Any woodworkers?

Question for the hive.... Festool dust extractor.... I'm looking at the CT 15 or 25 just for around the shop/house for small tool work (sanding, drill press) b/c well frankly my Rigid shopvac is barely decent and is loud AF! Is it worth the dough?

I've a got a 2hp DC for my tablesaw/planer but that's a wee bit overkill on a random orbit sander lol.

 

Fast forward to the vacuum part. Or watch the whole thing if you'd like, lol.

https://youtu.be/AhxA7WuA42g?si=ANmuqmood27M-LzS

 

I didn't want to spend the money on a festool vacuum so I got the Bosch one. It's been going strong for three years now and does a great job. Couldn't recommend it more . There are a bunch of different price points for the festool dust extractors. Just gottabdecide how much you wanna budget. But any real dustextractor you get will out perform a shopvac by leaps and bounds.

BOSCH 9 Gallon Dust Extractor with Auto Filter Clean and HEPA Filter VAC090AH, Portable

BOSCH 9 Gallon Dust Extractor with Auto Filter Clean and HEPA Filter VAC090AH, Portable

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B076CSZXY3

 

Sorry I was at work and that's why I just posted the video I did above. The dewalt quiet vacs come in 2 sizes. 9 and 12 gallon. I went with the 9 gallon just for use with the sanders. And I can tell you it is substantially quieter than any shop vac. I got the vac and a heppa filter and tool triggered plug off Amazon for less than half of what a ct15 would cost. For use with sanders it's a heck of a way to go. I'll be picking up the 12 gallon just for general shop vac use in the shop to replace my noisey craftsman shop vac. And as far as the ct25 goes? No way I'm spending $800 for a shop vac, I can buy a lot of other tools for that kind of money. I try and get the most I can for my money, that pretty much rules out festool every time.
Just my opinion.

 

Ryobi fan here, kinda stumbled in on old portable saw at garage sale. It was blue to give you an idea of the age. Anyway i thought it would die in short use but turned out it held up to my abuse. So started buying other tools. Are the other name brands better, tes probably. But Ryobi is working for me. Sadly i had to retire the blue saw. After cutting tin with it

 

Ryobi fan here too... but I just goof off and am not using them to make money

 

I’m all in, with a combo of old blue ones and new green ones!

 

Same! My blue ones are at least 23 years old and still going!

 

CT26E

 

Got some shop time today. Started processing some wood for the legs on the bench.
Some 2" by 6" ash stock.

Cutting the wane off some crappy walnut stock.

Sawdust on the floor makes for my happy place!

This should be enough for the 4 leg post.

The walnut will be a middle filler kind of like the top. Mostly just to get the thickness I want. This is a good way to use up walnut with a lot of sapwood in it. I find the sapwood to be quite hard too so it iss very usable.

 

Ya that's the tough part with festool. It ain't cheap, and frankly they aren't giving the bosch away either.... Granted I'm in Canada so things get a bit more pricey from time to time. I can get the CT25 Hepa for $649, and the bosch 9 gallon is $899

Looking at the 25 vs the 26e, it's the different hose, and the auto-on features eh?

 

Yeah the price of the Bosch might have gone up in the last 3 years I don't remember paying $600US for it but I forget what I did yesturday so. Get the festool then, it's less expensive and it's a good machine. Im not familiar with the options on thr ct25 but it should sufice for sanding and using around the house, you'll definitely be happy with it. I use my dust vacuum solely for sanding and it keeps the dust down and makes less noise than a shop vac. It's an investment but the hepa filter is a lot healthier than the alternative.

 

the CT26E also has the internal hose & cord garage

 

Wired up some transformers and strip lighting for these swank-assed liquor shelves on an ocean reno job today.

Saw the foreman hucking what looked like hardwood cutoffs into the dumpster and I dove in after them. They weigh a ton, they look like the reclaimed walnut I had awhile back but the tags say ironwood. Either way, if they dont round my blades off with how dense they are then they’ll make neat keepsake boxes or end-grain cutting boards in the future.

 

Heck yeah I'd salvage those too!

 

Had a short day today at work so down to the shop I went. I got all the stock cut to rough length and jointed on 2 sides.
Walnut.

Ash.

I matched all the walnut for closest color and max thickness.

I got the first one in the clamps. After the glue sets they'll get jointed on 2 sides again and ran through the planer before the next glue up.

I emptied the dust colector again. The scrap box is getting out of hand again, lol.

It's really a shame all the ash is gone around here now due to the emerald ash borer. It's a nice wood, similar to oak and very hard. I enjoy working with it.

 

Turkey is in the oven so down to the shop for a bit I will go.

 

When I was unchanging the boards I noticed that one of my clamps is broken. Kinda odd for a bessy clamp.

Ran the first section of walnut through the jointer on 2 sides.

Got the next one in the clamps.

And I started to think about the sanding I'll be doing soon. So I installed my new dewalt quiet vac with hepa filter and a tool triggered plug under my out feed table. I took the wheels off the vac so it sits nice and flat. This set up will be used only for sanding. I do have to get a longer hose for it, I'll probably go with a rockler hose kit for the adapters and it's a smaller more flexible hose.

 

I recently saw where a guy used one of those pool noodles to make the connection from the sander to the suction.. seemed to work well for the odd sized sander port