Festool Training Class questions

UncleJoe

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Oct 3, 2011
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I was thinking of giving myself a gift of attending some Festool training in Las Vegas. I would like to go to the cabinet classes. I was wondering about the daily schedule. When classes start and end each day and local hotel info. If the evenings are open then I would bring along my wife. She can shop and stuff all day and we can go out to dinner and a show at night. If past attendees tell me that doesn't really work out then fine I know in advance and I can take the wife to Vegas some other time.

Thanks for your help
 
It could work, but half the fun and value of the classes is socializing with the other students, and maybe the Festool trainer, after school.  Next time I do it, I think I will set it up so that the wife meets me in Vegas the day after school is over.
 
UncleJoe said:
I was thinking of giving myself a gift of attending some Festool training in Las Vegas. I would like to go to the cabinet classes. I was wondering about the daily schedule. When classes start and end each day and local hotel info. If the evenings are open then I would bring along my wife. She can shop and stuff all day and we can go out to dinner and a show at night. If past attendees tell me that doesn't really work out then fine I know in advance and I can take the wife to Vegas some other time.

Thanks for your help

Hi Uncle Joe,

Having participated in all the End User classes offered at the Training Center-LasVegas/Henderson. let me try to answer your questions.

My most recent class was the Combination Cabinet with Doors and Drawers on 23, 24, 26 and 27 April 2012. There were a total of 6 trainees, divided into 3 work groups, each group with our own set of 3 MFT/3, Kapex and tools.

Yes, one participant did bring his wife. I had several meals with them, so I know she had a grand time.

Festool will make corporate discount reservations for those who want at Sunset Station Casino & Hotel in Henderson, less than 10 minutes from that training center. Sunset Station is a really nice place, with a wide selection of restaurants. They have a 24 hour coffee shop. My personal favorite is the Feast Buffet which runs from 8 AM to 9 PM. DIY self-parking is free.

The first day of class the Henderson Trainer Steve Bace meets all staying at Sunset Station near the registration desk, promptly at 7:30 AM! He drives us in his Festool van to the training center. Any trainees not riding with Steve are expected to be at the center by 7:40 AM. Inside the center Steve provides a Continental breakfast each class day, with non-alcoholic beverages available for free all day long. Also each class day Festool provides a catered lunch, which arrives about noon. We take a break for lunch and as needed in the morning and afternoon.

First thing on Day One we all sign waivers and agreements, plus charge the tuition to our credit cards. Oh, yes, we all also select our lunch choice. We introduce ourselves. Steve outlines what we will be learning. By 9 AM we have moved from the classroom area through the glass doors into the training workroom, with the famous Steve Bace cork flooring. When Festool built the 2010 Training Center on Gibson AVE, Steve lovingly peeled up his personal cork floor and re-installed it in the new place. Heaven is working on that cork floor.

(I need forklifts in my shop, so I cannot have cork flooring. Each time I come to Henderson I am Festool Green with envy!)

An important part of Cabinet Construction class is practice setting up the MFT/3 with its guide rail and fence. Steve pairs off the participants. We all get a chance to practice the efficient ways to set up and use the MFT/3 and all the other tools. Each group has 3 MFT, one with the guide rail. It becomes instinctive how to make best use of the other tables as in and out feed, as well as breaking down full sheets. Each group has all the necessary rails up to 3000mm.

On Day One, which for the combined class is a Monday, instruction lasts until 5 PM or so, depending on the energy level of the class. Personally I take a sit-down break about 3:30 PM, but those with more energy keep on going. Before we leave for the night we clean-up the work space.

Festool hosts us at a Day One dinner. Steve knows all the best places in Henderson. Everyone working for Mimi's Cafe knows Steve. There is a wonderful Mexican restaurant in Sunset Station. In April Steve took us to a BBQ restaurant, which was so much fun.

Day Two Steve picks us up from the special Guest Entrance off the DIY parking lot, which is slightly closer to the training center, again at 7:30 AM promptly. He provides another Continental breakfast, but from there we go directly to work. For safety, no participants may use power tools unless Steve is in the work room. The goal is that we all finish the class with the same number of fingers as when we started the class. Dat Two lunch is also catered and arrives about noon.

When Day Two is also the final day, Steve does ask who needs to go to the airport and when. That decides how late class can go. Once a participant had to be at the airport at 4:30 PM, but another class I attended nobody was flying out before 9 PM, so class ran until 5:30 PM. Festool does not host a dinner on Day Two.

Normally between Day Two of one class and Day One (Thursday) on another class Wednesday is a lay-off day. However last April we did not have our cabinets finished at the end of Tuesday. Those must be finished so on Thursday the Doors can be custom-made to fit. So Steve generously agreed to hold a bonus class Wednesday morning, with our pick-up at 7 AM! He drove everyone back to Sunset Station in time for a no-host lunch.

The same schedule repeated on Thursday, Day One of Doors. Except because all of us had been there on Monday, pick-up was at the Guest Entrance and we had already introduced ourselves and done the paper work. The classroom time was a brief discussion of plans for the doors. Festool did host our Thursday dinner. Friday we finished our doors and learned to make drawers using 4mm Dominoes.

I always drive to Henderson from Burbank the day ahead of class starting. At dawn on Sundays there is little traffic heading to Las Vegas. At dawn on Saturday morning the only traffic is for a few miles, people living in Las Vegas heading out of town. Sunset Station sells an all-day Feast Buffet pass. The Buffet opens at 8 AM, too late for class days. I time my departure for Henderson so that I arrive at the hotel before 8 AM, although I know on Sundays I will need to wait for my room until after noon. I can wash my face in the men's room near the buffet. I tell them that I have a reservation and show my Station club card. Then I eat myself silly. If my room is still not available I go shopping, because Nevada prices are much lower than in California. I go back to the buffet for an early lunch. Registered Guests have a VIP line, so the wait is short. I return for a buffet at Tea Time (4 PM) and then for a bedtime final snack about 8:30 PM. I believe in getting my money's worth at the buffet.

 
i dont think there is any details left out of that  . wow. i wish i could go. if i was going to the states i would plan it around one of these
 
Alan m said:
i dont think there is any details left out of that  . wow. i wish i could go. if i was going to the states i would plan it around one of these

Alan, you can be sure you will be most welcome at End User classes in Henderson, Nevada (a few minutes from the Las Vegas International Airport) or the Training Center in Lebanon, Indiana. That is actually in the Festool USA headquarters Building. It is about an hour from the Indianapolis International Airport and 45 minutes from the hotel Festool recommends.

The schedule in Lebanon is slightly different, because the hotel is longer from the training center.

Something I did not mention at length is that the friendships formed during the classes last forever. Some folks have been in 2 or more classes with me and others just one. Since November 2010 I have made close to 50 good friends as a result of the classes.
 
Carroll,

Thanks for taking the time to post an absolutely fabulous description of the class schedules.  I haven't had the pleasure to see Steve in Henderson, but I can easily find my way to Lebanon.

Your description has wetted my appetite for the last of the classes that I want to attend - the Doors and Drawers class.  The issues that prevented me from attending in the past year or so are in the process of being eliminated, so hopefully I will get my fix in the not to far future.

If you have the chance sign up and just do it.  The costs for the education portion are ridiculously cheap. The rewards in work flow and project quality will manifest themselves for years to come.

Peter
 
Peter and Everyone, I took the Doors & Drawers class the first time it was offered in Henderson on 26 and 27 May 2011. Although Festool reduced the trainees from 8 to just 6 starting in January 2011, they sent Brian "The Sedge" Sedgeley as co-Trainer. The combination of Steve Bace and The Sedge is pure magic!

I took this class because circa 1959 I had begun sourcing my drawer boxes. By doing so I could keep up with the volume of custom cabinets I was building. I had always enjoyed building drawer boxes. Now that I had my larger shop, where I had deliberately left space for a drawer box department, I wanted to pick the brains of Steve and The Sedge to help me select an additional cabinet maker to specialize in drawer box building.

I personally continued building the face frames, doors and drawer fronts as long as possible into the 1960s. I very reluctantly turned those tasks over to a very talented employee cabinet maker when I could justify adding to the staff at that business. For my 2010 shop I had already hired a specialist cabinet maker I had known for years. I call him "My Frame Guy" Watching him start with rough hardwood which he re-saws, joints and planes to beautiful solid wood for doors, drawer fronts and face frames is always fascinating. Still, looking ahead to a time when I have sold my business and will be building cabinets on my own, I wanted to learn how Steve and The Sedge do it without so much fixed machinery and the electro-pneumatic frame/door clamping system. What they taught me are practical ways to accomplish the quality I want with equipment I already own which does not require 480 volt 3 phase.

With the big machines my shop can produce the volume we need at our level of quality. Using the methods learned in class I cannot make as many doors per day.

In July 2011 I returned to Sunset Station for the week I was there attending AWFS 2011 at the Las Vegas Convention Center. There is a good freeway from Henderson to the back parking entrance of the Convention Center. Besides I knew a lot of Festool people would also be staying at Sunset Station.

The big things I bought at AFWS: an Alexander Dodds Company CNC drawer dovetailer, drawer gluer and electro-pneumatic drawer assembly machine; a Baker lumber mill-style horizontal conveyor-fed precision band saw.

Although I still source many of the drawer boxes my business requires, when the rep for drawer box vendors are scheduled, I make darn sure I am turning out top quality boxes. My experience is this keeps them on their toes as far as timely delivery.

To me doing re-sawing on a conventional vertical band-saw is a royal PIA. It is slow and hard physical work even for an expert such as Frame Guy. All the frustration goes away using the Baker machine. We can do the re-sawing at the right time so the cut wood can acclimate before the first trip on the jointer and thickness planer. That is a 40 hp machine, driving the blade and conveyor with hydraulics. The glue ready cut is almost as if done on a TS55, if the capacity was 450mm! The kerf is 1.5mm, so I end up with more frames, doors and drawer fronts per board foot of rough hardwood. In the 11 months I have been using the Baker it has paid for itself in material and time saved.

Bummer it is not painted Festool Green and Blue. It has revolutionized my work flow in a positive way as did the TS55 back in 2006!
 
I took two classes at Lebanon in 2010 - cabinet construction & advanced router techniques.  Brian & Rick were at both and Steve made and appearance at router class.  I travelled solo both times and as stated above, socializing with the other students in the evening was an enriching part of the experience, plus we made pilgrimages to woodworking stores after hours, which might not interest an accompnying spouse.  The class days are full and start early, so be ready to live Festool for the days of class.  I would love to attend more classes as time and curriculum allow!  Uncle Joe, if your wife can entertain herself for most of the day and enjoys evening woodworking conversations, bring her along!  (Maybe Festool needs to offer a "making cutting boards" class for accompanying spouses!  [big grin])
 
Steve has told me about more than one couple who participated in the same class. At least one of those couples work for a Festool dealer, so they were not in an End User class. Yet at least 2 couples where both are way into woodworking have participated in End User classes in Henderson.
 
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