Getting into Festool

[blappy]

Thanks everyone for the advice.  It's been very illuminating.

A couple of responses.  My "shop" is 2 car garage in US.  Have a crappy mobile table saw (too embarrassed to say the name even on their forums), miter saw (ditto), Dewalt Router and Trim Router, Kreg Track Saw and Rigid shopvac with an HD cyclone like bucket pre vac.  My wife just put a bunch of stuff in one side of the garage (temporary storage for a redo of my son's room and bathroom) and now anything I had over there is stacked on top of my bench.

Before I say anything, I'm a poor craftsman (blaming tools etc).  The dust and what not created by the large scale tools is too much I was spending 20 - 40 minutes cleaning before tidying up after doing simple things, and to be honest the results of the work was not even miserable.  I took a class, and the festool dust extraction blew me away, also the precision of the track saw (vs the circ) without the explosion of dust from a table saw. The dust extraction I setup didn't work well (at all) with the kreg tracksaw but I got better results than I did from the table saw.  I saw some people who appear to be able to do what I want to do using the Festool ecosystem i.e. MFT, tracksaw, router, sander, Kapex, etc...  but not the larger equipment and I'm now targeting that for my shop.

I'd like to build some cabinets, and a desk, as well as some other kinds of things for around the house.  Not building for other people.

On the MFT side I want to build my own, I already have the parf guide and have done some preliminary tests with it.  I want to be able to break down full (local) sheets of plywood 4'x8' but I'm not good enough to control those sizes on a small space like an MFT and I want to use the space under it to store tools and what not.  So not wanting to buy the MFT rather build.

I really appreciate all of the advice, and I will definitely keep it all in mind as I make my way further into this rabbit hole.

 

[Ebuwan]

Like you said, the dust extraction is ridiculous.

I'm currently putting up trim work on a new build part of the house. I'm doing it all out of MDF; I went and bought 8 sheets of MDF at the local HD, ripped them down (rough) with track saw out in the driveway with the track saw, then i rip them to final dimension on the table saw (this could be done with track saw, just need to be more patient). It saved uber bucks doing it this way, as a full sheet of MDF is slightly more than ONE piece of already done MDF moldings (some of them).

I then have a setup, in living space, with the kapex, MFTs, Domino, and MFK 700 router. Cutting and routing MDF, in a living space, and its NO big deal. I didn't even have to hang up plastic sheets to segment off the space. Without festool dust extraction capabilities, id never go down the MDF road.

Using the 4mm domino for trim alignment is amazing; it does make it take longer, but you can tell such a hug difference vs not using them.

 

[Crazyraceguy]

I then have a setup, in living space, with the kapex, MFTs, Domino, and MFK 700 router. Cutting and routing MDF, in a living space, and its NO big deal. I didn't even have to hang up plastic sheets to segment off the space. Without festool dust extraction capabilities, id never go down the MDF road.

Yes, this is why so many pros (installers) use the Festool system. Making a mess in a commercial building or someone's home is no good. Even on job-sites where you can, it still saves you a bunch of time.
You also have the Systainer aspect, which saves time and potential loss/damage to the tools too.
One of the coolest little things along that line is the drill dust fitting thing. It goes on the end of the extractor hose, sucks to the wall (when you turn it on) and drill through it. You can drill/insert wall anchors, Molly bolts, etc (up to 1/2" or so) with 100% extraction, no mess at all.

 

[squall_line]

One of the coolest little things along that line is the drill dust fitting thing. It goes on the end of the extractor hose, sucks to the wall (when you turn it on) and drill through it. You can drill/insert wall anchors, Molly bolts, etc (up to 1/2" or so) with 100% extraction, no mess at all.

It's amazing how one might think that this would improve the WAF (wife approval factor) on such a purchase, but my wife's reaction was middling at best when I used that thing to drill some anchors in our son's room without moving any furniture or having much cleanup to do when I was done.  I was impressed, at least.

 

[Ebuwan]

One of the coolest little things along that line is the drill dust fitting thing. It goes on the end of the extractor hose, sucks to the wall (when you turn it on) and drill through it. You can drill/insert wall anchors, Molly bolts, etc (up to 1/2" or so) with 100% extraction, no mess at all.

It's amazing how one might think that this would improve the WAF (wife approval factor) on such a purchase, but my wife's reaction was middling at best when I used that thing to drill some anchors in our son's room without moving any furniture or having much cleanup to do when I was done.  I was impressed, at least.

This is because the moving of furniture and cleanup would be YOUR problem, not her problem. This saved her zero of her time  [wink]

Other cool gadget like that I just used for the first time was the CT Wings, pretty sweet when hanging molding by yourself.

 

[Crazyraceguy]

One of the coolest little things along that line is the drill dust fitting thing. It goes on the end of the extractor hose, sucks to the wall (when you turn it on) and drill through it. You can drill/insert wall anchors, Molly bolts, etc (up to 1/2" or so) with 100% extraction, no mess at all.

It's amazing how one might think that this would improve the WAF (wife approval factor) on such a purchase, but my wife's reaction was middling at best when I used that thing to drill some anchors in our son's room without moving any furniture or having much cleanup to do when I was done.  I was impressed, at least.

This is because the moving of furniture and cleanup would be YOUR problem, not her problem. This saved her zero of her time  [wink]

Other cool gadget like that I just used for the first time was the CT Wings, pretty sweet when hanging molding by yourself.

That's one of those things I just don't think about when ordering stuff. They look handy.

I used the drilling thing in my boss' office for the first time, he was impressed, didn't know they existed.
I would like to see one for bigger holes though. I think someone else has one....Bosch maybe?

 

[Michael Kellough]

Bosch

They also have a larger one that goes from 1-1/2” to 5”.