davestanton Posted July 31, 2011 Report Share Posted July 31, 2011 Festool dust extractor, will I or won't I? How many of us have asked that question? I recently went to a retailer who sells festool and other brands and the pair of us walked around the different extractors in his store and read all the details about how many watts the on-board power point could handle. We were amazed to see anything from 900 to around 1400 watts. The guy who owned the store has come from an electrical engineering background and was as curious about the different manufacturers claims as I was. I don't know how much you guys know about electricity, but put simply, amps = watts divided by volts, watts = amps times volts and to help a bit more, 1 horse = approximately 750 watts. In residential buildings in Australia, we have as a standard thing a 10 amp circuit for our GPO's (general power outlets), we can also have a 15 amp circuit that usually has a different type of plug on the appliance (in our case it is a larger earth pin so you can't plug a 15 amp tool into a 10 amp socket. The wires in the walls of the buildings are 2.5mm twin and earth. If the electrician has put in a 10 amp circuit breaker, it should break the circuit when more than 2400 watts are demanded. (Australia runs 240 volts as standard). So, if you are still awake you can see that it is a simple matter of doing the sums to see what you can plug into these onboard tool responsive powerpoints. The extractor I ended up purchasing has a 1500 watt motor and the power outlet on the extractor has a label telling me that I can plug a tool that uses up to 900 watts. That is fine for small saws, drills and sanders, but leaves us short for more powerful tools such as my mitre saw which is 2050 watts, more than twice the limit shown on the extractor. This brings me back to the guy in the store who was scratching his head as to how festool could run a kapex and a dust extractor, surely the pair would pull more than 2400 watts at a given time......he did mention that there is a fair degree of safety tolerance. I am not advocating that you use tools that are going to pull more power than the extractors power outlet recommends, but it does make you wonder how some of these companies manage to get the sums to work. In my situation I am happy with my new extractor and will use it with tools that are within the 900 watts. Maybe I will use some that sneak over the limit.....we will see. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Southwood Posted July 31, 2011 Report Share Posted July 31, 2011 Interesting numbers Dave. I am presently going to school for Electrics. Going back I should say. Not bad for an old guy Let us know how it works out for you and if it does what it should. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beechwood Chip Posted July 31, 2011 Report Share Posted July 31, 2011 Hmm, I was thinking about automobile starters, and how when you start your car all the accessories shut off to provide maximum power to the starter. I'm guessing that woodworking tools also take maximum power when they first start. They also usually don't create a lot of dust when they first start. Since the extractor turns on when it senses load from the tool, if there was a tiny delay before the extractor turned on, I think it would be fine. The time line would be tool turns on - max power drawtool running at no load - min power drawextractor turns on - max power draw + tool at min powerextractor and tool at no load - min power drawtool contacts wood - tool and extractor load varies below maximum. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davestanton Posted August 1, 2011 Author Report Share Posted August 1, 2011 I can see the power demand rise and fall on your timeline. Point noted. I guess that all vacs, unless they run at maximum constant power would have the same or similar timeline. I know that in Australia the 10 amp circuits usually have a 20 amp (4,800 watt) breaker. This would suggest that a 2,000 watt tool with a 1500 watt vac would fall short of tripping the breaker by about 900 watts. Of course the question then is how will the wiring inside the vac, and indeed, the power outlet on the vac handle it all? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulMarcel Posted August 1, 2011 Report Share Posted August 1, 2011 I've always been under the impression that the Festool dust extractors' MMC electronics limited the current draw to what is left after the tool. Granted, an OF-2200 on a hard task won't leave much of anything for the DE. I've noticed this empirically when cutting 8/4 Walnut with the tracksaw as the vac seemed to slow. But this is only my impression. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davestanton Posted August 1, 2011 Author Report Share Posted August 1, 2011 Thanks again Paul. It makes me question the viability of the festool dust extractor if it is running too slowly to work with the large router or the larger track saw. Makes me think that I may just put a remote on a larger dust extraction system when I can afford one. For the present though, I am very happy with the vacmaster and triton dust bucket combination when used with tools that are around the 900 watts or less power consumption. As far as my mitre saw that pulls 2010 watts, I might just have to get into training to turn the vacmaster and the mitre saw on individually Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davestanton Posted August 4, 2011 Author Report Share Posted August 4, 2011 Finally finished building the new Vacuum/ cyclone tool caddy with boom arm. Here is a pic of it parked beside the other stuff I have been prattling on about as I recreate my workshop. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davestanton Posted August 4, 2011 Author Report Share Posted August 4, 2011 And some more. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Southwood Posted August 4, 2011 Report Share Posted August 4, 2011 Looking good Dave. You are getting there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.