New Festool For School

[lewisc]

Hi all, First post here. Looking forward to learning more. I've used Festool tools when doing my teacher training at Uni but haven't been able to delve into the world of Festool for my own classroom...until recently. It took me a few months of convincing (nagging) my Head of Department to let me get some new tools and walked away with two CT36's, two ETS 150/5's and a Domino 500. The sanders and extractors have been a dream to work with and I've even been able to connect the biscuit cutter to the extractor for dust free cutting.

The domino had been on my wish list for a while and I'm very happy I got one. I'm still working out its potential but there have been a few projects it's has worked really well for so far. One of the projects we do is a clock. One student was making a hexagon shape and we were discussing options for joining the timber together and there was a brief lightbulb moment and I realised we could use the small dominos to add some extra strength and align it perfectly. It worked really well.

My test project was a small shaker table. The board alignment was excellent (I can't justify using the domino for widening joins though, biscuits are cheaper) and it was a fairly simple process of cutting the legs and rails. Another student used the domino for a shoe rack bench - again it worked perfectly - apart from a few user errors we were really happy with the way it turned out.

Anyway, thanks for reading. I'm excited to find out more about how to use these tools more.

 

[Kev]

Both  [welcome] and congratulations  [thumbs up]  on some early projects.

 

[HarveyWildes]

Hi all, First post here. Looking forward to learning more. I've used Festool tools when doing my teacher training at Uni but haven't been able to delve into the world of Festool for my own classroom...until recently. It took me a few months of convincing (nagging) my Head of Department to let me get some new tools and walked away with two CT36's, two ETS 150/5's and a Domino 500. The sanders and extractors have been a dream to work with and I've even been able to connect the biscuit cutter to the extractor for dust free cutting.

The domino had been on my wish list for a while and I'm very happy I got one. I'm still working out its potential but there have been a few projects it's has worked really well for so far. One of the projects we do is a clock. One student was making a hexagon shape and we were discussing options for joining the timber together and there was a brief lightbulb moment and I realised we could use the small dominos to add some extra strength and align it perfectly. It worked really well.

My test project was a small shaker table. The board alignment was excellent (I can't justify using the domino for widening joins though, biscuits are cheaper) and it was a fairly simple process of cutting the legs and rails. Another student used the domino for a shoe rack bench - again it worked perfectly - apart from a few user errors we were really happy with the way it turned out.

Anyway, thanks for reading. I'm excited to find out more about how to use these tools more.

First of all, it's great that you were able to convince the HoD - he should be congratulated for his good judgement in listening to you .  The tools you bought are the ones I have, so I agree that you got the right package.

Second, consider making your own dominos.  I've made a bunch, mostly wider sizes that Festool doesn't make, but some standard sizes as well.  You may find that you can use scraps.  I've used #2 cherry mostly.  It's not too hard to sneak up on the right thickness and width, but you do want a nice tight fit comparable to the Festool dominos.  I used a V bit to add some glue relief.  For me, it's a wash price-wise whether to buy or build the Festool dominos, so I've decided not to make the sizes that I can buy again unless I want some particular wood species.  The price dynamics might be different for you, especially with student labour.  Do consider safe setups.  If you make dominos in long strips and then cut them to length, as I did, you'll have to put some thought into cutting the last couple of pieces safely.

 

[semenza]

Hi,

  Welcome to the forum!

      Good call on the sanders and CTs if only for dust inhalation safety in the class room setting.

Seth

 

[lewisc]

Thanks 

Good call on the sanders and CTs if only for dust inhalation safety in the class room setting.

Remembering to connect everything has been a tricky process for a few of the students. They have sometimes forgotten to connect the hose and end up with dust everywhere.  Apart from that, they have the best dust extraction I've used.

Second, consider making your own dominos. 

I've looked at a few videos and read a few forum posts on this. The problem I find with it is time. For some projects, I buy rough sawn timber for the senior students. It's a big job dressing it for them to use. I mostly buy timber that is already dressed to save time. I can see the same sort of thing with the dominos. I bought the box with the variety of dominos so I'll see which ones we use the most of. I'll probably just buy them - depending on how many we might use and if we need to come up with a wider one.

 

[copcarcollector]

[welcome] to the FOG

Glad to see there is still some hands on woodshop in a school somewhere-----  [smile]

 

[semenza]

Thanks 

Good call on the sanders and CTs if only for dust inhalation safety in the class room setting.

Remembering to connect everything has been a tricky process for a few of the students. They have sometimes forgotten to connect the hose and end up with dust everywhere.  Apart from that, they have the best dust extraction I've used.

Second, consider making your own dominos. 

I've looked at a few videos and read a few forum posts on this. The problem I find with it is time. For some projects, I buy rough sawn timber for the senior students. It's a big job dressing it for them to use. I mostly buy timber that is already dressed to save time. I can see the same sort of thing with the dominos. I bought the box with the variety of dominos so I'll see which ones we use the most of. I'll probably just buy them - depending on how many we might use and if we need to come up with a wider one.

Aaah, here is one of the places that the ETS EC models would be good. They have a hose disconnected alarm.

Seth