Greetings from Germany

[MikeGE]

I'm a DoD civilian stationed in Germany and will retire from federal service at the end of this month.  I'm staying in Germany and have been building and outfitting my basement shop for my post-retirement hobby.

While not new to woodworking, I am absolutely new to Festool, and so far I love the products.  My first purchase was the Domino XL DF 700 two weeks ago for a large framing project, and I loved it so much that I bought the Domino 500 for my upcoming smaller projects.  The dealer in Mannheim gave me a generous discount, so I started buying more tools.  I'm waiting on my last (maybe) two tools to arrive on Monday or Tuesday, and that will cap my two-week binge buying spree.

I look forward to learning more about the care and feeding of Festool tools

Mike

 

[jjowen]

Vielen Grüßen!

I am an Aussie who lived in Neckargemund (bit past Heidelberg) many years ago. I was too young for Festool (Festo?) then.

So you decided to remain in Germany just for the Festool, oh, and the great Christmases they do there? I can understand that.

Regards,
Jeremy

P.S. There is no such thing as a last Festool. There are always more...

 

[sancho57]

[welcome] to the FOG.

Looks like you started drinking the green kool aid. You are doomed  [big grin]

Being in Germany is awesome we really enjoyed it there. The festool factory is near Stuttgart. Maybe you an get a factory tour.

Also there is a Festooler that used to frequent here and has a magazine (Holtzwerker) and is a book author named Guido Henn. I  have some converations with Guido and he has woodworking classes. If your interested get in touch with him and maybe take one of his classes.

I wish I had the time to do that when i was there.

 

[Gregor]

Welcome.

 

[grobkuschelig]

Welcome to the FOG.
I’m just a little north of Frankfurt...

As the others have said, you entered a never ending story with those joyful tools..

 

[six-point socket II]

Welcome!

I'm from the greater area around Duesseldorf.

Kind regards,
Oliver

 

[peter halle]

Hi Mike!  Welcome to the forum!  We have a huge member base here - but more importantly a large helpful group of guys and gals who use the tools and the majority of them got help when they can here just like you are now.  We aren't a perfect family here but as a Moderator here for now going on ten years I can tell you that those who got help long ago like to pass that on!  You will get good advice - and it might not even be what you would expect on a Festool owned forum.

Can't wait to see what you make first!

Peter - Moderator

 

[MikeGE]

Thanks, everyone!  To those who say my Festool buying days are not over, my wife can assure you they more than likely are.  [big grin]  For now, I can't think of anything else I need or want for my small shop. 

 

[MikeGE]

Welcome!

I'm from the greater area around Duesseldorf.

Welcome to the FOG.
I’m just a little north of Frankfurt...

I'm in a small town a little south of Darmstadt on the Rhein.

 

[Jiggy Joiner]

Hi and welcome Mike  [thumbs up]

 

[Gregor]

Thanks, everyone!  To those who say my Festool buying days are not over, my wife can assure you they more than likely are.  [big grin]  For now, I can't think of anything else I need or want for my small shop.

A TKS (SawStop)? She certainly likes your gentle hands and wants you to keep them, dosn't she?

 

[MikeGE]

A TKS (SawStop)? She certainly likes your gentle hands and wants you to keep them, dosn't she?

I have never seen a SawStop, or any other cabinet saw, in a home or commercial shop here.  I think my gentle hands will be fine with my Minimax SC2 Classic.  It was a challenge to get it from the garage to the basement, but I did it.  This is a picture of the shop as I was building it, but the saw is in place and properly commissioned by the SCM technician.


MM-SC2-8 by Mike66GE, on Flickr

 

[Gregor]

That is nice, I envy you.

 

[MikeGE]

Thank you, Gregor.  I originally wanted the Hammer K3 Basic, but the distributor quoted a minimum availability time of 120 days and I had to arrange for shipping, unloading, and commissioning.  The SCM distributor in Mannheim had this saw on display and delivered it to my garage the next week.  Assembly and commissioning was included in the base price of the saw.

I made arrangements with the distributor to disassemble the saw more than normal so I could move it to my basement when the renovation was done.  Unfortunately, I had to disassemble the saw even more so it could be maneuvered down the stairs safely.  In addition to the cast iron table, the saw has a 100kg concrete counterweight to compensate for the slider and outrigger.

I reassembled it to its original delivery condition, and the SCM tech completed the assembly.  Although I didn't tell him I had disassembled the saw more than he did, he knew immediately that someone had because the wiring harness was in better condition (neater) than it was when it left the factory in Italy.

Here's a picture of the saw base disassembled further to its three components ready for movement to the basement.  Two people can easily move each component down the stairs, but I used a chain hoist and tiered base setup to move the counterweight and cast iron table down the steps.



With the chassis in place, I'm lowering the concrete counterweight into the chassis.



The counterweight is secured in place.



Now the cast iron table with saw motors is lowered into place.



Everything assembled as delivered and waiting on the SCM tech to arrive.  The additional components are behind the saw on the right against the wall.

 

[imdking]

Very nice equipment. Hope you're enjoying the shop. Any updates of what else you've got down there?

 

[MikeGE]

Thanks! 

Here is an image the shop as it looks now from the doorway, but it is still a work in progress.  I am nearly finished with my miter saw workstation, which is derivative of the Jay Bates workstation.  I bought his plans, then converted them to metric and adjusted the sizes to fit in my shop.  I have to add the trim pieces to the exposed plywood edges, add the T-track on the left side, and make a dust shield for the miter saw.  I also have to finish the hand tool storage above the workbench.

I removed the overhead boom arm/blade guard on the saw and am using the standard blade guard.  The boom arm was more of a hinderance when moving around the close quarters.  I also removed some of the dust extraction ducting above the miter saw workstation so I could build another layer of shelves for the Festool cases.  As you can see, not everything fits and I have a couple other cases stored where there is room.  I also added a Record Power AC400 room air filter above the Minimax saw.

Some of the equipment not shown, or not shown clearly, in this image are the Record Power BS-350 bandsaw, Incra router table, Jet JBOS-5 spindle sander, Holzmann HOB 260-NL jointer/planer, and more Festool equipment.

 

[six-point socket II]

That's a great workshop!

Kind regards,
Oliver

 

[MikeGE]

Thanks, Oliver!  Jeremy and the others were correct...there is no last Festool purchase.  Except for a couple of cordless tools, I have replaced all of my Bosch blue tools with Festool...and then some.

 

[Gregor]

Very nice shop.

 

[TSO_Products]

[member=70363]MikeGE[/member] - Herzlich willkommen hier bei FOG !
the pictures of your shop and your impressive rigging skills show what can be done in a small space. Wo der Wille ist da ist auch ein Weg!

Your hoisting frame looks like it would make a good start on building a Trebuchet - stout, for sure.

What woodworking build projects are on your list?

Hans