Festool FS-PA and FS-PA-VL arrived today...

[Mettes]

Well then,

I needed some stuff for my new MFT/3 (will be picking that up tomorrow) so ordered a bunch of stuff from Kisling-GmbH.  For those of you in Europe, they are a great shop to deal with, I've gotten free shipping on this order to Belgium, it arrived 3 days after the payment, it wasn't complete but they send the remaining stuff free of charge.  And they have a great prices for the consumables and accessories.

They had the new FS-PA and FS-PA-VL in there webshop so I ordered that as well, since I recently changed jobs I'll be doing more woodworking at home and a convenient way to cut pieces at the same size repeatably was very appealing.

Order arrived last Friday but this was the first moment I had some time to take pictures and write a little preview.

Let's start with how they arrive and what's in the box...

two cardboard boxes, one for the FS-PA and one for the FS-PA-VL, nothing special, just like we're joust to getting our accessories.

The FS-PA is usable for pieces up to 650mm wide and the FS-PA-VL is usable for pieces 195mm wide and 70mm high (thick), so it's a little less then the maximum capacity of the TS75, keep an eye on this for those of you with a TS75, not a problem for me...

This is what's in the box of the FS-PA, the two profiles, two stops, a manual and a parts list

and in the FS-PA-VL box: two short profiles with bridge, two handscrews and the same manual and the same parts list as the FS-PA.

the profile, it's 59mm wide and 18mm thick, the T-slot on the top is were the stops slide in, a festool clamp will NOT fit!!! it's to small...

The FS-PA and FS-PA-VL combined, they fit together without any play and are fixed with the thumbscrews no problem there.

This is were the FS-PA connects to the rail, the two screws at the back are for adjusting the squareness of the FS-PA to the guiderail!!!
the big green screw on top is for fixing it to the guide rail together with the leveller at the underside.  The screw with the slot-head at the back is for adjusting the distance of the FS-PA to the guiderail, to make sure the measurements on the FS-PA are correct.  At the underside you can see that the screws (slothead and big green) are put in a long hole, they can be adjusted about 10mm.

I don't have a guide rail with me at the moment, all my stuff is at my grandparents garage because my dad works on some classic cars so our garage's are packed full...

I'll get back to you when I had a change to test it and post more pictures.

Cheers

 

[greg mann]

Interesting stuff. Can hardly wait. Kind of like having a Domino without a Plug It cord, eh?  :

 

[Les]

Wow. Poor EZ.

 

[Enrico74]

Just to confirm that Kisling is indeeed a very good european dealer.
Prices are really competitive (well, not as good as what you lucky ones get in north America... and I still don't really understand why) even on shipping.
I went there for my first festool buying orgy, because my local dealer is overpricing these wonderful toys by at least 30%... which is a fairly good reason to take a tour in Germany.
They are very welcoming even with non-german-speaking freaks like me.
It's just a pity they don't have the MFT/3 in their catalog.

Thomas

 

[jorj jones]

Wow. Poor EZ.

?????????????????
Les,
Why and Why Poor ez?

 

[Les]

Appears to be similar to the EZ power bench and square.

 

[Les]

The FS-PA and FS-PA-VL combined, they fit together without any play and are fixed with the thumbscrews no problem there.

This is were the FS-PA connects to the rail, the two screws at the back are for adjusting the squareness of the FS-PA to the guiderail!!!
the big green screw on top is for fixing it to the guide rail together with the leveller at the underside.  The screw with the slot-head at the back is for adjusting the distance of the FS-PA to the guiderail, to make sure the measurements on the FS-PA are correct.  At the underside you can see that the screws (slothead and big green) are put in a long hole, they can be adjusted about 10mm.

I don't have a guide rail with me at the moment, all my stuff is at my grandparents garage because my dad works on some classic cars so our garage's are packed full...

I'll get back to you when I had a change to test it and post more pictures.

Cheers

How was the fit to the guide rail? I hope Festool has come up with a solution to remove the slop between connectors or any adapters and the guide rail.

 

[fshanno]

Thanks for the great pictures!  I was wondering what it would look like up close and based on what I see here it looks like the real deal.  I'm going to need to make a bigger cutting table if I want to rip 4x8 foot sheets because it sits on both sides of the work piece but that will be my pleasure. 

I see it's in millimeters.  Does this mean it's time to bite the bullet and buy a metric tape.

Same dumb question but I'll ask it, anybody have an idea when it will be available in the US?  It doesn't plug in and it looks infinitely safe.

 

[Frank-Jan]

Mettes, have you had a chance to use them yet?
I am seriously considering ordering them this week (not the VL part, just the PA and a FS/2 3000)
I am happy with the parallel guide that slides on the saw for the smaller rips, but we have another job coming up where I think the VA will come in very handy.
I understand you calibrate them once, then just put them on, set the width on the scale and you're ready to cut. Or do you have use the set screws after every time they are removed from the rail?

I couldn't find them on the Dutch festool site at first, but I then typed in the  ordernumber that's on the box in your picture and then they did show, so I guess I can order them at my regular dealer. (Normally there's nobody home during the day, else I would order them from the Kissling site aswell.)

 

[Mettes]

hello,

sorry that I didn't get back at this, I've been very busy these last weeks and didn't have the change to test the new jig.  I have been using it as a square for the guide rails and it works like a charm, you adjust it once and it's slide's on and of easily.  The connection to the guiderail is rock solid and it's square, so that alone should make some people happy.

When I find a little more time I'll test it thoroughly and get back to all of you...

 

[SteveD]

I Just got a UK price on these - they are not yet on the Festool UK site with a price I can find, just promo information.
I'm traveling to the UK in a few weeks and thought about picking some up and bringing them home.

I am quoted.
Festool FS-PA Parallel Stop  ?131.50
FS-PA-VL accessory            ?78.00
Both items come as pairs and will need VAT adding to the price at 17.5%.

SteveD

 

[wnagle]

Steve,

If you pick up extra, I'd take both sets...just a thought.  That is 1 FS-PA and 1FS-PA-VL and shipping costs of course.

 

[Frank-Jan]

hello,

sorry that I didn't get back at this, I've been very busy these last weeks and didn't have the change to test the new jig.  I have been using it as a square for the guide rails and it works like a charm, you adjust it once and it's slide's on and of easily.  The connection to the guiderail is rock solid and it's square, so that alone should make some people happy.

When I find a little more time I'll test it thoroughly and get back to all of you...

Thanks for the quick reply, I guess I'll drop by the store tomorrow and place the order. (If I don't oversleep, or work too much overtime)

 

[SteveD]

Wayne,
I don't think you'd really want me to do that for you, you seem such a nice guy.
You thought that YOUR Festools are expensive ...

Lets take some nice round figures. Say GBP200 for the set plus 17.5% VAT = GBP 235 or about US$365 as of today
At the airport here it's "Welcome home Steve that will be 25% customs import duty please", fortunately on the original cost - but still another $77.75.
Then I go down to Fedex to ship it to you which will probably be another $175 to $200 (it cost me nearly $50 to send a 4 page letter the other day) plus fill in all the import-to-the-US documentation. (Not quite as bad as UL listing).

So plan around for a minimum of $650 for the set assuming I don't get hit for excess baggage charges on the flight back!
For that amount of money you could almost fly there and pick one up yourself! Then you could pick a few up for your friends to help finance the trip ...
Oh, by the way, it's DEFINITELY cheaper for you to ship one to me!

But maybe this is another way I can get an entry into this month's competition. But would she believe me?
"Honest honey I bought it to ship it to this nice man in Akron, Ohio but he changed his mind and it is waay too expensive to ship back".



SteveD

 

[wnagle]

Yeah... I think you are right...glad you told me first...lol  Besides for 650.00  I can pay someone to make all my parallell cuts...with enough left to buy him a festool green jumpsuit!!!  Fesman EQ 24/7 (manual not included)

I think the story might work with your wife though...

 

[PaulMarcel]

So plan around for a minimum of $650 for the set assuming I don't get hit for excess baggage charges on the flight back!

Hi, Steve,

These look very interesting.  I'm curious how large the original boxes were for you (approximately)?  Mostly wondering if they could be brought back on a plane.  I have friends going to Israel soon and I'll be going to India on business.  I was thinking of strategically picking the layover on the way back for a brief vacation and maybe pick these up.

Thanks!
  Paul-Marcel

 

[SteveD]

Sorry, I can't help yet as I have not bought them. I'm planning on doing so in a couple of weeks. I too have the same question about size, just not had time to call and find out (4 hour time difference). No time in the morning, too late in the evening. Perhaps somebody else can help with the box sizes and possibly weight. I was also planning to pick up some other items but as I need to replenish consumables in a couple of months I may wait until then and order the other stuff through Uncle Bob.

SteveD

 

[Frank-Jan]

If Mettes still has them, he could measure the boxes. If not, I ordered the FS-PA today, so hopefully I can give you the dimensions of the bigger box in a few days.

 

[Daniel]

Have mine more than one week, but still no time to test them. Hopefully during the weekend I'll make some cuts.

The overall dimensions are

FS-PA-VL  125 x 105 x 420 mm (approx. 5'' x 4'' x 17'')
FS-PA       150 x   95 x 750 mm (6'' x 4'' x 30'')

and weight approx 5,5 kg  together (maybe 15 pounds, I don't know the convert rate). Sorry I haven't any exact heft in my workshop.

Hope this helps.
Daniel

 

[PaulMarcel]

Thanks, Daniel, exactly what I was looking for.  Now to make sure I pack a suitcase that can hold a 30"-ish long set of bars