Any Festool product that's easier or cheaper to get in Germany?

hmlee2008

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Aug 16, 2018
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I recently became better friends with someone who travels regularly to Germany. We talked about woodworking and I mentioned my love of (and unhealthy addiction to) Festool products. My friend offered to bring things back for me if I ever needed it, but in this day and age I'm not sure if there's anything that Festool makes that I can't just get online here in the U.S. Does anyone know of anything? Maybe consumables?
 
You use that puny 110V system in the US though. German tools will be 230V, so I guess that rules out anything electric.
 
I'm going to Germany in April and I think I'll bring back 8mm shank router bits if I can get a nice set of them. With the internet it's pretty easy to get most anything shipped over if you know where to look. I've found German pricing isn't very competitive on products available in the US in most circumstances when it comes to Festool accessories
 
If you do the proper paperwork you’d have the VAT returned to you (or subtracted when ordering), which is a substantial reduction in price, considering VAT is now at 19% in Germany (it’s called Umsatzsteuer or more commonly Mehrwertsteuer). For the more expensive stuff that will easily cover shipping costs.

(Don’t know about US import taxes and stuff like that, that seems to change on a daily basis…)

PS  VAT (Value Added Tax) is a Sales Tax, applied nationwide and in every European country. Members of the EU use part of the return to finance the Union. My guess is that a lot of Yanks will call that socialism and find it abhorrent. So be it.
 
hmlee2008 said:
I recently became better friends with someone who travels regularly to Germany. We talked about woodworking and I mentioned my love of (and unhealthy addiction to) Festool products. My friend offered to bring things back for me if I ever needed it, but in this day and age I'm not sure if there's anything that Festool makes that I can't just get online here in the U.S. Does anyone know of anything? Maybe consumables?

lots of bling you cant get here.

toolies, folding rules, knives (swiss army and olive wood with a locking blade), they do make 110V tools but you'll have to get a adapter when ya come back to the states. The new table saw, they make a 2 piece router bit for making dado's  and jointing with the touter table. 2 seperate p/n but its the only one that has a abor . The head and arbor are sold separately they also have replacable blades for it. Festool also makes a rail and style bit that you cant get over here. Its 8mm.

They do have limited edition installer sets that are pretty cool. I got one for timber framing that you cant get over here and has a lot of cool stuff in it.
So check out the limited edition installer sets. Dont know if they have any right now but its worth looking into.

Now if  you friend can get on a military base he can go to the APO and ship the stuff home using USPS no customs to deal with. Its cheaper to.
 
The 230V tools would be the thing to get.  It's hard to get a place that will sell you them if you are in the US.  I finally managed on a CT vac.  With VAT and shipping still cheaper than a US model.
 
The first thing that pops to mind is the belt sander with the sanding frame. It only comes in 230v though.

And if that works for you then the belt sander insert for the CMS table.
 
Had some time this after noon so I looked up the P/Ns for ya.
This is what i was talking about the bit w/ the arbor you need to buy both a pick up some extra replacable blades.

This is from the UK catalogue te part umbers should be the same. Prices will vary with supplier.

Cutter spindle, ASL20/OF1400-OF2200 for CMS-OF 1400/OF 2000/OF 2200, for use with rebating head Basis FK D 50x30 in the Basis 6 A and CMS-OF, in self-service display pack
P/N 490131
Cutter spindle
ASL20/OF1010, for CMS-OF, allows use of rebating head Basis FK D 50x30 in the Basis 5 A and CMS-OF 1010, in self-service display pack. P/N 489285

Rebating head FK D 50x30 for CMS-OF, for use with cutter spindles, diameter 50 mm, in self-service display pack P/N 489284

Reversible blade WP 30x12x1,5 for rebating head, qty. in pack 2 Units, in self-service display pack PN 489286
*

Oh and one of these saw blade holders are pretty slick to. I have one ad it clamps to the cross member of my CMS
Saw blade holder SGA for CS 50, CMS-GE, for safe and space-saving storage of up to 4 saw blades (max. Ø 190 mm) and up to 3 splinterguards (not in scope of delivery), in a carton
P/N 492228

Dont forget some metal cutting blades, dont know if we can get them here anymore
 
Cheese said:
The first thing that pops to mind is the belt sander with the sanding frame. It only comes in 230v though.

And if that works for you then the belt sander insert for the CMS table.

Not sure you will find the CMS insert.  I had been playing with the idea of the router insert (230V),  they just don't exist anymore.  No idea what it would take to "upgrade" a 110V one to 230V parts.
 
You can buy the inserts in parts. I did with my  PS insert. There should be no difference for voltage. Only in the tool and the CMS base
 
DeformedTree said:
I had been playing with the idea of the router insert (230V),  they just don't exist anymore.  No idea what it would take to "upgrade" a 110V one to 230V parts.

[member=68063]DeformedTree[/member]
From a previous discussion on the CMS, the Pusher (496878), Switch Housing (447703), Contactor (455695) and Switch Cover (447704) are all the same. The only thing that changes is the Cable with Plug & the Connecting Cable. So...the male plug that plugs into the electrical service and the female receptacle that receives the router cable. 
 
As [member=10147]jobsworth[/member] suggested, the aluminum and steel cutting blades for the track saws and the Kapex.

Kapex aluminum...495385
TS 55 aluminum...496307
TS 75 aluminum...495383
TS 75 steel...495384

The MFS Template System:
MFS 400...492610
MFS 700...492611
 
One thing to keep in mind is that we (here in the EU) have politicians that in a short and rare moment of mental clarity banned the price fixing you suffer from in the USA. The dealers here are free in their price finding so you can haggle, usually the more you buy in one go the better prices you get - and often the comment that the stuff can be obtained for less somewhere else leads to an competitive offer.
 
Gregor said:
One thing to keep in mind is that we (here in the EU) have politicians that in a short and rare moment of mental clarity banned the price fixing you suffer from in the USA. The dealers here are free in their price finding so you can haggle, usually the more you buy in one go the better prices you get - and often the comment that the stuff can be obtained for less somewhere else leads to an competitive offer.

Except the ban is often not enforced. See pricing of Nikon stuff. E.g. Idealo finds 31 sellers of the Nikon D850 in Germany. All prices range from €2369 to €2399. All 7 Dutch sellers have it for €2899... and the 2-year price history has about 2 weeks that the average price didn't exactly match the minimum price...

TTS got a big fine for vertical price fixing yeah. But vertical price fixing isn't even a real problem. Horizontal price fixing is, and that is pretty much banned everywhere.

Vertical fixing of prices and then demanding a certain knowledge level of people selling the brand is something that is defendable in my eyes. Especially for small brands like Festool. Apple gets exemptions from the rules all the time because they are 'a niche'... like getting away with their brand-locked charging port, combined selling of hardware and software, etc.
 
Coen said:
Except the ban is often not enforced.

See pricing of Nikon stuff. E.g. Idealo finds 31 sellers of the Nikon D850 in Germany. All prices range from €2369 to €2399.
According tohttps://www.nikon.de/de_DE/product/digital-cameras/slr/professional/d850 list price is way higher and the listing at idelo.de looks like we have a reasonably free market. Different countries might differ.

All 7 Dutch sellers have it for €2899... and the 2-year price history has about 2 weeks that the average price didn't exactly match the minimum price...
Feel free to visithttps://europa.eu/youreurope/business/selling-in-eu/competition-between-businesses/index_en.htm in case you think that there is something not according to EU laws.

TTS got a big fine for vertical price fixing yeah.
I didn't know that (though I read up on it after you mentioned it) and my PoV was solely from knowing the legislation (by professional education).

But vertical price fixing isn't even a real problem. Horizontal price fixing is, and that is pretty much banned everywhere.
I disagree. In case one company can keep distributors in line (vertical fixing) all can, that is the prerequisite to collude with others to create horizontal fixing. So to restrict the possible scope of business (read: the things they get away with without going straight to jail) to something that doesn't directly destroy mankind it's a very good idea to outlaw vertical fixing, simply to prevent (or at least make way more difficult) the horizontal (and way worse) kind as best as possible.

Vertical fixing of prices and then demanding a certain knowledge level of people selling the brand is something that is defendable in my eyes. Especially for small brands like Festool.
That argument can be made, sure, but IMHO the (basically guaranteed to happen, see the various cartels that happen(d)) bad side effects are not worth it.

Apple gets exemptions from the rules all the time because they are 'a niche'... like getting away with their brand-locked charging port, combined selling of hardware and software, etc.
The situation in the EU regarding collecting taxes on the profits being made here by Apple (and all others like Amazon, Alphabet and who else is using Cum-Ex-Triple-Dutch-Irish-Double-Sandwich or whatever current scam might be the barely legal hot thing these days) clearly demonstrates that we as a civilization have a problem with the way we do things. YMMV.
 
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