The new Festool Vac Sys workholding system started shipping out this month, so you might have already heard about it from retailer or Festool newsletters.
In a nutshell, the Festool Vac Sys is a vacuum-based work vise that can securely clamp onto non-porous workpieces and surfaces.
It’s designed to give you full 360° access to your workpiece, and also pivots for greater flexibility.
What’s it For?
According to Festool, the Vac Sys system is a fast, easy, and highly maneuverable solution for almost any clamping application.
Applications mentioned in the press release include:
- Panel preparation
- Edge banding
- Trimming
- Sanding
- Final Finishing
- Clamping narrow stock for mortising
- Clamp doors final sizing, boring, or adding hardware
Components
This is what you get with their $1300 starter system, model no. 57000003:
- Vac PMP vacuum pump ($800 separately, 201064)
- Vac SYS SE 1 clamping module ($550 separately, 201065)
- Round vacuum cup with 8.4″ diameter
- Foot valve FV (not shown in the above photo)
There is also a Festool Vac Sys System Set, model no. 57000004, which is priced at $1800. The Set adds a second clamping module to the starter system:
- Vac PMP vacuum pump
- Vac SYS SE 1 clamping module
- Clamping Module SE 2 ($550 separately)
- Oblong vacuum pod
- Additional hoses and fittings
The clamping modules, at least the ones sold separately, include Systainer 4 sized tool boxes.
What’s Nice About it?
It seems nice to be able to control the vacuum pressure and clamping capabilities with a foot valve. My guess is that the foot valve simply releases the vacuum, essentially creating a short circuit that releases or reduces the holding power of the clamp.
It’s expandable.
You can add a second clamping module, if necessary. It looks like this would be for increased stability when supporting larger workpieces. Maybe you can add a second foot valve for semi-independent control, but I doubt it.
There are several different vacuum cup clamp heads available:
- Round Cup, 8.4″ wide (standard)
- Oblong, 10.8″ x 3.9″ ($120)
- Small Oblong, 7.8″ x 2.36″ ($100)
- Narrow Cup, 10.9″ x 1.25″ ($150)
- 3pc oblong and narrow cup set, 495294 ($350)
Unless you plan to always stick with workpieces 8.4″ wide or wider, you’ll probably have to buy at least one of the oblong or narrow cup attachments.
Festool has also come up with an MFT clamp ($250), which looks to attach to the edge of your MFT table. It has a hinge, so that you can swing a clamp back and forth, to the top of the MFT surface for use, and to the bottom for storage.
There is one other accessory available right now – a 5 meter hose ($100) that lets you work a greater distance from the vacuum pump.
Buy Now(via Festool Products)
USA vs. International Differences
Overseas, the vacuum pump is built into a Festool Systainer. Here, the vacuum pump is a separate piece of equipment and it doesn’t fit into a Systainer, or at least it doens’t come with one.
Obligatory Promo Video
First Thoughts
I had the opportunity to watch a brief demo at a recent Woodworking Show, and was not terribly impressed. Maybe that’s because I looked up the price beforehand and knew that the starter set is $1,300.
Or maybe I was underwhelmed because the demo didn’t show off the full potential of the system?
And by “demo,” it was really a show and tell between the seller and another Show attendee that was asking questions.
If you ignore the price, and just watch Festool’s promo videos, the Vac Sys system does look amazing.
Festool doesn’t provide specs for the vacuum pump on its product page (yet?). I’m hoping they do, because it might allow for interested parties to source a 3rd party vacuum pump. Doing so could potentially shave a few hundred dollars off the price of the system.
$800 for a vacuum pump? Okay, maybe the continuous duty part bumps the price up a little, and the CFP probably too. That thing probably has to move a lot of air to support heavy wooden workpieces, especially at right angles where vacuum suction should be weakest.
Some of the accessory prices are a little high as well. $250 for the hinged MFT clamp? Maybe the hinge has sapphire or ruby bearings, or something like that.
The “this is for clamping non-porous materials” part has me a little worried. Festool USA shows the unit being used to clamp a piece of hardwood that looks to be unfinished (scroll back up to see it). Does that still count as non-porous? Because I generally cannot vacuum-clamp anything to my unfinished butcher block-topped workbenches.
While the setup looks amazing, the price is going to be a problem for less benefited users.
One more benefit – the system should be non-marring, at least compared to what could potentially be done using other physical workholding methods. A vise, even with leather-faced jaws, still has the potential to mar a delicate or finished work surface.
And even if you’re thinking that you could use Bench Cookies or similar apparatuses, I don’t think they would provide as quick or as flexible of a workholding experience.
I also wonder about how portable the system is. But is there even an interest in setting up something like this onsite?
I have plenty of other questions about the system that I suppose will only be answered with time, when user reviews and demos start pouring in. For instance, do the clamping modules channel some of the vacuum pressure to their bases, to lock them down to whatever surface they’re on?
And before anyone else mentions it, Lee Valley offers a vacuum clamp system that works off of an 80 PSI and 1 CFM or 2 CFM air compressor system. That requires a lot more DIY work to match up with the Festool Vac Sys system’s capabilities, but it’s much more affordable.
With everything said, I do think that the Festool Vac Sys looks to be a solution to a problem, dependant on whether it works as well as advertised, of course. I know that a lot of us are just wishing it wasn’t so darned expensive.
What do you think about the new Festool Vac System vacuum clamping system?