Festool Haters and CNC

[ShawnRussell]

Be careful with that John guy, he is pretty wiley!  :0

Hey, Shawn, how's my "Fairness in Tool Purchases" plan working out for ya?  [big grin]

Hmmmm...

I just bought Monica a Hermes bag.. You have no idea how many tools I had to sacrifice for that.  Now she is talking about buying a new flute... I said Bingo, that is my token justification for the new Impact T15, Domino XL and I am hoping to pickup some NAINA non powered Festools out of that deal.

I just had to learn how to ebb and flow with the philosophy.

For those not familiar... when John met my wife Monica at WIA he stated that he keeps his tools purchase fair with his wife. He hands over the receipts of what he spends on tools and she buys an equal amount of whatever she likes. For me, that was not good at the time, Monica wanted to reconcile the purchases that I had made over the last 2 years just after I got introduced to Festool, Lie Nielsen, Blue Spruce and the likes.

 

[ShawnRussell]

I'm definitely interested in a CNC build.  I've already purchased some plans but have too many other projects in queue first.  I also love the idea of a 2200 as the spindle.  Finally forces me to buy one. 
 

I was always under the impression that you want a small router.. along the lines of a trim router to run in a cnc. Wouldn't you then have to spend much more time and resources ensuring the 'head' and arms are beefy enough to move and handle any deflection from the router? Or is most of that negated by using rolled aluminum and steel?

 

[lambeater]

If you want to see real innovative and beautiful CNC tables go to blurry customs, beatiful stuff. Blurry customs

Lambeater

 

[joraft]

... I just bought Monica a Hermes bag.. You have no idea how many tools I had to sacrifice for that.  Now she is talking about buying a new flute... I said Bingo, that is my token justification for the new Impact T15, Domino XL and I am hoping to pickup some NAINA non powered Festools out of that deal.

Shawn, you are truly a good husband. And a very lucky man to have such a lovely and understanding wife.

 

[joraft]

I was always under the impression that you want a small router.. along the lines of a trim router to run in a cnc. Wouldn't you then have to spend much more time and resources ensuring the 'head' and arms are beefy enough to move and handle any deflection from the router? Or is most of that negated by using rolled aluminum and steel?

Shawn, a lot of the smaller machines do use small routers such as the Bosch Colt, a 1 hp router that weighs in at a little over 3 pounds. In fact, the Colt is used almost exclusively on the earlier Shark models. The new Shark HD has extra support in the gantry and guide rails to handle a bigger router such as the Bosch 1617, a 2.25 hp. router that weighs in at about 6 pounds.

The problem with the smaller, lower power routers is that they often have to be advanced slower as they cut or they bog down. CNC jobs can take many hours to run as it is, and slow cuts add a lot to the time.

I think the ideal motor to use is a water cooled spindle. They are powerful, relatively light, quiet, vibration free, and can run for many hours without overheating. But they cost up in the thousands.  [eek]

 

[joraft]

If you want to see real innovative and beautiful CNC tables go to blurry customs, beatiful stuff. Blurry customs

I agree, those do look like well designed and built machines. But the prices are pretty high for a hobbiest, even a Festoolian hobbiest.  [smile]

 

[bobfog]

Plazma Technologies provide beam fabrication machine services. We have machines which can cut beam with accuracy and perfect welding preparation.

That's cool! I'm more interested in your time-machine that took you back to 2011. Does it have a Plug-It cord and come in a Systainer?

 

[jmbfestool]

A cnc Thread would be cool.

When I bought a cnc I thought plug and play press print job done.  I was very wrong! Alot more to it than that!  Like any tool!

Example table saw, you can just use it to rip down timber but a table saw can do so much more depending on the person using it.  You can cut out rebates, you can make finger joints, you can make circles you can even make a bowl using a table saw.

Same thing with a CNC depending on person ans software a cnc can do awsome things. You just need to understand it.  Ive made many mistakes!!! Most mistakes are forggeting to do something.

I once forgot to turn vacuum bed on,  I once forgot to calibrate a tool I swapped round in the tool
Changer and bloody typical it had to be longer!!! So I cut into through my spoil board into my main cnc bed.    Ive cut small pieces out of sheets of plywood and they come loose before fully cut so I had to learn and adapt tool cutting orders and entry and exit to avoid this. 
List is endless.  Expensive learning experiences lol

 

[jmbfestool]

Some might know I got a lathe recently.  This then spured me on to have a play with the cnc.

I decided to make a cnc spindle.  Unfortunatly for me my cnc doesnt have any spare drivers. I could borrow the tool changer driver but I aint going to do that.  So I wont be able to do any fancy turning just full speed rotation lathing lol.

Some improvements needed especially when the cnc gets close to the drill end because it causes vibration so I need to some how make it more solid or I could reduce the amount of material removed but I like how it removes alot of material in one pass.

 

[jmbfestool]

 

[nclemmons]

Would love to see an entire discussion area for CNC threads.  So much to learn, so many options and lots of tips that could be shared!  Both for milling/routing and turning. 

 

[Cheese]

I agree...the 3 largest expanding areas that are now within the budgetary constraints of the average amateur are:
Small to medium sized CNC
Laser engraving
3D printing
With the amount of recent enthusiasm seen on the FOG for these manufacturing methods, I think further discussion focused on these methods would be a big plus for the FOG and its readership.

 

[clark_fork]

I would lend encouragement to CNC section. The main reason is we are still in the start-up phase of CNC development and  high costs. Somewhere, in some garage most likely, someone is onto a machine under $1,000.00 and then when volume picks us prices will fall even further and you will be able to run it on your smart-phone. So a new section would be "an ear to the ground" means to spread the work as prices fall.

In the interim, there has to be some good means of finding sources for parts and kits for those intent on building their own.

Bring it on.

 

[o2b4wln]

First time poster and new Festool owner.

I built a cnc a couple of years ago and then realized that I needed precision tools to compliment my machine...thus my foray into the Festool world.

I'd love to see more FOG members that use both CNC's and Festool's.

-O2b4wln

 

[Svar]

First time poster and new Festool owner.

I built a cnc a couple of years ago and then realized that I needed precision tools to compliment my machine...thus my foray into the Festool world.

I'd love to see more FOG members that use both CNC's and Festool's.

Welcome to FOG.
Hey, that kit looks familiar.

 

[JimD]

I mostly read here and occasionally post.  I would be interested in reading about CNCs but don't think I would get one anytime soon.  But if it allowed me to do something I couldn't do otherwise I wanted to do...

I feel the same way about Festools.  I only have one, the little hand sander, and I got it as a present.  I have a track saw, a DeWalt, but I've learned many things about using it here and from Festool users.  I don't think I'm a Festool hater but they don't fit my buying pattern.  My wife says I am cheap.  I like to find the cheapest tool that will do the job.  That is seldom a Festool.  I think they appeal more to the person who wants to spend once and not feel like upgrading later.  Or the person who wants the "best".

I would be interested in seeing the results of the challenge mentioned earlier but I do not believe the Festool user would win against an experienced user of a sliding table saw.  If they have their material handling sorted out, stops would allow repeat cutting faster than a parallel guide on the track.  But maybe I'm wrong.  And if a track saw is truly the fastest way, Festools are at most slightly better than some other brands IMHO.  I like a combination of my track saw and a smaller table saw (24 to 30 inch rip capacity).  I don't think track saws are the best for rips or crosscuts on pieces narrower than their tracks.  I have done it but I can do it a lot faster on my table saw.  I used to have only a table saw with 60 inch rip capacity, however, and the combination of track saw and table saw is definitely better than that.  If I was in a competiton for speed, I would want a tracksaw, preferably on a Paulk type work surface, and a small table saw (could hang off the Paulk workbench) and a CMS (Kapek would be lovely but if it is my money paying it wouldn't be the Kapek).  A Paulk total station for the CMS and possibly the table saw support would be needed.  I am confident that all three saws would be faster than a track saw alone.  They should be.  And maybe a MFT would be faster or better than a Paulk style worksurface.  That would be intereting to sort out.