Top tools

[Toby Newell]

Cyclones are very good for separating large diameter waste.

A good quality dust extractor is another option.

Festool sell long life dust bags that can be reused 1000 times, although many more times I have found.

I have vacuumed up several thousand kilos of dust with each of my extractors including concrete, soot, brick and rubble and never had a problem. Only issue has been broken cables, which happens when you use a tool for hundreds of hours a year.

I thoroughly recommend them. I think the Festool CTL vacuums are probably the best tool I own and the best domestic tools you can buy worldwide, full stop. No Cyclone needed. They also do wet and dry.

If anyone wants to buy a BIG cyclonic vacuum then there is a nearly new (hardly used) one going for less than half price, it used to be mine and I sold it to a friend who never used it! It is excellent.

 

[Feltwell]

First off, thanks Toby for the abrasive recommendations, very useful.

Secondly - born of ignorance - what's the advantage of a dust extractor over a normal vacuum then, beyond finer filtration?

Currently I've got a chip extractor, which I have to use with my planer thicknesser, otherwise it jams instantly. This pulls a large volume of air but at a modest suction, I can't see it being much use for anything beyond chip extraction (which is fair enough!)

I've also got an ancient Henry Hoover, dates from the 1970's and despite constant abuse is still going strong. In fact it's so old it's not even a Henry really - it has the eyes and smile but no name, dates from before they came up with that one! I don't use bags in it - it has a thick cloth filter under the motor, I blow that out with an airline when I empty it, which is admittedly a bit of a filthy job.

My initial thought for floor sanding was to use Henry, but put him outside with a long hose, so his lack of fine filtration isn't an issue - would a dust extractor work significantly better than that do you think?

It's always mucky under the floors here and for some reason I don't like leaving it that way, but Henry isn't so good for this, he does tend to jam with the bigger bits of detritus. If there's a better "getting rid of the chunky bits" solution I'd like to hear it.

 

[Toby Newell]

Tis hard to explain.

Just buy a Festool CTL and get back to me.

It will outlive you.

Festool do a stupid cyclonic filter now but it looks silly.

Great thing about the CTL's are the accessories. You can get a 50mm wide hose and a long life bag.

No point bothering with anything else, they are all worse. Even the similarly prices Bosch and Hilti ones.

The old Trend T30 was brilliant as was the Fein QA35E, I had serveral, gave them away, my mate used them to death for 15 years. Think they were made by ze Italians, they made an identical one for Hitachi too the QB35, not much effort made there with the name! No longer available. I would of said buy the Trend T30 but the new ones look rubbish. If you can find an old new old stock or lightly used darlek type Trend or Fein then snap them up, would last you 15 to 20 years. Otherwise its the Festool CTL, the Bosch is slightly cheaper but has crap ergonomics and less accessories. The Festool CTL is IMHO the best single phase electrical tool ever invented. And thats from an anorak with £30K + power tools.

Only disadvantage of the CTL's are the crappy ABS plastic construction, which is ok unless you are a gorilla. For site use the PA6 GFR nylon housed Hilti would be a more durable bet for the average neanderthal to kick down the stairs a few times but even the mighty Hilti are now made in the far east.

The Festool are made in Germany. Top tip. Get the cheapest CTL version, forget the CTM version. TLDR but both are exactly the same. Actually cheaper one is better. The EU made it technically illegal to use a manual filter cleaning vacuum for industrial use because of neanderthals who don't realise that the motor is screaming and the room is filling with dust and who carry on working. For everyone with an IQ higher than that of a mushroom who occasionally check how full their dust bag is the CTL is actually more efficient. Sad but true. The law has to work to the lowest common denominator. And in general many people in the construction industry are various flavours of moron.

CTL is the best, and I have scoured the world, not just the UK.

As I said (you can see on the home page of my website) I sold my £1200 Numatic (Henry) 3 motor vacuum, 80 litre cyclonic industrial vaccum to a friend and colleague of mine who has never used it. It retails for £1200+ think I paid £600 odd 14 yrs ago or something, sold it to him for £500. Think he will sell it for £450 to get rid. It has 3 x 1200w Henry motors with option of 1, 2 or 3. Yes, on max its 3600W which technically is over the 13A limit but it's fine and won't blow anything. Anyone with a little electrical knowledge will know my humungous Lagler Hummel whilst only 2200W creates massively more back EMF load every time it is switched on or off. Anyway, it's a virtually unused bargain, 3 Henry motors, double cloth filter lovingly hand stitched in the midlands by British grannies, with a cylonic off axis inlet, removable wheels and 80 litre metal canister. Simple and totally rebuildable with cheap and readily available spares. DM me if you interested and I will put you in touch. Would be excellent as a shop vac. I only sold it as I moved to all Festools and it took up too much room.

I bought it from here https://www.cleanstore.co.uk/products/Product.asp?ID=634

 

[ElectronicFur]

Thanks Toby, that's given me a lot to think about

Also the info on the discs you use will come in very handy, thanks.

Disappointing to hear both your Bosch GEX150's broke within 2 years. Thought it would be a good compromise, but I guess sometimes you get what you pay for.

At the moment I'm just using an old Karcher A2200 for vacuuming and dust as I inherited it from my dad.

 

[Toby Newell]

np. Tbh I am pretty sure either the Bosch or the Makita will do exactly what the Festool does for about half the price.

Unless you have a proper dust extractor the difference would be negligible.

You have to bear in mind some months I use my sanders more than you may use yours in your entire life.

The Bosch or Makita will be more than enough for your purposes.

It is only my ridiculously detailed knowledge that makes the Festool a no brainer, in my eyes.

Because I know it will last a lifetime, is more versatile, be cleaner and easier to use and easy to sell on making the whole life cost the cheapest of the three.

 

[LadyArowana]

All this talk of beefy power tools is not for me, my secret weapon is a humble wooden spoon. Wrapped in a soft cloth it has polished and burnished my bannisters to a lovely shine, just now it helped me open a high cupboard to read the meters and is always available to give a quick smack of encouragement to slackers.

 

[ElectronicFur]

You have to bear in mind some months I use my sanders more than you may use yours in your entire life.

Yes that's probably true, I'm initially buying it as I have some floors to sort out. But the problem with my kind of sporadic long term use is that if there is to be a fault, it will more likely happen after the warrantee has expired.

 

[Toby Newell]

@ladyarowana

My Grandmother (my Nan) had such severe COPD (she needed oxygen at night and I spent much of my childhood days looking after her) that it was often hard for her to talk.

When she wanted me to shut up, she occasionally used whatever was to hand, including a spoon. So effective was it I can still feel it's effect to this day.

Unfortunately, it wasn't wooden.

@electronic fur

You cannot always buy the best. Just like you cannot always pick the right queue, or leave the bus stop at the right time.

Even if you do, luck may not be on your side. I'm sure you will be okay.

 

[Feltwell]

Not so much a tool, but......

Why oh why have I never discovered Wago connectors and boxes before? Used Wago773 connectors on a lighting circuit I was rewiring today, they are brilliant, so much better than screw terminal junction boxes. Also not prone to coming loose, which a sparky friend tells me can happen, with stranded cable especially (of which Feltwell Towers has quite a bit).

For those that don't know what I'm on about, it's these:-

https://www.screwfix.com/p/wago-junction-box/7355f#_=p

https://www.screwfix.com/p/wago-basic-installer-connector-set-75-pack/48808

They've been around for some time, I'm just dragging myself into the modern times.

Today's treat of a discovery from Butch & Sundance, the duo who the previous owner got to refit the ensuite bathroom, was that they could horribly bodge electrics as well as plumbing! (and everything else come to that :roll: ). I won't go into details, suffice to say it was both dangerous & stupid, beyond mere laziness.

 

[Toby Newell]

Obviously it's worse when it's actually the house you own and live in.

But can you imagine the PTSD from seeing the after effects of hundreds of Butch and Sundances' many cousins...

I have a coping mechanism. I mean apart from exclaiming out loud, several times in a row, in full earshot of the customer a slightly saltier version of 'What have these people appeared to have done? It doesn't quite make sense, I am slightly perplexed!'

I calm down, take a deep breath, relax and smile and marvel in incredulity at the utter pointlessness of their particular misdemeanours.

I can understand corner cutting, laziness and blatant stupidity, that's humans for you. Often it is the combination of the above that also gives a result that would of taken longer and cost more than doing it correctly.

Sometimes I am stunned as to how it is even possible to be so stupid / irresponsible. There certainly is milage in appreciating how spectacularly crap some building work / repairs are.

If there is one life lesson I have learnt from my decades in my job is that however old you get, you will never have seen it all. Stupid, lazy people are infinitely creative.

 

[a twig]

"To declare something completely foolproof is to underestimate the ingenuity of complete fools..."

 

[RBailey]

I'm very ingenious :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

 

[Toby Newell]

MY POINT EXACTLY. To quote Pratchett.

It is better to marvel at their infinite ingenuity rather than dismay at their ineptitude. There is a kind of perverse brilliance to their work that no sane person can match.

 

[ElectronicFur]

Not so much a tool, but......

Why oh why have I never discovered Wago connectors and boxes before? Used Wago773 connectors on a lighting circuit I was rewiring today, they are brilliant, so much better than screw terminal junction boxes. Also not prone to coming loose, which a sparky friend tells me can happen, with stranded cable especially (of which Feltwell Towers has quite a bit).

Yes, I can second that recommendation on Wago connectors and boxes. Since buying this place, I've been using them whenever I've needed to replace some of the existing electrics. Some of the existing electrics was well dodgy and the Wago stuff had made it quick and easy to replace.

 

[ElectronicFur]

OK I finally feel I can contribute to this thread.

My top tool is really my oscillating multi-tool, even managed to easily cut stove-pipe with it the other day.

But for non-standard, I can recommend an endoscope. I bought this initially to check the inside of my chimney stack, but it's been useful for sticking under floor boards to see were wires and pipes are going, check the hearth construction under floor boards, check vents, etc. For £89 off Amazon I got a 15m semi-rigid 5MP endoscope with LED lights. Connects to your phone via bluetooth. The shorter than 15m ones are a bit cheaper, but I needed that as my chimney is 14m. Whilst it is semi-rigid, if you're going more than 5m you will need to connect it to a more solid pole. I just use my chimney sweeping poles.

Another thing I can recommend is storage. Made my life a lot easier now I invested in some Dewalt Toughsystem storage. Especially needed if you end up buying all the top tools suggested in this thread

I use a variety of the DS100, DS150, DS300 and DS400 toolboxes and organisers, and then use the wall racking to store it all neatly on the wall. Got 8 of the DS100 clear top organiser boxes. Then a trolley to move what I need.

Festool Systainer and Milwaukee Packout are similar systems. Toby already mentioned the Systainers earlier. But I found the wall racking and price better on the Dewalt range. Sometimes there are good deals on the wall racking bundled with boxes. Dewalt just upgraded the range to 2.0.

I was for some time reluctant to spend money on a decent storage solution, but was forever wasting hours searching for equipment in my garage. This has really made a difference. Also the fact the boxes are sealed is useful for me, as my garage had woodworm in the roof before we moved in, and although the previous owners had it treated, there's still crud falling down. Another thing on my stuff-to-look-into list!

 

[Toby Newell]

Agree. I probably have £6k in storage boxes. Impossible to live without them. Festool Systainer are thin ABS rubbish, brittle (latest T³ ones are stronger) and chemically reactive but ergonomically brilliant. I just bought more!

I also have several industrial euro size boxes and hinged lid containers (like the ones supermarket delivery guys use) they are relatively cheap, very durable and stack. Perfect for the loft / garage / basement if you are lucky enough to have them.

And a million times better than the unspeakably useless, overpriced, clear plastic rubbish sold in the DIY sheds that are so brittle they disintegrate before your eyes.

I get mine from Plastor. If you are an organisational freak like me, you will go weak at the knees if you visit their warehouse.

They often sell second hand items from NHS, Aston Martin etc... still very useful and loads of life left as they are industrial rated.

 

[the peanut]

QQ re dust extraction:
If the floors your are sanding are covered in horrible black bitumen and paint that is full of lead (laboratory tested), after most of it is scraped off with a cabinet scraper and/or speedheater) then what class of extractor do people use for the sanding (L, M or H)? Festool CTH 26E is class H and looks to be the proper job for lead etc..

 

[Flyfisher]

Class H vacuums are rated for hazardous materials, which I believe is basically to do with their air filtration system, typically including HEPA filters, that ensures hazardous dust etc is trapped within the machine and not aerolised (is that a word?).

I've got the slightly smaller and now discontinued HZQ450 model similar to this: https://numatic.co.uk/product/hz570/

I bought it for cleaning out a very dusty old out-building with some dubious looking pipe insulation - best not mention the A-word - but it has proved useful when used with various other dust-generating tools.

The good thing about this model (though I doubt it's unique) is that both the air inlet and outlets have hose connectors so I also bought an 8m hose to connect to the air outlet and dangled that out through a window. In that way it's impossible for any dust to be thrown up in the area being worked.

 

[DJH]

Hmm, I don't really have a particular Top Tool but I always found myself reaching for a favourite tool for the job I was at (does that make sense?) Anyway among my tools at the moment I have over 50 rebate planes the majority of which were made by Jn Alexandre and are very good quality. My problem is that try as I might I can't track down any information about the maker of these planes.

Anyway, I bet someone on here knows...

Doug

 

[DJH]

It turns out that Mr Jn Alexandre was the owner of these planes not the maker...oh well
Doug