Which dust extractor to pair with an OF1400 router?

RC

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I've been putting my router through it's paces and found out the hard way how much dust and chips it ejects without a dust extractor (i.e. everywhere and all over the place). I then have begun looking at the Festool dust extractors CTL 26/36/44/MIDI and haven't been able to decide which one would be suitable for home hobbyist dust extraction. I quite like the idea of automatic start/stop of the hoover when the router is triggered. Will any model support multiple machines at a time or does one need to constantly swap the hose and electric plug say between the mitre saw and the router? What I've managed to find out of their differences seems to be the size of the dust bag and some physical size differences.

Are there any best practices like advice you could give me on choosing the most suitable one for home use?

++ Ray
 
If you're using a router, I'd suggest a 36mm hose. I've plugged a 27mm hose before with chips from a 1/4" roundover bit.

Tom
 
RC, any of the big vacs will do, CTL/CTM 22, 26, 33, 36, 44, 48, 55. For routers a bigger hose does get you better results, altough I myself have never had the problems with the 27 mm hose Tom describes, certainly not with a 1/4'' roundover bit. But I don't have an OF1400 with a 1/2'' shaft, I have a smaller 8 mm router.

The current smaller Mini/Midi vacs also work, but only because they have been upgraded this year with a stronger motor that makes their suction just as strong as the bigger vacs. If you decide for this, be very carefull that you don't get an older type because they have less suction and, even though they work, leave something to be desired. 
 
Thinking back again, I think it might have been closer to a 5/8" roundover.

Tom

EDIT:
I just looked at the actual bit. It was a Festool 8mm radius roundover, 492691. I was turning sink cutouts into cutting boards for Christmas gifts as I recall.
 
Welcome RC

I have the Cleantex 26 with an extra socket module & a "y" connector for the hose.  I have a 36mm hose to the kapex & a 27mm to sanders, domino, TS55, router, etc etc.  Works well for me.  I wouldn't go for smaller than the 26 though.

Woodguy.
 
The Festool MFK700 and the OF1010, all the sanders and jig saws, and the Domino can only use the 27mm hoses. This works out because they do not need larger hoses.

Using the same 1/4" round-over bit in an OF1010 and OF1400 you will see a big difference in the amount of chips and dust. For this reason the OF1400 and OF2200 routers can use the 36mm hose. Same is true of the TS55, TS75 and Kapex, as well as the planers.

Basic Festool dust extraction rule of thumb: If the tool can attach to a 36mm hose without an adapter, a sophisticated person uses the 36mm hose.

When a tool produces chips, such as planers and larger routers, you can save on bags by using a cyclone to remove chips prior to the filter bag.

Each of us has a different approach to CT size. I started out with the CT22 because at the dealer I felt removing a full bag from a CT33 would be more than I want to lift. A week later a good friend of mine, a talented hobbyist, bought the CT33. For him that is okay since he only needs to change one bag a year and he has a gardener do that for him. I now own 7 CT22 because I like stocking only one kind of bag. Yet when it came out I did buy a CT36. My employees take it to job sites as needed.

In North America the price of the various Festool vacs includes a 27mm x 3.5m AS hose. You can purchase a 36mm hose as an extra, or a better deal is to buy one of the cleaning sets which includes a 36mm hose.
 
ccarrolladams said:
Using the same 1/4" round-over bit in an OF1010 and OF1400 you will see a big difference in the amount of chips and dust.

How is that possible? You remove the same amount of material. I guess, with the bigger power of the 1400 you could up the feed rate, but I'm not sure if that's really wise. A 1/4'' roundover bit or an 8 mm bit wont exactly challenge the 1010 either, so you can feed that as fast as the material lets you.
 
I think for a hobbyist, any of the CT22 and up vacs will work fine.  I do a lot of mortising on my OF1400 with a 27mm hose and it works just fine.

Only time I ever had a problem is when I hogged out 18 feet of through dovetails for cabinet cases and then the bag was probably just about full when I started.  The bag was solid as a brick and the hose was clogged.  Took 15 minutes to clean up, never happened again.
 
Alex said:
ccarrolladams said:
Using the same 1/4" round-over bit in an OF1010 and OF1400 you will see a big difference in the amount of chips and dust.

How is that possible? You remove the same amount of material. I guess, with the bigger power of the 1400 you could up the feed rate, but I'm not sure if that's really wise. A 1/4'' roundover bit or an 8 mm bit wont exactly challenge the 1010 either, so you can feed that as fast as the material lets you.

Alex, I belong to FOG to share experiences.

There is no point in arguing about how fast an OF1010 and OF1400 produce chips with a similar bit. I own an OF1400 and several OF1010. Sure, mostly my OF1010 are used for drilling holes. However, I do sometimes use the OF1010 as a conventional router. So I am well aware of that dust and chip production.

When the OF1400 first reached North America I bought one. Knowing it was 390 watts more powerful than the OF1010 and that the 27mm hose would fit inside its duct port, I tried using it with the small hose. It could be that with the extra power I could push the router faster. Back then I did not own any 8mm round-over bits and I did use the 1/4" round-over a lot. My experience was the 27mm hose clogged.

Since I had another CT22 set up with the 36mm AS hose I routinely use with TS55, I moved the work and OF1400 over the that work table. With the larger hose there was no clogging. Same is true with my OF2200s.

As we say, your mileage or experience might differ.
 
ccarrolladams said:
Alex, I belong to FOG to share experiences.

There is no point in arguing about how fast an OF1010 and OF1400 produce chips with a similar bit.

I wasn't arguing, I just posted a little question since your post left me with one. I'm just trying to understand how the 1400 and 1010 differ from each other in the way you mentioned. Reading shared experiences is very helpfull with that so I'd say, thank you for sharing.

I blame my upbringing, whenever you don't understand something, I was told, ask.
 
I would look at a Dust Deputy for your shop.   hard to argue anything else if you are using a vacuum and hand held power tools.   I love mine one of the best choices  i have ever made.  I have it hooked to my nilfisk Attix 30
 
I use a Fein shop vac with the OF 1400. Hoses on most Fein vacs are interchangeable with Festool hoses. And a choice of ends that came with the vac made it simple to mate up with the 1400.
 
RC said:
I've been putting my router through it's paces and found out the hard way how much dust and chips it ejects without a dust extractor (i.e. everywhere and all over the place). I then have begun looking at the Festool dust extractors CTL 26/36/44/MIDI and haven't been able to decide which one would be suitable for home hobbyist dust extraction. I quite like the idea of automatic start/stop of the hoover when the router is triggered. Will any model support multiple machines at a time or does one need to constantly swap the hose and electric plug say between the mitre saw and the router? What I've managed to find out of their differences seems to be the size of the dust bag and some physical size differences.

Are there any best practices like advice you could give me on choosing the most suitable one for home use?

++ Ray

This going to sound like a canned statement. For multple machines at the same time, I would get the biggest one available. With the 37mm hose.  Especially if its for home use and your not giong to be hauling it around to different job sites.

I suggest you google dust collection read about it. Though not having to clean up a lot of wood dust ect is always a plus, it is not the only reason to use dust collection.

Here is some good info:
http://billpentz.com/woodworking/cyclone/DCBasics.cfm#HowMuch
 
I use Ct22's for everything. I have a 1400 router. 27 mil hose, except for a thickness planer. Same reasons as CCarroll. Bigger is heavier bag and less mobile. I don't notice a performance issue. I would have maybe even gone for midi's except for the lack of long life bag size.
 
Thanks for your brilliant replies.

In light of them the consensus seems to point to a as-large-bag-you-can-afford VAC with a 36mm hose to connect to my tools. And I guess it doesn't need to be Festool VAC to work with them i.e. others have the same hose diameter in use as well either directly or via adapters.

It also seems that the power outlet of the CT VACs can be split with an adapter to multiple machines (one at a time I presume) and the hose can have a Y-splitter as well.

Can this sort of VAC hose splitting be done without overly undermining the suction power of the VAC? Or should there be some sort of valve in the splitter to select which port is currently in use?

I've used some building site VAC's and they have all had multi-use bags made out of proper fabric that can take a beating like sucking concrete dust from jigsawing Siporex for hours on end. Some of you mentioned that the CT's bags run out quickly - are the Festool bags use-once paper-bags then?

++ Ray
 
RC said:
Thanks for your brilliant replies.

In light of them the consensus seems to point to a as-large-bag-you-can-afford VAC with a 36mm hose to connect to my tools. And I guess it doesn't need to be Festool VAC to work with them i.e. others have the same hose diameter in use as well either directly or via adapters.

It also seems that the power outlet of the CT VACs can be split with an adapter to multiple machines (one at a time I presume) and the hose can have a Y-splitter as well.

Can this sort of VAC hose splitting be done without overly undermining the suction power of the VAC? Or should there be some sort of valve in the splitter to select which port is currently in use?

I've used some building site VAC's and they have all had multi-use bags made out of proper fabric that can take a beating like sucking concrete dust from jigsawing Siporex for hours on end. Some of you mentioned that the CT's bags run out quickly - are the Festool bags use-once paper-bags then?

++ Ray

The 'Y' splitter for the hose will reduce the suction  unless one of them is closed off. This is not a problem for using multiple sanders since you will want it lower anyway, and if you set one down on its pad it pretty much closes that one off. But for the other tools (maybe not Domino) you will want full suction. So a blast gate or something would be good.

The Festool bags are one use. But some people have luck emptying them with various techniques.  Festool also offers long life bags designed for many, many, uses...... but they are expensive.

Seth
 
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