Gravitating to LifeLong tools... and some to be bought in Germany.

[SittingElf]

@SittingElf,
Just getting back to the 'vacuum head'. I remember seeing these being demonstrated at a Festool stand. I never bought one, but I distinctly remember that 'if' I did- I would definitely get two heads. One head was definitely sufficient for say scalloping a chair seat, but once you get into anything longer, the one head can be quickly overwhelmed.
Make sense? I just thought seeing as you have to import from Germany, you may as well get two heads. The system is designed to run the two heads from the one pump, etc.... I remember I was amazed at the functionality of the one head.... But seriously blown-away at what could be accomplished with the two heads working in parallel...
Just a thought.... Depends of course on your project...

Yup!  Way ahead of you.  I bought the second head as part of the purchase, along with the multi-attachment accessory kit. Four Systainers involved! [big grin].  The nice thing is that the single vacuum motor operates both together.

I also purchased the flipping base plates for use on a MFT/3.  They allow for the heads to be stored under the table and rotated to the top when in use. Overpriced, but functional.[unsure]

 

[SittingElf]

With three weeks left before I have to take another hiatus from the house and go back to Nigeria for my six-week work tour, I have accomplished quite a lot for the shop.

My Grizzly 19" bandsaw left last night to a new home and owner. The buyer drove three hours down to the house with a smallish SUV to buy it. I was really not sure we could get the monster in it, but after removing the cast iron table, and both wheels, it was a manageable weight, and with his back seats folded down, we got it into his vehicle with with less than 1/2" to spare!  Bye bye my old friend. [sad]

My 14" Griz floor Drill Press also found a new home last night, leaving with it's new owner who is a NASA engineer here on the Space Coast.

Lots of Ryobi tools were traded with my Lawn Service in lieu of a couple of months of bills. ( I did keep a couple of favorites that don't have competitors made by anyone else).

Had 15 calls from my Craiglist ad on my Griz GO490 8" Jointer.  Holding for a guy who is coming in a couple of days from Jacksonville to purchase. If he bails, I have 14 backup buyers!!  Still have to find homes for my Delta 13" Planer, a Griz 1.5 HP Dust Collector, two maple-top work tables (The Sam's Club $199.00 tables), a couple of new, unused routers that have been in my cabinets forever (Bosch 1617EVSPK  plunge and Hitachi KM12VC Plunge kits.), Porter Cable Sanders of various flavors, and some fancy pansy Harbor Freight Central machines! [big grin] Also need to sell my Bosch 10" Compound Miter Saw that sits on a Delta Universal Portability stand. Kapex in my future! All the greenbacks coming in payment for the various smalls are going directly to TOOLNUT...."Green for GREEN"  [tongue]

Laguna called yesterday and let me know that my new LT20 Italian bandsaw has arrived from Europe and will ship tomorrow along with the 14X14 SUV bandsaw together. Busy week coming up getting those together! ( And I get to Gloat at Mr. "Ice Hockey" Paul Marcel. He only has an LT18.... "mine is bigger than yours is... nyah nyah nyah" !!!  [poke])

Settled on an Electrical Contractor who will be installing a 100amp subpanel, eight 220V outlets, four of which will be ceiling drops, and fifteen 110V outlets along the walls. He will also make provisions for the 220V split AC/Heat/DH system I will install before next summer.

Somewhat disappointed by a cockup at JDS Tools. They were supposed to hold a 3HP Cyclone off the ship for me, but their receiving guy set aside a 2HP by mistake, and the 3HP's were quickly gone. Mega apologies ensued, and I'll take the DC now in December after their November shipment. (Also getting their HP air filtration system together with the DC).  Felder states that my new Hammer A3 41 has left Austria and will be on time for early December delivery. 

I've settled on the new Laguna 24-36 REVO lathe with its 3HP DC motor, and I'll also purchase their 6" Pro Belt sander to be delivered at the same time during my next "housesitting" in December.

Purchased a Porter Cable 8", variable speed bench grinder after reading great reviews. I'll remove the stock wheels and will be purchasing two CBN wheels...an 80 grit from D-Way Tools, and a 180 grit Austrian-made Raptor wheel. (If you've never heard of CBN wheels...google it!).  Purchased 10 4X8 sheets of 3/4" R5.0 insulation foamboard to insulate my garage doors. Will double stack them up to 1 1/2" to fit the door recesses and give an effective R10 rating while also providing significant sound mitigation when the doors are closed. (Gotta at least "try" to be a good neighbor! [embarassed])

I got a good deal on a barely used LS130 with five different plates. Next up, RO90 and 150, as well as a Grex 23Gauge pin nailer (Also "green"), coupled with a Rollair JC-10 Compressor. As soon as I have some MFT tables in the shop, I'll be shipping my Festool Vacu-Clamp system back to the States. The system lives in four systainers plus three additional boxes with the under-table flip bases and a 2nd round head. Won't be cheap, even using the military postal system....sigh.  Absolutely LOVING my new cordless 18V PSC420. I hope you guys in NA get that one available to you soon! Got onto a special for an eight piece Bormax Forstner Bit set from FAMAG in Germany that included a 5-liter barrel of quality German Beer!  Saving that for New Years!! ....or not! [drooling]

Well... pics of progress to follow soon. Thanks for following along, and for the suggestions that many of you have made. They continue to help my decision making!! [big grin]

 

[NYC Tiny Shop]

This was great reading. Did you get the vacumm clamp set up, yet! If so, are you using it as much as you thought you might?  Does it work as well as the videos?  Would you recommend it?  Thanks. I was thinking of going this same route.

 

[SittingElf]

This was great reading. Did you get the vacumm clamp set up, yet! If so, are you using it as much as you thought you might?  Does it work as well as the videos?  Would you recommend it?  Thanks. I was thinking of going this same route.

I've only done initial testing because it's still in my house in Germany.  I will be shipping it back to my florida shop in late November to marry up with a new MFT/3. Then the testing can begin in earnest.  Stay tuned.

In the meantime, the system test I did in Germany was flawless for operation.

 

[SittingElf]

WIth a week and a half left before heading back to Germany for a few days with my wife and son, and then back to Nigeria for six-weeks (Ugh!), I'm making some progress in the shop.

Got the Grizzly Jointer, Delta Planer, Grizzly Drill Press, Bosch Compound Miter Saw, the Grizzly 1.5HP Dust Collector, and a number of other smalls SOLD and out of the shop.  Wow... it looked somewhat bare! [eek]  The funds from the sales, as well as the Festool NAINA Swag that I brought back from Germany helped in some new purchases that are now starting to backfil the shop with tools and machines that will meet my "Lifelong" goals. [big grin]

First serious U.S. purchase of Festool items has been an ETS125 primarily to get the discount on a CT36 with it through ToolNut (Festoolproducts.com). Wanted a Festool DE in the shop ASAP, so this made sense.  I also ordered a Rolair JC10 Compressor and Grex P650L 23Gauge Pin Nailer from ToolNut.
(Hey, C'mon... the Rolair and the Grex ARE "green"...just saying... [tongue]).  
Bessey Revo Clamps came in on the Amazon special, along with some other smalls from various sources.

Yesterday though began the "serious" deliveries. [scared]

Big Liftgate truck pulled up to the driveway and delivered these:

Boxed Laguna 14X14 SUV Bandsaw
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Boxed Laguna Italian LT20 Bandsaw
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Initial Opening of LT20, checking for parts and damage.
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Ran out of time for the day, so couldn't complete the setups, and it's also going to cost me a number of Yuenling Black and Tan beers to coerce a few neighbors to help me get these off their pallets, and especially to help mount the massive Baldor 6HP motor on the LT20!  [unsure]

Delivery was scheduled for my new Delta 18-900L Drill press for next Wednesday, because the delivery company won't have a liftgate available until then. More updates as the shop progresses! [big grin]

Finished off the day by standing in my driveway with my neighbor, having a beer.... and enjoying this:

Sunset from the driveway:
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Cheers,

Frank

 

[NYC Tiny Shop]

Beautiful sky! I love my little ETS 125...you're getting all the good stuff...JC10, Laguna...Toolnuts is great, isn't it? I guess you'll get the vacumm clamp in Germany.  Please let me know how you like it. What did you end up doing with your garage doors?

 

[Papajoe]

hi, i'm getting ready to setup my new sawstop ics, and have been considering the incra fence also. the sawstop users seems to say the ics fence is great, and much more stable and h.d. than the incra? I have never been able to see an incra at any dealers, even they though they sell them. by reading these threads, I have noticed allot in backgrounds of photos; re Gregory P. (a festool trainer) has a sawstop industrial in the center of his shop, with a sawstop "heavy" fence; but in 2010 he had a incra ts fence on a table saw; i wonder why he went away from incra? in your setup with the sawstop table as an out feed table, i assume you put a router table in place of it? please enlighten me on the subject, i have the ics 5hp 220v with a 52" rail, but not a router table as of yet but i do have 2 new festool of routers (not opened) and 1 pc7518 not opened. you has obviously researched the "right tool" requirements very well, and light you can shed is appreciated.
papajoe

 

[amt]

Sounds like a lot of fun.  Any reason for the Bosch over a Kapex?  FWIW, I am not trying to persuade you to the Kapex; I have not yet made a decision and am wondering how others arrived at their decision. 

 

[SittingElf]

hi, i'm getting ready to setup my new sawstop ics, and have been considering the incra fence also. the sawstop users seems to say the ics fence is great, and much more stable and h.d. than the incra? I have never been able to see an incra at any dealers, even they though they sell them. by reading these threads, I have noticed allot in backgrounds of photos; re Gregory P. (a festool trainer) has a sawstop industrial in the center of his shop, with a sawstop "heavy" fence; but in 2010 he had a incra ts fence on a table saw; i wonder why he went away from incra? in your setup with the sawstop table as an out feed table, i assume you put a router table in place of it? please enlighten me on the subject, i have the ics 5hp 220v with a 52" rail, but not a router table as of yet but i do have 2 new festool of routers (not opened) and 1 pc7518 not opened. you has obviously researched the "right tool" requirements very well, and light you can shed is appreciated.
papajoe

Sorry for the delayed response.  I got pressured for time while trying to finish up some last minute needs before going back to Germany.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with the SawStop fence system. Very stable and accurate for a Bismeyer style fence, but it IS a hand driven fence only. The Incra allows for micro adjustments and repeatability and is incredibly accurate. Additionally, the Incra includes a plethora of templates for various functions, while allowing 1/1000" adjustments via a wheel vs hand adjusting.  I did install the Incra router table extension on my PCS. It was a very easy install, as were the Incra rails. I put a Jessum Mast'R lift in the table and coupled it with a Porter Cable 7518 router that has been excellent. The Incra fence on my saw includes the "WonderFence", used for the router, and has built in dust collection. Incra has also recently introduced an under-table dust collection system that vastly improves dust collection for the router tables.

I will be replacing my PCS with the saw that you own.(ICS 5HP). My intent is to use the extension table as an outfeed table instead of its intended purpose. I'll route out indents for Incra T-Track rails in the table extension. I will be breaking down sheetgoods with a TS55REQ rather than the tablesaw, so I don't need the extra length as I do now.  I will be buying and using a dedicated Incra Router Table separate from the saw with an additional Incra Wonder Fence, and will still install a TS Incra fence on the Tablesaw. (So two Incra fence systems in the shop).  This is more for convenience than for efficiency. 

If you want to trick out your tablesaw additionally, I'd take a look at Paul Marcel's SawStop Pimp job YouTube video. (HalfInchShy channel on YouTube). I will be doing much the same mods for dust control on my new one.

The Porter Cable 7518 is an absolutely fantastic router for under table use, and because I am an Incra fanatic, I won't be using the Festool CMS router table system. Festool routers won't fit in the Jessum or Incra lifts, so the PC is perfect for that use. (I will be buying the Festool routers for other uses though)

Good luck with YOUR setup!

 

[Peter Durand]

hi, i'm getting ready to setup my new sawstop ics, and have been considering the incra fence also. the sawstop users seems to say the ics fence is great, and much more stable and h.d. than the incra? I have never been able to see an incra at any dealers, even they though they sell them. by reading these threads, I have noticed allot in backgrounds of photos; re Gregory P. (a festool trainer) has a sawstop industrial in the center of his shop, with a sawstop "heavy" fence; but in 2010 he had a incra ts fence on a table saw; i wonder why he went away from incra? in your setup with the sawstop table as an out feed table, i assume you put a router table in place of it? please enlighten me on the subject, i have the ics 5hp 220v with a 52" rail, but not a router table as of yet but i do have 2 new festool of routers (not opened) and 1 pc7518 not opened. you has obviously researched the "right tool" requirements very well, and light you can shed is appreciated.
papajoe

Sorry for the delayed response.  I got pressured for time while trying to finish up some last minute needs before going back to Germany.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with the SawStop fence system. Very stable and accurate for a Bismeyer style fence, but it IS a hand driven fence only. The Incra allows for micro adjustments and repeatability and is incredibly accurate. Additionally, the Incra includes a plethora of templates for various functions, while allowing 1/1000" adjustments via a wheel vs hand adjusting.  I did install the Incra router table extension on my PCS. It was a very easy install, as were the Incra rails. I put a Jessum Mast'R lift in the table and coupled it with a Porter Cable 7518 router that has been excellent. The Incra fence on my saw includes the "WonderFence", used for the router, and has built in dust collection. Incra has also recently introduced an under-table dust collection system that vastly improves dust collection for the router tables.

I will be replacing my PCS with the saw that you own.(ICS 5HP). My intent is to use the extension table as an outfeed table instead of its intended purpose. I'll route out indents for Incra T-Track rails in the table extension. I will be breaking down sheetgoods with a TS55REQ rather than the tablesaw, so I don't need the extra length as I do now.  I will be buying and using a dedicated Incra Router Table separate from the saw with an additional Incra Wonder Fence, and will still install a TS Incra fence on the Tablesaw. (So two Incra fence systems in the shop).  This is more for convenience than for efficiency. 

If you want to trick out your tablesaw additionally, I'd take a look at Paul Marcel's SawStop Pimp job YouTube video. (HalfInchShy channel on YouTube). I will be doing much the same mods for dust control on my new one.

The Porter Cable 7518 is an absolutely fantastic router for under table use, and because I am an Incra fanatic, I won't be using the Festool CMS router table system. Festool routers won't fit in the Jessum or Incra lifts, so the PC is perfect for that use. (I will be buying the Festool routers for other uses though)

Good luck with YOUR setup!

You mentioned you are buying a separate router table. I got tired of the eventual sag that happens with wood based tops. Finally General has come out with a cast iron top. They sell the table and fence to go along with it if desired. I opted for the top only and secured it my existing cabinet..it has good dust control for both the Incra fence and the cavity for the PC router.

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