Festool 204083 CT CYCLONE Dust Separator CT-VA-20

First of all I’m a Festool Fanatic and I am a professional cabinet maker, so this was an answer to a problem I had in my shop. My shop vacuum is set up as a tool caddy, with the boom arm hose and a moving work station. Whenever my vacuum bag was full I had to disassemble my unit to retrieve the bag and replace or empty the bags (I set up a way to suck the dust out with my large delta 4” vacuum to save money on bags) So when I caw this product I was excited but the reviews were mixed as to performance. To be honest, when I first installed it I was concerned that the suction was reduced quite a bit from a straight hose connection, but decided to give is a trial run with my current project. After cutting several sheets of plywood and solids, I was surprised at how well my saws and sanders worked collecting the dust. I saw no loss of suction efficiency in my tools, and the CT Cyclone bin filled up and I dumped it not having to get to the bag. I have not used my router or domino yet, but I’m sure it will continue to perform well. I will give an update later if it does not. So far so good with my first experience.

I bought this with the CT 26 vac system all at once, I cannot possibly tell you how pleased I am with this system.It does a superb job at separating the wood chips and dust from the filter bag.I know it seems like a lot to invest but you won't regret it at all.The shipping was very fast and the product arrived in perfect condition from the vendor.

It fits perfectly inside my workcenter and paired up to my ct-26, it very effectively seperates almost everything from the air stream. I have not had to change a bag since i installed this, and there has been no loss in suction. Expensive, (duh, festool) but worth it.

As with all Festool products, this is a well thought out tools that just works so well. It’s hooked up to my CT36 AC and captures probably 95% or more of the sawdust my saws spit out, drastically reducing time spent emptying bags or tossing out reusable bags for those that don’t use a lifetime bag. Just like all things Festool, I put this purchase off for a long time because of cost, but as soon as I bought it I wish I just sacked up and bought it years ago.

Bought CT-48 and CT-VA-20.The Festool systainer stacking was a requirement to maximize my usage with minimal floor space.The Cyclone will help to minimize filter and bag usage. Nothing has escaped outside of the vacuum. It will also capture clean sawdust from the cabinet doors that I will sand and repair due to cat.Exceeds my prior ShopVac and tools which dumped everything all over even with fleece over the filter.Don’t tell my wife, I even clean up more frequently ;-)

Way overpriced as you already now. However let’s get down to it.I have this on my CT MIDI. Yes it fits it like a glove.You do loose some suction but it’s not a shop vac. It’s a dust extractor. If you want to suck the paint off a car use your shop vac. If you want to catch fine dust and medium chips but don’t want to blow through vac bags then this is a great pair to your festool vac. I use the extractor with my midi no matter what I’m doing. I use it with the track saw. Table saw everything and anything.Big chips are a waste of time. Sanding and cutting with a track saw or miter saw this is my go to set up. I will note that the cyclone parts are friction fit and uses the sustainer lid to hold them in place. It’s really easy to get the parts Misaligned and you will notice a dramatic drop in auction when they are not seated correctly. You will notice some loss in auction but still plenty of power to catch sanding dust and chips. Also a standard shop vac hose will plug right into this thing.

The media could not be loaded. If you are reading this then you've overcame the most difficult part, justifying the expense for what is essentially just a clear bucket with fancy furniture.As it comes, there are some inherent design flaws that I'm not accustomed to seeing in festool products. The fit of the parts is mediocre at best and with that comes subpar suction performance. Couple that with use of sharp 90 degree loose fittings and it's easy to question how this got approved to sell in its current configuration.It's not all bad but that isn't the last of the bad either. It definitely does its job of separating and if you use your festool for wetvac then i could see it being a necessity.With a lot of plumbers tape on EVERY fitting as a trial run I did notice vastly improved performance. If the parts screwed into place instead of just resting on each other then it would be even better. I'm prototyping some gasket and sleeving as a permanent improvement and optimistic that with those changes I won't take a hammer to this thing.For the money the value is not there and I'm astonished that Festool would sell this thing in its current configuration.The final salt in the wound is the cost to use their proprietary clear plastic bags. Yeah you can definitely reuse them but keep in mind debris along bag is just another point of suction loss because of how it's engineered.The one thing I can't even fathom here is how they chose not to implement a Thein baffle when literally every other manufacturer has gone that route.I'll be fabricating some new parts, including a Thein baffle, gasket and clamping system, as well as sweeping 90 degree fittings and I'm sure it'll be great, but at this price, nobody should need to invest their time and additional money to make this thing work properly.Festool, if you are reading this, I redesigned this thing in CAD with so so many improvements.