Hello from a new Festool customer and fan

[KolinP]

Hello FOG folks,

I'm called Colin in spite of my 'KolinP' user name. (It's a long story, and I want to keep this brief ... but I've used KolinP for years on many photography-related Forums.)

I'm now busily retired after two long and satisfying careers, firstly in electronics and later in computer networks, with just a little bit of D.I.Y. here and there. I've got the time and motivation at last to tidy and to upgrade my ragged old tool-kit, and the drawer-based Systainers / Sortainers are a dream come true. I doubt I'll be able to resist buying at least one more SYS 4 TL-SORT-3.

My Dad was a carpenter and he taught me the merits of investing in "only the best quality" tools, so I'm finding it supremely easy to justify the cost of my new Festool tools so far. OK, I won't be giving them heavy use in any professional context, but they'll serve me well for many years - and I've told my son that he'll probably inherit one or more of them when I go  [smile]

I've only known about Festool for less than a year, and yes, I know there are competing brands for almost every tool-type, but I'm already a Festool evangelist!  I bet I'm not the only new tool buyer to have noticed the positive "Festool vibe" popping readily into conversations with others in the hardware shops and tool suppliers that we've visited recently!  A sort of "self-perpetuating feel-good" about the tools we're buying, and there's no better type of marketing in my humble opinion. Well done Festool!!

That's enough blurb about me. I'll get back to skulking the threads here and absorbing more of this Festool culture (which amazingly seems to be spanning the globe!)

Colin P.

 

[GarryMartin]

[welcome]

Hi Colin, and welcome to the FOG! There are a surprising number of IT folks that are Festool fans too.

Don't forget to pop by the UK and Southern Ireland Members introduction page and say hello there too - it's where we try to keep track of everyone in, well, the UK and Southern Ireland! The link is in my signature below.

 

[peter halle]

Hi Colin!  Another  [welcome] to the FOG!

If Seth or I can be of help just let us know!

Peter

 

[KolinP]

Thank you Garry and thank you Peter.

(By the way, since I retired, my body-clock has drifted to what it thinks is its natural state - equivalent to somewhere in the US! So I work late, then sleep late, and hence I 'post' at odd times for a UK resident. One of the many 'privileges' of retirement, eh?!)

Colin P.

 

[sancho57]

Welcome Colin,

Where ya located?

 

[Kev]

[welcome]

Enjoy your time here [wink]

 

[dltflt]

Welcome to FOG Colin. This is a great place to learn.

 

[jacko9]

Welcome Colin,

Take some time and try to decide what kind of projects you might want to take on or items that you might like to fabricate.  Festool has a large varied line of products for example in the sander line some sander are great at finishing fine wood projects and others can hog off wood like a beaver.  Whatever tools you wind up procuring, a Dust Extractor is central to a clean shop environment and aids in the tool usage by keeping the cutting edges cool and unclogged.

Jack

 

[KolinP]

Thanks guys.

[member=10147]jobsworth[/member] ... Hi jobsworth. I'm in the seaside town called Weston-super-Mare in Somerset UK

[member=13058]Kev[/member] ... Thank you Kev. (Isn't the world a small place nowadays  [smile] )

[member=2912]Don T[/member] ... Thank you Don. I've already learnt a lot about what I didn't know I didn't know!!

Colin P.

 

[KolinP]

Hello Jack, and thank you.

(....) a Dust Extractor is central to a clean shop environment and aids in the tool usage by keeping the cutting edges cool and unclogged.
Jack

Ah! Coincidentally, I'm struggling with exactly that dust collection issue already!!!  This new PSC 420 Jigsaw I bought is the first jigsaw I've owned (or operated) for about 15 years, and although I've used my PSC 420 a couple of times already, I agree that my health and my workspace will really really benefit from some type of dust extraction scheme!

Due to very limited 'workshop' space in my humble home here, plus the fact that I've got a still-happily-humming Rowenta Wet/Dry vacuum cleaner (though I admit it's now a rather 'mature' vacuum cleaner) - this ol' Rowenta could easily cope with an occasional heavy ingestion of sawdust.  So I've been experimenting with an adapted water hose ...

I've got a superb, nearly-new, flexible, 3-cm diameter by 3-metre long washing machine hose (designed to be used with water of course). But one end of that hose fits neatly and securely onto the 420 jigsaw's extraction adapter, and I've been able to adapt the other end to fit snugly into the air intake on the Rowenta.

Perfect! No leaks. Secure. Low cost. Just the job ... Or so I thought.

I attached the jigsaw, the hose and the Rowenta together and turned on the Rowenta ...

... WOW!! I had not yet fitted my ear-protectors, and the powerful air-flow into the Rowenta caused the hose to HOWL so loudly that I almost panicked. In fact, the hose howled like a siren from both ends, and it wasn't even a 'simple' howl, because the pitch (the musical note) ramped up in steps as the Rowenta motor approached its operating speed! It sounded like a cat on the keyboard of some Cathedral's pipe organ.  Or ... like a pair of variable-pitch vuvuzelas.

So ... this is not (yet) the "perfect" dust extraction solution I'd hoped it would be.

It's clear in hindsight that this washing-machine hose, having been designed to move water at low pressure rather than air at fairly high pressure, plus its stepped-diameter, wide/narrow/wide 'interface' construction (in other words, I do not mean the ribbing which runs the full length of the hose), is giving a beautiful demonstration of the venturi effect - and it's doing this simultaneously at each end of the hose!

Sadly this ol' Rowenta vacuum cleaner runs only at one speed (full-pelt), so I suppose I could try experimenting by opening a couple of strategic 'leaks' into the hose arrangement to reduce the overall air-flow below the 'venturi' threshold?  But I've a feeling that this would simply shift the howl to another part of the 'keyboard'!

I haven't yet searched this Forum in depth to learn how others have adapted their non-Festool-native dust-extraction schemes, but I have seen some references to them ... so that might bear some fruit, and save me some wasted time & effort.

You'll guess that I'm trying (for the moment) to avoid paying the high cost for the matching Festool Suction hose (code 452877) for my PSC 420, because - even though the Festool hose would not suffer these vuvuzela / venturi problems - that expensive hose would also need to be adapted to fit my Rowenta.  And (excuse me thinking aloud here ...) I simply can't (yet!) justify the cost of one of the otherwise hugely appealing Festool 'CT' machines - for example, that Cleantex CT 26 E would be a very very good substitute for this ol' Rowenta!!!

Ah well!!  I'll keep experimenting, and for now I will run my jigsaw outside in the breezy fresh air ... [tongue]

Colin P.

 

[jacko9]

Colin,

Interesting and somewhat amusing story about your dust collection experience.  Keep in mind that most Festool dealers offer package deal on the Dust Extractors when purchasing one of the Festool tools like your jig saw.

Jack

 

[KolinP]

Thank you Jack,

I'd spotted that potential saving already, but - for the foreseeable future - I don't anticipate doing any larger-scale work which would justify my buying one of those excellent circular saws, or even a sander, and I don't have room for anything larger or bench-based.

But I'll keep a finger on the Festool pulse  [smile]

Colin P.

 

[jacko9]

Colin,

I'm not sure if you have seen or used the Domino Joiner yet but, that was the first tool I bought from Festool back in 2007 and it was suggested that I buy the Dust Extractor at that time and I've never regretted that decision.

Good luck and I'm looking forward to seeing some of your projects posted here on the FOG.

Jack