jujigatame
Member
- Joined
- May 4, 2010
- Messages
- 94
I spent basically all of last weekend, from Friday afternoon until Sunday night in my shop.
I'm building a Mid-century inspired coffee table from a small walnut slab, butcher block, and 5/4 S4S walnut. It's coming along great, and I'll post pictures when I'm done.
I learned a lot about the CSC and battery life doing this project and I'm going to share what I learned. Please forgive the rant, or join in, or whatever.
First off, battery life...
It doesn't matter.
I know you're saying "WHAT?" but hear me out. It doesn't matter.
The batteries lasted through the entire weekend. I didn't have to change or charge them once.
Now, this wasn't a very table saw centric design or project, but I used my new CSC as I would have used any other table saw doing this project, and I realized that you really don't use a table saw for that long of a time all at once. I mean, you set it up, and unless you're doing something absolutely huge, you make a few cuts, and go off to do something else, like miters on the miter saw, or glue ups.
The batteries last way longer than you will ever use the saw for at any one time.
Think about this, when was the last time you ran your table saw for more than 30 minutes at one time? In 30 years of woodworking I don't think I ever have come close to that. Now a cordless vacuum could definitely run for that long at once, or a router, but a table saw? Probably not.
Sure, some of you are probably going to say "Well, I mill hundreds of feet of 8/4 walnut from slabs I cut from my own property" or something like that... Well, then yeah, I would probably say that a small, portable jobsite saw really isn't the tool for you, whether it has batteries or a cord.
In fact I would go so far as to say that the CSC or ANY jobsite saw isn't for you if you plan on consistently milling your own lumber. Maybe you should buy a cabinet saw. And if you can't fit a cabinet saw in your shop, maybe think about getting S4S lumber instead of milling your own. It'll definitely handle milling a 8/4 board or two for a project, but what do you do after you've milled that board or two? Odds are you stack and sticker it to rest overnight before you touch it again. Perfect time to charge the batteries.
However, if you want a small saw with AMAZING precision that you can take literally anywhere, then this may be for you.
But back to the batteries... I ripped about 40lf of 5/4 walnut at one time and it drained the batteries one bar. Then I went on to shaping and gluing them up. And the CSC just sat there for hours. I could have put the batteries on the charger and had full charge for the next time I used it (to make mitered lap joints in the walnut), but I didn't really need to because they had more than enough charge for that.
At the end of the weekend (actually Monday night, but I didn't do much on Monday) one battery was at one bar and the other still had two. So I put them on the charger overnight. The only issue I could ever see having would be if I forget to put them on the charger at night... Which if my phone is any indication, will definitely happen sometimes. But the batteries charge in half an hour, so if I do forget, I'll throw them on the charger in the morning and have another cup of coffee or do something else first. If it ever really becomes a problem (and I honestly can't see how it would) I will buy a second set of batteries that will sit on the charger just waiting.
The batteries don't really make a difference from a corded. I know it sounds crazy, but they really don't change much about your workflow. The main thing I didn't like was having to manually turn on my CT22 every time I made cuts. Even with a remote, I'm too lazy and spoiled at this point to press another button. I'll probably buy a new MIDI soon just to have the bluetooth.
Dust Collection:
This seems to be another complaint a lot of people are having.
I see their point, even though the DC on the CSC is quite good, it's definitely not as good as other Festool tools. The DC was fine when I was ripping the walnut with the guard installed (and the guard is actually really good and doesn't interfere with your work too badly), but when I did the lap cuts there was a decent amount of dust thrown forward.
I would say the DC is significantly better than any other jobsite saw I've ever used with the possible exception of the Sawstop, (but I only ever demo'ed that one). I expected little more from Festool on this, but it's still better than most, and really not bad at all.
Overall, the saw is an absolute pleasure to use. it's smooth, powerful, quiet, and the sliding table and fence are both fantastic. There's literally zero deflection. Making the lap joints was SO EASY with the digital height control it felt like cheating.
If you're thinking about it, get one, you won't regret it.
I'm building a Mid-century inspired coffee table from a small walnut slab, butcher block, and 5/4 S4S walnut. It's coming along great, and I'll post pictures when I'm done.
I learned a lot about the CSC and battery life doing this project and I'm going to share what I learned. Please forgive the rant, or join in, or whatever.
First off, battery life...
It doesn't matter.
I know you're saying "WHAT?" but hear me out. It doesn't matter.
The batteries lasted through the entire weekend. I didn't have to change or charge them once.
Now, this wasn't a very table saw centric design or project, but I used my new CSC as I would have used any other table saw doing this project, and I realized that you really don't use a table saw for that long of a time all at once. I mean, you set it up, and unless you're doing something absolutely huge, you make a few cuts, and go off to do something else, like miters on the miter saw, or glue ups.
The batteries last way longer than you will ever use the saw for at any one time.
Think about this, when was the last time you ran your table saw for more than 30 minutes at one time? In 30 years of woodworking I don't think I ever have come close to that. Now a cordless vacuum could definitely run for that long at once, or a router, but a table saw? Probably not.
Sure, some of you are probably going to say "Well, I mill hundreds of feet of 8/4 walnut from slabs I cut from my own property" or something like that... Well, then yeah, I would probably say that a small, portable jobsite saw really isn't the tool for you, whether it has batteries or a cord.
In fact I would go so far as to say that the CSC or ANY jobsite saw isn't for you if you plan on consistently milling your own lumber. Maybe you should buy a cabinet saw. And if you can't fit a cabinet saw in your shop, maybe think about getting S4S lumber instead of milling your own. It'll definitely handle milling a 8/4 board or two for a project, but what do you do after you've milled that board or two? Odds are you stack and sticker it to rest overnight before you touch it again. Perfect time to charge the batteries.
However, if you want a small saw with AMAZING precision that you can take literally anywhere, then this may be for you.
But back to the batteries... I ripped about 40lf of 5/4 walnut at one time and it drained the batteries one bar. Then I went on to shaping and gluing them up. And the CSC just sat there for hours. I could have put the batteries on the charger and had full charge for the next time I used it (to make mitered lap joints in the walnut), but I didn't really need to because they had more than enough charge for that.
At the end of the weekend (actually Monday night, but I didn't do much on Monday) one battery was at one bar and the other still had two. So I put them on the charger overnight. The only issue I could ever see having would be if I forget to put them on the charger at night... Which if my phone is any indication, will definitely happen sometimes. But the batteries charge in half an hour, so if I do forget, I'll throw them on the charger in the morning and have another cup of coffee or do something else first. If it ever really becomes a problem (and I honestly can't see how it would) I will buy a second set of batteries that will sit on the charger just waiting.
The batteries don't really make a difference from a corded. I know it sounds crazy, but they really don't change much about your workflow. The main thing I didn't like was having to manually turn on my CT22 every time I made cuts. Even with a remote, I'm too lazy and spoiled at this point to press another button. I'll probably buy a new MIDI soon just to have the bluetooth.
Dust Collection:
This seems to be another complaint a lot of people are having.
I see their point, even though the DC on the CSC is quite good, it's definitely not as good as other Festool tools. The DC was fine when I was ripping the walnut with the guard installed (and the guard is actually really good and doesn't interfere with your work too badly), but when I did the lap cuts there was a decent amount of dust thrown forward.
I would say the DC is significantly better than any other jobsite saw I've ever used with the possible exception of the Sawstop, (but I only ever demo'ed that one). I expected little more from Festool on this, but it's still better than most, and really not bad at all.
Overall, the saw is an absolute pleasure to use. it's smooth, powerful, quiet, and the sliding table and fence are both fantastic. There's literally zero deflection. Making the lap joints was SO EASY with the digital height control it felt like cheating.
If you're thinking about it, get one, you won't regret it.
