semenza said:
Does anyone have the Turbo Suction Brush? It is the one that has roller brushes driven by the suction air flow. I am thinking about setting up a CT for house cleaning. I have quite a bit of carpeting though , and would like to know if tis brush works well.
I
might have it!
To see why I'm not sure, read on...
The Turbo Suction Brush is described in the US 2007 catalogue as follows:
Turbo suction brush. Order No 450644. Cost $91.50
for carpet and hard surface with 4 casters, width 10 5/8" (270 mm),
brush rollers driven by intake air, requires 36 mm hose - Type: D 36 TKB
The photo in the catalogue is too small, so here is the photo from the
Ace Tool website, which is also selling it for the same price:
When I saw this brush in the catalogue a few days ago, I thought it looked similar to the Powerbrush that came with my Vax wet/dry cylinder cleaner 13 years ago. The Vax is the 4100 model with variable speed, and I use it with my TS55 and other power tools like my (sadly non-Festool) ROS and jigsaw. I actually have another similar VAX for the house, and a third which I use to keep the other two machines on the road.
This afternoon I decided to photograph my Vax Powerbrush for posterity. If you click on a photo, you will be taken to my album in the gallery, where you'll be able to get a higher-resolution version of the photo.
There should be four casters (one is missing on my unit), and the whole unit is 11" wide. The brush is driven by the (very!) off-white impeller via a belt, and the impeller is driven by the air that is being sucked up through the hose. The internal diameter of the hose connection is ~32mm, and the outside diameter is ~39.5mm. Interestingly, the unit is made in Germany!
Now you can see why I might have the Festool Turbo Suction Brush!
So how well does my 13 year old Vax Powerbrush work? Well, I must say that I have pretty mixed feelings about it. Firstly, it makes a horrible racket. I put this down to worn bearings on the brush head. Disassembling the unit (which I have done countless times over the years) and lubricating the bearings gives me peace and quiet for a wee while, but it's soon up to its old tricks again. It's not the sort of thing I want to use late at night. It is very happy sweeping up sawdust and household dirt, but running into a few wood shavings (eg from a hand plane), which have been brought into the house on a piece of clothing, will clog it up very quickly. It then needs to be turned upside down and the shavings pulled out of the brush. Sometimes they get past the brush and lodge in the turbo impeller, but there is an easily-removable hatch that gives access to that. If you are unlucky enough to go over a piece of string, the string will immediately wind itself round the brush. If it can't be unwound by hand, or snipped away, then the base of the unit has to be taken off by removing four self-tapping screws. You'll see some threads which have wound themselves round the brush in the photo, but don't impact perfromance.
Because the brush is powered by the air passing through the hose, if the hose gets clogged, or the bag becomes full, the suction power reduces and the brush slows down. For best operation, make sure that you've got good airflow. It works equally well on haircord carpet or vinyl, but it might bog down a bit on carpet with a longer pile. A floorcovering that will totally stop it in its tracks is a rug with long strands. It also doesn't like the gravel from my drive which sometimes gets tramped in - bits of gravel fly around inside the brush housing and add to the noise. They rarely get fully sucked up, and although they usually fall out when the Powerbrush is removed and shaken, larger stones can get trapped inside the brush and the bottom plate needs to be removed. Vacuuming up cat litter can be tricky, depending on the size of the particles.
The above rather negative comments really apply to most vacuum cleaners with rotating brushes, so please bear that in mind. Bearings will always wear, string will always get wrapped round the roller, and gravel will usually cause a problem. The Powerbrush does have a feature which gives it a distinct advantage to an upright vacuum cleaner - the hose socket rotates, and it is possible to get the head right under chairs and furniture. It is also less tiring to operate than an upright vacuum cleaner, since you aren't constantly moving the weight of the vacuum motor or the dustbag. For my stairs, I often join two Vax hoses together, which allows me to leave the motor unit at the bottom.
In summary, I find that it is very much an accessory for indoors. Even when used in that environment it can still baulk at things, so you have to be careful what you try and vacuum up. Over time, the bearings for the brush have worn and it is now very noisy, but despite 13 years of use, the plastic casing has held up very well and has no cracks or damage (apart from a missing small roller at the front).
Once again, remember that I'm talking about a very elderly and well-used Vax Powerbrush, not the Festool Turbo Suction Brush. Although the two units are remarkably similar, the internal design of the Festool item may have been changed to improve performance.
I therefore finish with a question for Jerry. How similar is your genuine Festool Turbo Suction Brush to my Vax Powerbrush? I have only been able to find one picture of the Festool item, and it would be interesting to know whether the underneath is also similar.
Forrest
... I immediately took her to Sears and had her pick out a new Craftsman....
