I have a CT 15 from a few years ago with the small square MAN manual start button that festival refers to as a “touchscreen “. Aside from that being marketing gobble Cook it’s really probably just a capacity touch button behind the smooth plastic – I have an issue with it rarely working for me on the first try I generally have to stab at it with my finger 3 to 5 times to get it to turn on or off, especially if my hands are dusty or dry in a wood shop is pretty common reality as my hands have a lot of dead skin on them I think and I’ve figured out that the only way to get the button to work on the first or second try is to lick my index finger and tap the button with a wet finger. I think the salt in the saliva probably helps the capacitive touch button work. It looks like festival has made those buttons larger on the newer units. Is this a common issue has anyone heard of any workarounds?
CT 15 touch screen manual button have to lick finger
- Thread starter grymes56
- Start date
Michael Kellough
Member
“my hands have a lot of dead skin on them” The workaround is regular application of 120 grit sandpaper. 
I suppose you're referring to the membrane switch. I can't say they redesigned the manual switch (like the one on the CT26 I once owned) to the new type so it'd eventually break down faster. But I know that possibility of break down is higher and higher as time goes by when you do so many on and off operation. My solution is -- as part of the effort to add a "blue tooth" function to my CT15 -- to plug a remote-control outlet into the ct15 receptacle and use the remote to turn the unit on and off.
See here for the details of "blue tooth" hack (replies #7 and #8)
Also see this "bypass" method:
Post in thread 'Remote on off switch' https://festoolownersgroup.com/threads/remote-on-off-switch.73375/post-711094
Last edited:
Michael Kellough
Member
Here is a serious reply, I have dry skin and find simply wearing nitrile gloves makes contact with capacitance switch’s behave as they should, more frequently.
I wear the gloves as much as I can get away with and that alone improves/reduces the the dry skin condition. I expect the more humid environment inside the gloves when worn improves the conduction from fingers to nitrile surface.
Nitrile gloves also come into use when going for a more comprehensive corrective solution.
1. Take the silly idea of sanding the dry skin down seriously
2. Apply some version of a lanolin containing salve to the hands before going to bed
3. Put on the nitrile gloves to keep the goo contained etc.
I’ve done the above once and it worked but I don’t like putting goo (moisturizer) on my hands because it inevitably ends up getting into my eyes.
The general problem with dry skin in my experience is that it makes my fingers slippery. It’s impossible to pick up a piece of mdf with one hand because there is no sticktion from my fingers. Even cardboard is slippery but since I can crush it so my fingers go into depressions in the surface I can pick it up. Simply adding a nitrile glove makes picking up a big piece of mdf a two finger job when before it took two hands.
The other problem for me is that the condition leads to cracked skin. Especially annoying when the crack is in the end of a thumb. Every time I use that opposing digit the crack deepens resulting in a sharp rebuke from my nervous system. I try to avoid getting to that point by looking for cross grain/fingerprint lines (which will become deep cracks if ignored) and then literally sanding the dry skin down until the cross grain line disappears. And putting the gloves more often to give the skin a chance to build back crack-free.
I buy nitrile gloves from Harbor Freight. I used to get the large size but decided they are a little too loose. I now use medium size and while they take a little work to get on (impossible unless my hands are completely dry) I find the skin tight fit (with no surplus nitrile at the ends of my fingers) is much more functional, especially when working with glue or other substance that need to be wiped off between operations.
I wear the gloves as much as I can get away with and that alone improves/reduces the the dry skin condition. I expect the more humid environment inside the gloves when worn improves the conduction from fingers to nitrile surface.
Nitrile gloves also come into use when going for a more comprehensive corrective solution.
1. Take the silly idea of sanding the dry skin down seriously
2. Apply some version of a lanolin containing salve to the hands before going to bed
3. Put on the nitrile gloves to keep the goo contained etc.
I’ve done the above once and it worked but I don’t like putting goo (moisturizer) on my hands because it inevitably ends up getting into my eyes.
The general problem with dry skin in my experience is that it makes my fingers slippery. It’s impossible to pick up a piece of mdf with one hand because there is no sticktion from my fingers. Even cardboard is slippery but since I can crush it so my fingers go into depressions in the surface I can pick it up. Simply adding a nitrile glove makes picking up a big piece of mdf a two finger job when before it took two hands.
The other problem for me is that the condition leads to cracked skin. Especially annoying when the crack is in the end of a thumb. Every time I use that opposing digit the crack deepens resulting in a sharp rebuke from my nervous system. I try to avoid getting to that point by looking for cross grain/fingerprint lines (which will become deep cracks if ignored) and then literally sanding the dry skin down until the cross grain line disappears. And putting the gloves more often to give the skin a chance to build back crack-free.
I buy nitrile gloves from Harbor Freight. I used to get the large size but decided they are a little too loose. I now use medium size and while they take a little work to get on (impossible unless my hands are completely dry) I find the skin tight fit (with no surplus nitrile at the ends of my fingers) is much more functional, especially when working with glue or other substance that need to be wiped off between operations.
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