BACKWARD DESIGN ON CT MINI, MIDI AND 15 WHEELS

[YASMINSDAD]

Hi, major lurker. One of the first people in the UK to buy and promote Festool, I got my CT22 hand delivered by 'Mr Healy' when he was the sole UK supplier (now Elsons Tools)

One of the suggestions I passed on along with making the vacuum outlet central to facilitate ease of movement when pulling by the hose (yes shop workers site guys do this) was to remove the redundant sharp edge on the back wheels.

Many of us use the dust extractors to work on wood floors and the sharp raised wheel edge would sometimes leave tramlines in lacquer coats during intercoat sanding. The new CTL26, 36 and 48 came out with smooth wheels.

I just bought a CT15 to test it out before springing for a CT MIDI I and they have a pointless sharp ridge in the middle of the wheel.

This has already left marks in a sanded floor and would also potentially leave marks on a lightly oiled floor is used by painters etc.

This is a regressive step, the ridge offers zero benefit, I can only think the lower tolerances required on injection molding being a possible reason.

Did Festool not conduct any field tests at all with guys who sand floors? In the UK at least using CT vacuums when working on wood floors is very common.

I have 30k hrs experience at my job and probably 5 to 10k+ hrs on the CT vacuums, I connect my Lagler Flip edge sanders and Bona Flexidrive screeder to my vacuums and must vacuum up 500 to 1000kg of mainly wood dust every year.

Seems like poor design and little to no testing in the field. Other than that the CT15 is great, I mean apart from the lack of brake and proper hose depot to fit systainers (I am sure plenty of people would prefer a cheaper CT MIDI just without bluetooth and filter lever)

I am worried the marketing wankers are taking control, very worrying. I just replaced the brushes in my 2015 CTL36, other than that it has only had three lead changes, still on the original filter after several thousand kilos of dust. Filter lever seems like a gimmick, as does the led lights and 'touchscreen'. The clicky switch and potentiometer feel like they will last another 7 years, not sure I feel the same way about a plastic panel and some microswitches.

I also have around £6k worth of systainers, puzzled why Festool changed the height system, removed functionality by removing the side identification markers and added a pointless and expensive to manufacture handle for the BOTT system, which must be used by less than 1% of their customers. Seems like a poor engineering decision to add expensive features, like a handle that gets in the way and flaps about in certain pairings that most people will never use.

I appreciate the XXL versions, the new 'midi' versions and the increased strength, just seems like a very un German faux pas fitting an annoying feature no one wants and no one asked for (almost no one) and screwing up the height seems very foolish.

Why could they just not have added intermediate sizes? Many of us who go on site with dozens of systainers like to use them as trestles or tables, with or without bespoke MFT tops. Just seems more annoying now as the new Sys3 boxes infiltrate my stock.

Just my two pence worth.

 

[woodbutcherbower]

Interesting post.

It always makes me smile that the forum’s US profanity filter wont allow us to write a word printed endlessly in the Bible and used daily by every religious preacher which means the opposite of ‘heaven’ (auto-changes it to ‘heck’) or the word beginning with ‘d’ which rhymes with ‘am’ (auto-changes it to ‘darn’) - also closely associated with the above. The evangelistical fear induced by a raging minister shouting ‘You will be darned to eternal darnation in heck’ loses more than a little impact IMO. Plus - has anyone (apart from Doris Day) ever actually said heck or darn ?

It’s also worth pointing out to the mods that even the seemingly-innocuous word ‘orange’ carries  hugely offensive sectarian connotations in cities such as Belfast and Glasgow.

But anyway - the filter’s OK with wankers, buggers, cocks, knobs, flaps, arses and tossers - which amuses me no end because my real name is Finbarr Saunders (US friends - you won’t understand the joke). Oh - and for our Irish members btw - it’s also OK with feckers.

 

[mino]

...
Seems like poor design and little to no testing in the field. Other than that the CT15 is great, I mean apart from the lack of brake and proper hose depot to fit systainers (I am sure plenty of people would prefer a cheaper CT MIDI just without bluetooth and filter lever)
...

Agree all rest but not here.

The CT15 is *not* seen as a site animal but as a shop animal first and foremost. Something one dedicates to a tool station, e.g. a Kapex and just replaces the bags. There BT is superfluous, hose garage just wastes space, filter-clean option is unneeded, braided hose is a waste etc. Sure, one can (mis)use the CT15 as a "cheaper" Midi. But that is not what its market is. One is better of just getting a Midi.

Ref. BT, being from IT world I can tell you skipping it saves maybe $10 on the vac cost. It is skipped on the CT15 as it is unneeded. Making a Midi-without-BT would make little sense though.

 

[peter halle]

Interesting post.

It always makes me smile that the forum’s US profanity filter won’t allow us to write a word printed endlessly in the Bible and used daily by every religious preacher which means the opposite of ‘heaven’ (auto-changes it to ‘heck’) or the word beginning with ‘d’ which rhymes with ‘am’ (auto-changes it to ‘darn’) - also closely associated with the above. The evangelistical fear induced by a raging minister shouting ‘You will be darned to eternal darnation in heck’ loses more than a little impact IMO. Plus - has anyone (apart from Doris Day) ever actually said heck or darn ?

It’s also worth pointing out to the mods that even the seemingly-innocuous word ‘orange’ carries  hugely offensive sectarian connotations in cities such as Belfast and Glasgow.

But anyway - the filter’s OK with wankers, buggers, cocks, knobs, flaps, arses and tossers - which amuses me no end because my real name is Finbarr Saunders (US friends - you won’t understand the joke). Oh - and for our Irish members btw - it’s also OK with feckers.

Glad you got a smile on your face  [big grin].  Were you trying to make the point that you wanted us to add additional words to the filter?

Peter

 

[woodbutcherbower]

Hehe - not at all, Peter - quite the opposite in fact. I was just reflecting on how difficult it must be to moderate a global forum where identical words can have completely different meanings depending on where you happen to be in the world. Deciding what to filter can’t be easy, apart from the obvious nasties. But the FOG is an extremely civilised place where I’m sure no-one would dream of being so offensive.

Best wishes to you.