POLL: CT Bags Usage

[Kevin D.]

I'm curious as to what seems to be the general usage of people's CT bags.  I just emptied my first bag I've ever filled by sucking the contents into my DC, and started wondering, how many times can I do this, or should be doing this.

I've been on the fence with getting a reusable bag, and I think one of the factors I've heard mentioned is that for really fine dust, someone suggested sticking with the disposibles, and use the reusable ones for when you're doing things that would be producing bigger particulates.  Nevertheless, I'm still on the fence, and would appreciate comments on this issue, as well as get an idea of the actual usage via the poll.

Thanks in advance!

 

[WarnerConstCo.]

On a rare occasion I have had to dump out my paper bag.

I try to make sure that I always have extra bags stashed in my truck, my trailer or in a systainer somewhere.

 

[Frank Pellow]

Kevin, I voted as requested, but my situation is more complex than I could indicate by just using the poll.

On my CT-22, I use both disposable bags (about 3% of the time for something really nasty) and a reusable bag (about 90 % of the time).   I also have bin and use it about 7% of the time for clean up of wet material.  I don't reuse the disposable bags on this machine.

On my CT-Mini, I only use disposable bags.  Here, after filling a bag, I cut the bag near the bottom, tape it up, and use it 2 or 3 times in total.
,
It appears to me that options 1 and 6 in your poll mean the same thing.  Please explain the difference or remove one of the options.

 

[Frank Pellow]

Kevin, I remember that you used to be the "Poll King" on the Canadian Woodwork Forum.  [poke]

Are you planning to establish the same roll for yourself here?  [unsure]

 

[mouppe]

I only use the disposable bags, but I use a shop vac for the table-mounted router and the benchtop planer. This keeps the bag replacement frequency much lower, in fact so low that I hardly notice.

Richard.

 

[Kevin D.]

It appears to me that options 1 and 6 in your poll mean the same thing.  Please explain the difference or remove one of the options.

Thanks Frank, I didn't catch that.  I removed option six.  No one had answered it to that point luckily.

 

[Kevin D.]

Kevin, I remember that you used to be the "Poll King" on the Canadian Woodwork Forum.   [poke]

Are you planning to establish the same roll for yourself here?   [unsure]

MOST folks seem to like polls, so that's why I enjoyed doing them.  But I've slowed down from doing them much in the last year or two.  This one I really wanted to know what actual usages were, so i can get a better feel for what I should do.  I don't even have a clue how many times I should be indicating the more/less usage level cutoff at.  Figured five times was possibly a good quantity.  I noticed how wrinkly/creased the bag gets dealing with emptying it this first time, and figured after a while it would get very soft and mushed to death.

 

[spikfot]

I pre-tape my bags around the plastic input and can get a lot of milage. routing and planing- 10+ times, sanding- sometimes 1 or 2 cause i hate to empty them and they clog faster. routing and planing i can fill them (22 liter) up in to-15 minutes.

 

[KorDes]

I got a dust deputy, bags become irrelevant. Only replaced my bag once in the 3 odd years I've owned it and that was when I was using a home made mini cyclone setup.

 

[Frank Pellow]

Kevin, here is a similar poll that I set up a little while ago: http://festoolownersgroup.com/festool-how-to/who-slits-dumps-then-tapes-up-their-paper-vacuum-bags-for-reuse/

 

[Kevin D.]

Kevin, here is a similar poll that I set up a little while ago: http://festoolownersgroup.com/festool-how-to/who-slits-dumps-then-tapes-up-their-paper-vacuum-bags-for-reuse/

That was in and around the time I was just getting my stuff.  Don't think I even had the CT yet at that time.  Buying was an afterthought, but I'm sure glad I bought it.  Great unit.  Thanks for the link Frank.  Just wanted to get some perspective on how people deal with their bags, and that one helps even further.

 

[bruegf]

I think I'm now on my second bag after 3 years.  Use a dust deputy cyclone in front of the CT 22.

Fred

 

[SteveD]

I used to reuse my bags several times - depending on the usage. If I was planing or routing I would perhaps use them 5 times over, if sanding - never.
Then I got a cyclone. The stuff that does get through the cyclone is minimal, but usually very fine. As the old saying goes I change the bag once a year whether it needs it or not!
All things considered I would invest in a cyclone and some paper bags rather than the disposable. I no longer bother about what I am sucking up, damp or dry.

SteveD

 

[black flag]

I emptied my Dust Deputy for the 5th time yesterday and checked the bag and there was absolutely nothing in there.  DD ftw!

 

[image132]

I just want to say quickly that I chose the wrong option by mistake.  [embarassed]

I meant to choose "I reuse the disposable bag less than 5 times" I always have a box of 5 on my shelf just in case but normally reuse it about 3 times. I cut the bottom open and then use a one of those slide on spines that you use for loose documents when you want to put them together. So a box of 5 lasts me about 2 years. But then again I only work in a semi-professional capacity so this might not be well suited for you.

I used to reuse my bags several times - depending on the usage. If I was planing or routing I would perhaps use them 5 times over, if sanding - never.
Then I got a cyclone. The stuff that does get through the cyclone is minimal, but usually very fine. As the old saying goes I change the bag once a year whether it needs it or not!
All things considered I would invest in a cyclone and some paper bags rather than the disposable. I no longer bother about what I am sucking up, damp or dry.

SteveD

Does that mean there is a difference between the disposable bags and the paper ones? I had always thought they were the same.

 

[bonesbr549]

I originally used my bag twice till I read it impacted performance to do it (which I question down deep).  I'm using the dust deputy now, so almost all goes into the DD instead of the bag.  I bought a box of bags not too long ago and the first one is still pretty empty.  It's great so far.  I'm a hobbyist so I don't need to take my ct33e with me to a job site. 

 

[ccarrolladams]

At the time I bought my EHL 65 E and HL 850 E I took the advice of Jesse and Raoul at my Festool dealer that those planes produce so many chips it is best to switch to the Longlife filter bag (cat 456 737) for my CT22.

Like all the advice I have received from Jesse and Raoul, as well as Festool reps, that worked very well for me. I quickly learned to take the Longlife bag outside, then put that inside a trash bag so I could empty the Longlife with little mess. In those days I did not empty my disposable bags because they lasted so long when I was using a TS55 and my OF1010 for drilling. Even when I used my OF1400 I did not feel one-time use of disposable bags was a waste.

Once I opened my shop with an effective dust/chips collection system, I found that I could use a 50mm hose connected to it to cleanly empty the Longlife bags of chips. Then with some experimentation I learned to hold a disposable bag up to the same 50mm hose to suck the paper bag empty.

My experience is that my CT22s work better and stay cleaner when extracting from saws and sanders using disposable bags. For me the Longlife is most practical collecting planer chips or when using larger cutters on the OF1400 and OF2200.