When you don't have a festool vac quite yet...

[Jarrett]

I hope to be in the market soon for a proper vacuum.. Until then, this $3.00 mod plumbs up to the shop vac perfectly after the slightest reaming.

 

[Mort]

I use a $20 Craftsman vac on my Festools. Go to Harbor Freight and get a router speed control switch for $19.99 and you've got variable suction. Works great for sanding.

 

[Peter_C]

I use a couple of shop vacs too as I can't justify replacing them when they work well and actually have more power than a Festool vac. There are other Festool tools to buy! I have a Dust Deputy mounted on my larger vac, and use bags that you can buy from Home Depot that will help keep the filter clean for my small Ridgid vac. Originally I bought the little vac for cleaning up rodent poop and debris in the attic, but wound up really liking it for many other uses. Also run an auto switch on my larger vac. With the Bosch hose the costs are getting up there, but I was able to spread the costs out over time. My larger shop vac came with an attachment that has a variable slider on it to decrease vacuum, which I put before the Bosch hose when I want less suction. The biggest benefit a Festool vac offers is they are quit!

Someday I will buy a CT36...

 

[Jeff Zanin]

In the shop I have a Shop Vac which is used mainly on a Bosch 4000 with a Shark Guard.  Both machines howl like wounded banshees but I keep ear defenders handy and use them whenever operating these machines or other power tools.  The most critical piece of this arrangement is a Festool 452898 Y connector that allows the Shop Vac to suck from both the dust port at the back of the saw and the one on the top of the Shark Guard.  This is hardly a proper dust collector for a table saw but much better than nothing.

For the Festools in the shop I use the CT22 with boom arm, it is great but not very easy to move around so when the CT Midi returned to Canada I got one for site work.

In the garage I was using a 25+ year old mini Shop Vac which howled louder than any tool it could be connected to.  Recently it died with a brief electrical odor so I started using the CT Midi.  What a difference in noise level and also actual collection and containment of dust compared to the Shop Vac.

 

[McNally Family]

I purchased the Festool C26 for the HEPA filtration.  Can't live without that (literally). 

 

[jeep jake]

Just so you know the festool hose fits into a rigid vac

 

[leakyroof]

.

In the garage I was using a 25+ year old mini Shop Vac which howled louder than any tool it could be connected to.  Recently it died with a brief electrical odor ..... [eek] [eek] [eek] [eek] [embarassed] [embarassed] [doh] [doh] [doh]
Been there, lived through that with a few Shop-Vacs before i started buying CT's in 2004.

 

[Anderson-Plywood]

Just letting you know the Festool dust extractors are on sale till the end of June:
Check it out!http://www.andersonplywood.com/festool-festool-dust-extractors/

I hope to be in the market soon for a proper vacuum.. Until then, this $3.00 mod plumbs up to the shop vac perfectly after the slightest reaming.

 

[JimD]

My Rigid shop vac pulls through a dust deputy and blows out through a quasi HEPA filter.  It is triggered by an autoswitch.  It isn't quiet but I need hearing protection for the tool anyway.  A Festool shop vac is about the last Festool I would buy.