My experience with a Workcentre and a Boom Arm on a CT 22 Vacuum

[Frank Pellow]

I have resisted both these items for a long time but, this week, I finally succumbed.

Today, I assembled the Festool boom arm and workcentre.  The instructions were sparse, but in a couple of hours with a few false starts, I managed to get everything put together.  Brice Burrell, Aaron Underdahl, and Paul Marcel have all posted good information, tips, and photos about the workcentre on the Festool Owners Group forum and these were a big help to me.

I decided to assemble everything on my CT 22 without modification and to try it out before making any of the enhancements suggested by Brice, Aaron, and Paul.  The photo to below shows this standard configuration:

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I'm not at all sure that the braces for the boom arm near the floor are needed but, for now at least, I will keep them in place.

Just as Paul found, for me, the workcentre is too low when simply placed on the CT 22.  Paul placed a systainer 4 on top of the vacuum then screwed his workcentre to a wooden “tray” that snugly fit over the systainer.  I did something similar.  The bottom of the workcentre seems to be designed to make this quite easy to do.  Here is a photo of the bottom:

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And here it the bottom with a piece of plywood that I cut to fit inside the rim:

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I built a inverted tray to snugly fit on top of a sortainer then screwed the workcentre to the tray.  Here is the result:

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I much prefer the workcentre at this height.

I will likely make a lot of additional enhancements but, for now, the only other thing that I did was to cut a bottom to fit in the space between the two metal panels the way that Brice did with his workcentre:

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[erock]

Nice setup Frank.  I plan on getting a CT22 in June with a Boom (or home made boom).  But please don't take this the wrong way, but I think it's funny with the RYOBI  drill in the picture.  All those nice Festools on the workcentre and the ryobi just hanging out,  wishing it could be green instead of blue.  [big grin]

I will not make fun of the ryobi drill becasue I own two of them.....and when they die with my makita's I will get a Festool drill.

Enjoy the new set up!    I am green with envy.

 

[Frank Pellow]

Thanks erock.

I am not at all ashamed of my Ryobi impact driver.  It is one of my most used tools and just about the best bargin I have ever purchased.

 

[PaulMarcel]

Good to see you posting, Frank

I think you'll like the Sortainer under there; absolutely love mine.  In fact, I later replaced it with a Tanos 5-drawer (Sys-IV) Sortainer since it has an extra wide drawer on the bottom.

I'll bet you succumbed to the boom arm when you saw it setup at your local favorite Lee Valley

 

[TomGadwa1]

I have been using the WCR1000 workcenter now for over a year and I am quite happy with it. As mine is sitting on top of a CT36 I saw no need to raise it up. One thing I can recommend is to fix the included shelf to the pegboard so it will not try to find the floor. As it comes stock it can not be trusted to stay in place. Also I installed a power outlet strip on my WCR1000 to prolong the life of the stock outlet that comes with the CT36 as it is not up the quality level of the rest of the CT unit. Regarding the outrigger legs I found that they just got in the way of moving the unit easily and became a point of frustration and caused me to express myself in vulgar language. Thus I removed the outrigger legs and have not had any stability issues. Now I just have to figure out what to do with the cool knobs that are no longer being used with them.
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Picture of power outlet strip to prevent premature failure of stock CT outlet.

 

[Frank Pellow]

Tom thanks for the tip about the power strip.  I will probably do something similar.  I have already taken steps to secure the metal shelf more securely.

And, thanks for the confirmation that, in your opinion,  the outrigger legs are not really needed.  Has anyone found that they are needed?  If so, why?

 

[GPowers]

Tom thanks for the tip about the power strip.  I will probably do something similar.  I have already taken steps to secure the metal shelf more securely.

And, thanks for the confirmation that, in your opinion,  the outrigger legs are not really needed.  Has anyone found that they are needed?  If so, why?

Never even install the the outrigger legs.

 

[Jeff Zanin]

Tom thanks for the tip about the power strip.  I will probably do something similar.  I have already taken steps to secure the metal shelf more securely.

And, thanks for the confirmation that, in your opinion,  the outrigger legs are not really needed.  Has anyone found that they are needed?  If so, why?

My CT22 outriggers are collecting dust in the rafters... I'm sure there are some circumstances that would warrant them, but especially in a small work area I think they cause more potential problems as a tripping hazard than they solve as a stabilizer.  I try to keep the boom from swinging more than 45° to the axis of the CT and it seems fine without the outriggers.

Jeff

 

[kgregc]

Frank,

I have had the Boom Arm for several years and found it very useful in the projects I have done. I also removed the extension legs and found them to not be necessary for almost all situations.

Enjoy,

Greg

 

[mouppe]

I do use the outriggers because it allows me to use the boom arm from behind the CT as well as in front of it. I don't think they need to be anywhere near as large as they are to prevent the dust extractor from tipping, but I have got to used to them and rarely trip over them now. Maybe once a day at most!

 

[Kev]

Frank ... that's a Frankencentre  [eek]

I'm guessing you have a fair size shop to have all those tools on it ??

Kev.

 

[Frank Pellow]

Frank ... that's a Frankencentre  [eek]

I'm guessing you have a fair size shop to have all those tools on it ??

Kev.

I guess that it is a fair size.  I show the florro plan in the thread: http://festoolownersgroup.com/member-connections/a-major-reorganization-of-my-woodworking-shed-is-underway/

But, I have trouble keeping the place organized and I trust that this will help.

 

[Jesse Cloud]

Thanks for posting Frank.

It seems that the WCR, like the MFT, is a great platform for innovation and customization.  I doubt that any two of us use it the same way.

The power strip idea is brilliant, I will definitely try that.

I found the boom arm on the CT with the WCR to be awkward.  As I often use the CT and associated Festools on both the MFT and my traditional workbench - a couple of feet away, I took the boom arm off the CT and mounted it on a homemade base (cinder block and plywood) so that it would swing easily between the two.

Curiously, I find that I use the WCR mainly to store small things - drill bits, domino cutters, router and domino wrenches, rulers, squares, pencils, etc.

And I removed the CT outriggers the first time I tripped over them, never regretted it.

 

[honeydoman]

Frank, thanks for sharing, some nice ideas especially adding the plug strip, surprised you have those in canada !