Fill in the blank: I wish Festool made a ______!

Standard hex bits are not made to an accurate enough tolerance, and have no standard beyond the hex. The centrotec relies on a closely held diameter that is slightly smaller than the standard hex bit, which has no diameter specification, just a resulting size across the points. These vary from one manufacturer to another. Festool solved the problem by holding a diameter across the points that extends beyond the hex length, giving them a true running shank. They also changed the detent groove position. All of this was intentional, I would guess, but not to necessarily make it proprietary. I suspect it was their way of improving on a concept that certainly had room for improvement. If they had designed the chuck to hold any traditional hex bit it would have needed a far more open tolerance factored-in to accommodate all of the variability in the market. At that point there would have been an unnacceptable amount of runout in many cases and they would have been accused of making a subpar tool when it was the inherent variability of the bits for which they could not compensate.
 
Probably has been mentioned here before, but...

A Domino that has a switch to allow just a straight, round hole for inserting a dowel, as well as being able to cut a mortise.

Some places are just too small for a domino to fit, where a 1/4" dowel is perfect.
 
An upgraded (Benz quality) gate and cord connector to split from one-to-two hoses w/ cords.

Tom
 
Tom Bellemare said:
A upgraded (Benz quality) gate and cord connector to split from one-to-two hoses w/ cords.

Tom

This would be great. I already have two hoses on my boom arm, but swapping the hose back a forth is a real PITA.
 
jtwood said:
Probably has been mentioned here before, but...

A Domino that has a switch to allow just a straight, round hole for inserting a dowel, as well as being able to cut a mortise.

Some places are just too small for a domino to fit, where a 1/4" dowel is perfect.

A drill?
 
Yes, to drill a straight hole instead of a wide mortise.  In other words, make the side-to-side motion switchable.  Side to side for mortises, straight -line for dowels.  The ease of lining up holes would make it possible to replace a doweling jig.
 
greg mann said:
Standard hex bits are not made to an accurate enough tolerance, and have no standard beyond the hex.

I can see more precise tolerances being helpful for drilling. Though in my experience, the biggest accuracy problems in drilling come from the hand holding the drill, not the bit setup. For driving screws, I don't see any problems with the hex tolerances. Festool apparently has no problems using that hex for the main connector to the drill. They even advertise using that connector to put a short hex bit in it. Why not use that exact size for a Centrotec style chuck?

As I've been evaluating the Festool drills, there are a couple of issues that come up.

First, I already have a significant investment in hex bits. That means I need to either toss that investment, or continue to use them with the Jacobs chuck on the Festool, which removes one of the significant advantages of those drills.

Second, some bits just aren't available in Centrotec. A prime example is the square drive bits. As with the hex bits, I have a significant stock of square drive screws. I need a bit for those, and being able to use a short chuck can be a significant advantage when space is tight.

Third, I know a short bit can be attached directly to the drive out of the drill. I hate using those things because after driving a screw in, I usually have to take the bit out of the screw and put it back in the drill.

The first two of these issues are ones which keep popping up on this board. In my mind, that means Festool ought to address them one way or another. After all, we've already seen one solution to these issues that isn't far from using duct tape.

I'm pretty sure Festool could even come up with some sort of solution to the tolerance issues in a chuck. (Maybe an internal rotating collar or other mechanism that clamps the bit to remove the slack as it's locked into place?) Even if it was slightly larger than the Centrotec chuck, it would still be a much better solution than using a binder clip.
 
zapdafish said:
lawn mower  [big grin]

Mine died and have been browsing Amazon.com for a cordless one  ;D

I can't help you with a cordless one, but, depending on the cutting path size you're looking for, mount two TS55's sideways or two TS75's sideways, to your old mower deck (fabrication and design I'll leave for you).  Attach them with a 'Y' connector to a CT and cut your lawn without leaving a green mess.

P.S. - You'll probably want a helper to move the CT while you're cutting unless the mower deck can accomodate everything.
 
To answer zapdafish----
For a modest amount of money :) you can fly over to EU and get a pair of battery operated Carvexes. They probably sell some super long blades there as well. Mount them back to back on a wheeled stand and voila a battery operated Festool mower! Be sure to get the vegetation blades. ;)

Oh and mount the new CT 48 to get maximum collection capacity.

For me, I don't want anything new from Festool. I only want what they already sell in the EU!!!!!!
 
I would really like an imperial set of the new forester bits. I usually use them for doing radius cutouts in templates, so metric doesn't work for me. Are there any plans on making a set some day?
 
How about a portable thickness planer???? Bet Festool could whip up something amazing.
 
GhostFist said:
How about a portable thickness planer???? Bet Festool could whip up something amazing.

Where have you been, they're working on it.  Didn't you see the leaked rendering images?
 
CutsTwice said:
I would really like an imperial set of the new forester bits. I usually use them for doing radius cutouts in templates, so metric doesn't work for me. Are there any plans on making a set some day?

Festool makes metric bushings (copy rings). Switch to metric :)
VictorL
 
How about hose by the foot (or meter) ?
I've been reading that a shorter hose improves Kapex dust collection and would rather buy
a short piece and ends rather than chop my 3.5m - 36mm.
 
Some dealers will do what you ask.  I think that I read here that Bob Marino has done something similar.  You might want to send him a message.

Peter
 
PeterK said:
For me, I don't want anything new from Festool. I only want what they already sell in the EU!!!!!!

Agreed. Though I do like brousing through German tool stores...
 
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