centrotec mod

[b_m_hart]

I could have sworn that I had seen it somewhere a long time back, but I just cannot seem to dig it up (insert standard complaint about search functionality here).  Has anyone done a modification to the centrotec chuck to accept standard 1/4" bits?

 

[PaulMarcel]

I did a short-ish video on how to "Centrotec" a wire-detent 1/4" hex bit. I did it to a handful of 2" long driver bits (square drive #2 was the motivation).

Here's the article and video

 

[peter halle]

Here is one thread:  http://festoolownersgroup.com/festool-how-to/kreg-square-drive-bits-in-centro-tec-chuck/

Peter

NOTE:  The thread shows how to modify a bit - not the chuck.

 

[jonny round boy]

Has anyone done a modification to the centrotec chuck to accept standard 1/4" bits?

Surely that's what this is for...

[attachimg=1]

 

[b_m_hart]

Sure, but then it doesn't really hold something like this without it wobbling around.

 

[b_m_hart]

Here is one thread:  http://festoolownersgroup.com/festool-how-to/kreg-square-drive-bits-in-centro-tec-chuck/

Peter

NOTE:  The thread shows how to modify a bit - not the chuck.

OK - so that's what it was.  I was hoping to have one chuck for the centrotec bits, and another for all of the other "standard" bits I've accumulated throughout the years, rather than using an adapter.  Bummer.

 

[greg mann]

The Festool Centrotec is a proprietary solution to all that ails the "standard" 1/4 drive system you want to adapt. There really is no good way to use those with the Centrotec system as Festool engineered their adapter to not accept them. You CAN put them in the 1/4 hex drive directly in the drill or use the adapter either of which as Johnny Round Boy pointed out, will wobble. Festool improved the basic concept to eliminate runout and to eliminate the use of substandard "standards" in their system but it does sort of force a little buy-in to their concept. I look at it a bit philosophically; These are all perishable items to begin with so as they wear out replace them with Centotec compatible stuff.

 

[Administrator_JSVN]

(insert standard complaint about search functionality here)

Just a note about searching the forum... The forum software has a decent search in my opinion, but you can always use Google. Just add "site:" and the website address to your Google search to search a specific website. So, "site:festoolownersgroup.com centrotec mod" would search just the FOG for the terms centrotec and mod.

 

[jonny round boy]

FWIW, I find the search function on here to be better than most other forums I frequent, and way better than some commercial sites that are actively trying to sell you stuff that you can't easily find!

 

[amt]

I look at it a bit philosophically; These are all perishable items to begin with so as they wear out replace them with Centotec compatible stuff.

But that would require that a centrotec version is available every single standard 1/4" bit, right?  I don't mind the idea of a better solution like centrotec, but it has to be a complete system.

 

[fshanno]

The simple answer is a Fastfix chuck that accepts standard 1/4" ball detent bits. 

Don't hold your breath cause such a chuck would take a serious bite out of Centrotec bit sales.  Even though Centrotec is superior, all but the truest of true believers would eventually migrate back to standard bits.

If a Festool engineer ever had the temerity to design and even fabricate such a chuck it would probably be for him a lot like it was for Galileo, house arrest and so on.  I've always wondered if there is perhaps a prototype somewhere in a high security vault down in the bowels of the engineering department.  Sort of like the CPU and arm from Terminator 1 that we see in Terminator 2.

 

[Administrator_JSVN]

The simple answer is a Fastfix chuck that accepts standard 1/4" ball detent bits. 

Um, there is one.

[blink]

 

[b_m_hart]

The simple answer is a Fastfix chuck that accepts standard 1/4" ball detent bits. 

Um, there is one.

[blink]

Hah, true.  I was looking for something a tad more elegant though.

 

[greg mann]

Right, Shane. That is the adapter I see Tom Silva use quite regularly.  ;D

 

[TelcoRandy]

I sense a conspiracy here. Fein and Metabo both have spindles that are very similar to Festool's as seen here:
http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?p=3373418
http://michael-hild.blogspot.de/2012/10/neuzugang-in-der-werkstatt-festool-cxs.html
http://www.metabo.com/Product-catalogue-handheld-powertools.24048+M52c93c7f2ab.0.html
http://www.fein.ca/en_ca/fastening/cordless-drill-drivers/ascm-18-qxc-0307707/

The Fein spindle is just a little too big and the Metabo is just a little too small (0.05mm too small). So a Fein chuck will fit a Festool chuck with too much slop and a Metabo chuck will not fit a Festool chuck at all.

Unfortunately Festool's BHS 65 CE quick-change bit holder may lock on to a ball-detent bit, but it has more slop than a standard ball detent chuck like you would find on a 1/4" impact gun.

Also, I'm not sure how well Metabo's or Fein's 1/4" chucks work, they might be just as sloppy as any other quick-change chuck.

 

[fshanno]

The Fein spindle is just a little too big and the Metabo is just a little too small (0.05mm too small). So a Fein chuck will fit a Festool chuck with too much slop and a Metabo chuck will not fit a Festool chuck at all.

I wonder if the Metabo chuck is available for purchase.

If so I wonder if there would be a way to ream it out so it would fit a Festool drill.

 

[greg mann]

I sense a conspiracy here. Fein and Metabo both have spindles that are very similar to Festool's as seen here:
http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?p=3373418
http://michael-hild.blogspot.de/2012/10/neuzugang-in-der-werkstatt-festool-cxs.html
http://www.metabo.com/Product-catalogue-handheld-powertools.24048+M52c93c7f2ab.0.html
http://www.fein.ca/en_ca/fastening/cordless-drill-drivers/ascm-18-qxc-0307707/

The Fein spindle is just a little too big and the Metabo is just a little too small (0.05mm too small). So a Fein chuck will fit a Festool chuck with too much slop and a Metabo chuck will not fit a Festool chuck at all.

Unfortunately Festool's BHS 65 CE quick-change bit holder may lock on to a ball-detent bit, but it has more slop than a standard ball detent chuck like you would find on a 1/4" impact gun.

Also, I'm not sure how well Metabo's or Fein's 1/4" chucks work, they might be just as sloppy as any other quick-change chuck.

This is/was a missed opportunity to create a new and improved standard. If they had made their systems interchangeable they might have all benefitted by wider market acceptance and more tools being made that would have worked on all three brands. Proprietary systems can be a blessing or a curse. Been a lot of cursing going on about interchangeability. More tools available would have helped.

 

[b_m_hart]

There's got to be some way to build a chuck that could take all of them (and not be overly bulky or hard to use).  I would buy that add-on in a heartbeat.  Of course, there may be fears that something like this would hurt their sales of bits, but I can't see how something like that would do anything but drive drill sales so people could have one drill that worked with all of their bits.

Then again, the market for something like this may be entirely too small to be worth addressing.

 

[rljatl]

This is/was a missed opportunity to create a new and improved standard. If they had made their systems interchangeable they might have all benefitted by wider market acceptance and more tools being made that would have worked on all three brands. Proprietary systems can be a blessing or a curse. Been a lot of cursing going on about interchangeability. More tools available would have helped.

This is essentially the PC vs. Mac (and Android vs. Apple) debate and why I prefer open systems to closed proprietary systems.

 

[johninthecamper]

maybe that's why, inside in curse every time I have to use some non centotec piece