airborn in the process. If you are emptying the bag and the dust goes airborn, you're likely breathing it.

Tom

I hold my breath in  [tongue] lol  I can hold it for a minute so thats just enough to empty the bag lol

No what I do is open up the long life bag and then place the entire thing inside a plastic bin bag I then close the bin bag up I then tip the long life bag up side down inside the bin bag and give it a little shake.  I then wait a little then open up the bag and remove the long life bag.    Some times I might stand round a corner of a building or wall and bang my bag against the wall while im round the corner so the dust doesn't get to me to clean it out abit more.  Unless der is alot of wind but you obviously stand on the other side lol

I just aint paying for disposable ones!  [tongue]

JMB

 

[Dan1210]

The concept of festools paper bags is brilliant and works amazingly well! you set up your tools, machine your material pretty much completely dust free when using all festool kit, then when your done or your bag is full you open the extractor flip over the cardboard lid and all the dust is contained! and it really is that clean, but the catch for me is i fill a bag very quickly and having to buy the bags can be heavy on your wallet.

So i find myself re-using the bags 3-4 times and getting very dusty in the process! kinda defeats the object, it wouldnt be so bad if festool bags were offered at a reasonable cost but they are fairly expensive compared to other domestic bags, im with jmb on this one and will be after a long life bag soon, i think they are £25 for 5 in the u.k £5 a bag! someones taking the piss somewhere...

 

[Wooden Lungs]

The concept of festools paper bags is brilliant and works amazingly well! you set up your tools, machine your material pretty much completely dust free when using all festool kit, then when your done or your bag is full you open the extractor flip over the cardboard lid and all the dust is contained! and it really is that clean, but the catch for me is i fill a bag very quickly and having to buy the bags can be heavy on your wallet.

So i find myself re-using the bags 3-4 times and getting very dusty in the process! kinda defeats the object, it wouldnt be so bad if festool bags were offered at a reasonable cost but they are fairly expensive compared to other domestic bags, im with jmb on this one and will be after a long life bag soon, i think they are £25 for 5 in the u.k £5 a bag! someones taking the piss somewhere...

Exactly right!

 

[rmwarren]

the catch for me is i fill a bag very quickly and having to buy the bags can be heavy on your wallet.

You might consider adding the Dust Deputy, I bought one at the same time I got my CT 36, I think I have emptied the DD 3 times and the CT 36 bag seems to be nearly 100% empty still. I also seem to have 100% suction also.

The DD comes with a few clear plastic bag that I assume are meant to be disposable but, being cheap, I just pull the bag and upend it into the bottom of an empty garbage can with a green liner installed and then gently pull the DD bag out by its bottom, no dust issues at all.

If this keeps up I may never have to replace the bag on the CT 36.

 

[jmbfestool]

the catch for me is i fill a bag very quickly and having to buy the bags can be heavy on your wallet.

You might consider adding the Dust Deputy, I bought one at the same time I got my CT 36, I think I have emptied the DD 3 times and the CT 36 bag seems to be nearly 100% empty still. I also seem to have 100% suction also.

The DD comes with a few clear plastic bag that I assume are meant to be disposable but, being cheap, I just pull the bag and upend it into the bottom of an empty garbage can with a green liner installed and then gently pull the DD bag out by its bottom, no dust issues at all.

If this keeps up I may never have to replace the bag on the CT 36.

ummm!  Dust Deputy seems a USA thing!  Cus in the UK it aint that popular PLUS!  For site use it aint very practical carrying a Dust Deputy around.  Me an Dan are site joiners!

JMB

 

[Deansocial]

The concept of festools paper bags is brilliant and works amazingly well! you set up your tools, machine your material pretty much completely dust free when using all festool kit, then when your done or your bag is full you open the extractor flip over the cardboard lid and all the dust is contained! and it really is that clean, but the catch for me is i fill a bag very quickly and having to buy the bags can be heavy on your wallet.

So i find myself re-using the bags 3-4 times and getting very dusty in the process! kinda defeats the object, it wouldnt be so bad if festool bags were offered at a reasonable cost but they are fairly expensive compared to other domestic bags, im with jmb on this one and will be after a long life bag soon, i think they are £25 for 5 in the u.k £5 a bag! someones taking the piss somewhere...

if you are just using the mini then buy the numatic hepa bags and just cut a bit of the green plastic off it and they slip straight on. I have been using them on my midi now for ages and they work great. I dont buy them my self the company i sub to does but i think they get em for £6 for 10

 

[Dan1210]

The concept of festools paper bags is brilliant and works amazingly well! you set up your tools, machine your material pretty much completely dust free when using all festool kit, then when your done or your bag is full you open the extractor flip over the cardboard lid and all the dust is contained! and it really is that clean, but the catch for me is i fill a bag very quickly and having to buy the bags can be heavy on your wallet.

So i find myself re-using the bags 3-4 times and getting very dusty in the process! kinda defeats the object, it wouldnt be so bad if festool bags were offered at a reasonable cost but they are fairly expensive compared to other domestic bags, im with jmb on this one and will be after a long life bag soon, i think they are £25 for 5 in the u.k £5 a bag! someones taking the piss somewhere...

if you are just using the mini then buy the numatic hepa bags and just cut a bit of the green plastic off it and they slip straight on. I have been using them on my midi now for ages and they work great. I dont buy them my self the company i sub to does but i think they get em for £6 for 10

hey dean, do you have a link to the bags you are referring to?