Official Luthiers Forum!

I know dust collection has been covered a lot on here, but since it is a
health issue, I want to make sure that I am understanding this. I plan to
start building soon, and plan to outsource the thickness sanding at first,
but would eventually like to do it myself. I am looking for a dust collector
that would be able to handle that along with the rest of the building
process. Also, my "shop" is inside my house for the most part, but some
of my powertools (like band saw, and the thickness sander will be when I
get one), so a portable unit would be great. Since my shop area is inside,
it is very important to get a good system because I don't want to put my
wife (and dogs) at risk for respiratory problems.

With all that in mind, would you recommend the Festool CT22? It seems
like it has fairly low CFM compared to some other systems (134 CFM), but
it claims to filter down to .3 microns. Any other suggestions?

This is just going to be something I do after work as a hobby, so I won't
be in the shop all day long, but since the shop area is in my house it
needs to be something that works well.

Sorry for being so long-winded, and thank you for your continued help.

-
Mark

Mark:

I think Hesh is the ideal person to answer this question. I know he has a Festool vac, and I'm fairly sure his "shop" is wholly contained within his condo - and nobody would argue his guitars are world class, and his building area is as neat, and clean, as it gets. The man has got it goin' on!

But that said, I own a CT22e, and I don't think that unit is up to the task of handling dust collection for the bigger items you mentioned: thickness sander, band saw. It's an outstanding unit when used as a "shop vac" type tool, and it's nothing short of amazing when paired with the Festool line of products, like their Random Orbital Sanders, etc.    But I don't think the volume of air it pulls is adequate for the bigger tools. In fact, I'm of the opinion that many tools would be better off to have a 6" dust port connection, vs. the 4" that most tools have.

Again, listen to Hesh on this one. He'll know.

_________________
Eagles may soar, but weasels don't get sucked into jet engines.

I have a CT22 that I use on power tools and for cleaning up and it is brilliant, really it is a fantastic tool and I do not doubt the .3 micron claim. I do however use a bigger machine for static tools such as the 16-32 proformax, table and bandsaws etc.

I do know that Hesh has a CT22 which he uses or has used successfully with his 10-20 proformax sander but from memory, he has mentioned that whilst it does do the job, he is looking to upgrade for that particular task.

My advise, for what it is worth, is to go ahead and get the CT22, if and when your demand out strips that machines capability, get a 4" sucker to do the job. It is not as if the CT22 will then become obsolete, in fact if you are like me, you will still continue to use it for most all of the in shop task.

Also, if you are only going in at hobby level, you could use a drill press and Wagner Safe-T-Plane or even just a good SHARP hand plane and scraper to thickness and then finish off with a ROS like others here do. With the CT22 connected to a ROS in this application, dust would not be an issue.

Why with a CT22, you could probably even get a job with the Don help'in him to suck up all that cash he's mak'in from his GOOB Sale, aint that right Don

Cheers

Kim

Thanks Bill and Kim. It seems like I should be alright with this as long as I
get something to accompany it when I get into thickness sanding.

Kim, what other machine do you use for your thickness sander?

[QUOTE=EnFuego] Kim, what other machine do you use for your thickness sander? [/QUOTE]

Mark,

The larger machine is an old style 5" commercial quality single bag unit on castores which I bought 2nd hand. No branding cause the PO gave the whole thing a pre-sale coat of "hide the abuse" green, it was cheap and it works, what can I say. I have replaced the top cloth bag with one of those large after market filters which seems to work OK between cleans but you would not want this thing in your house, it may suck up your cat

Cheers

Kim