I made an earlier post about tracksaws. I am looking at the Festool TSC 55. In order for the system to work efficiently, a Vac is needed. In order to save a little money and make it easier to move around, I am looking at the Festool CT Mini
The mini has acapacity of 2.6 cu ft as opposed to 6 cu ft for the CT 26. The mini is about 7 pounds lighter. All other specs seem the same.
My question is: Would the mini fill up to fast causing a need to dipose/replace the bag more often? In the long run, frequent bag replacement increases cost. I would not be using the saw daily, just for hobby stuff. Any thoughts on the performance of either machine is welcome.
Replies
Buy the larger Festool!
Is not t;he entire purpose of buying an overpriced item the narcisstic satisfaction you get from have 'made the right choice' and being able to look down on us poor folks whou buy harbor freight?
Think of those few hundred extra $$ you spend as being able to set youself above the plebian masses!
Golly gee, every time I see a Festool brag I about barf.
Proud to not own a single festool !
nkhandyman wrote:
My question is: Would the mini fill up to fast causing a need to dipose/replace the bag more often?
Of course it will; it has half the storage capacity.
However, swapping out the bag takes all of of 2 minutes; or maybe 4 minutes if you shake the bag out (use a respirator ) and reuse it like I usually do. I own two older 26's and one newer mini. Love all 3 of them. The mini is powerful, quite, and very portable. I bought the mini for jobsite HEPA compliance. Alternatively I use a reconditioned Bosch 3931 with my Planex for drywall. It seems to catch about 90-95% of sanding dust produced and pole sanding is now a distant and dreaded memory.
nk
any vac will work with the track saw.
i used the Fein for several years and then figured I'd dedicate it for the shop as it started to whine (from too much drywall compound sucked in). A few more decibels added to the tablesaw.....
acquired the Festool midi quite a while ago, perhaps when I purchased their tracksaw. Not quite up to the 26's capacity or draw, but does a very good job on their sanders, the Kapex and the tracksaw.
i made a living off of the tools, the cost was deductible and the quality and reliability far out shines anything from the bargain basement. You don't make money using shit equipment if it's dead or produces a crap job.
that said, bosh used to have a circular saw that you could use a dust bag. With an adapter you could hook it up to any vac. Get a draw activator switch for the vac and when you hit the saw start, on goes the vac. Make a shoot board and you economize the right way.
if you still want German, Festool has had combo deals b/4 on saw, tracks and vacs. Check those before you order. And where are you? Festool has a roadshow coming up that's traveling the country soon. They might have show specials. Check their site.
and yes, you can empty and reuse Festool bags so you get more miles out of them. Not fun but 5 minutes to save 5 bucks is pretty good pay.
best of luck
My Shop Vac with a Festool hose works fine with the Track Saw. No auto off/on feature but it seems to suck better than my CT 26, also has a HEPA filter and bags are cheaper.