New Festools & Questions
- Thread starter rodwolfy
- Start date
brandon.nickel
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- Jan 23, 2007
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- 241
Rod, when I made my initial purchase ($3000+) I cheaped out and bought the Universal Cleaning SetUniversal Cleaning Set. Now I really wish I'd followed Corwin's advice and gotten the nicer set with the AS hose. Not that the Universal set doesn't work, but it would be a lot nicer to be able to use the larger/longer hose with the tools without getting zapped. I only use my D27 hose on the woodworking, but I wish I could use the D36. The stainless steel tools versus plastic would be much nicer as well. As expensive as either set is, I'd say the Workshop Cleaning set is worth the extra money. I'm considering selling mine so that I can upgrade.
Brandon,
I have the cheaper set too. I agree 100% - all your points. The non-AS hose works well and I probably have 100-200 man-hours on the cleaning set. Overall, it's done a great job. But...
The extra quality and AS hose of the better quality set would be worth every penny. Spend lots of time running hose and it get's fuzzy. Hook it to your miter saw for an extended cutting session and you have some serious static!
Regards,
Dan.
I have the cheaper set too. I agree 100% - all your points. The non-AS hose works well and I probably have 100-200 man-hours on the cleaning set. Overall, it's done a great job. But...
The extra quality and AS hose of the better quality set would be worth every penny. Spend lots of time running hose and it get's fuzzy. Hook it to your miter saw for an extended cutting session and you have some serious static!
Regards,
Dan.
OK guys,
You all say to buy the extra quality hose. I take it you mean the Anti Static one. I saw several different ones. I get one with the vac, which will be connected to the boom arm. Some of you hook up a second hose with a "Y" connector, or do you just plug and play with whichever hose you need? Would this need a connector to go from 27mm to 36mm?
What I have always found with a vac hose, is get the longest one that I can. I saw that they have a D36x7M (#452886) which would fit the bill, but it doesn't come in the kit. Does Festool allow you to switch out the hoses and pay the differnece? Do you really think that the Aluminum Industrial Floor Nozzle is worth the extra money over the Plastic Tradesman Floor Nozzle which also includes the other nozzles? -
Do I need the Suction hose holder, SHR-CT/SR as someone mentioned in a different post?
AND, what about the router questions?
Thank you!
Rod
You all say to buy the extra quality hose. I take it you mean the Anti Static one. I saw several different ones. I get one with the vac, which will be connected to the boom arm. Some of you hook up a second hose with a "Y" connector, or do you just plug and play with whichever hose you need? Would this need a connector to go from 27mm to 36mm?
What I have always found with a vac hose, is get the longest one that I can. I saw that they have a D36x7M (#452886) which would fit the bill, but it doesn't come in the kit. Does Festool allow you to switch out the hoses and pay the differnece? Do you really think that the Aluminum Industrial Floor Nozzle is worth the extra money over the Plastic Tradesman Floor Nozzle which also includes the other nozzles? -
Do I need the Suction hose holder, SHR-CT/SR as someone mentioned in a different post?
AND, what about the router questions?
Thank you!
Rod
Brice Burrell
Member
- Joined
- Mar 13, 2007
- Messages
- 7,385
Rod, I have the "tradesmen/installer" cleaning set. It comes with the D36 AS hose, extension tubes, carpet nozzle, crevice nozzle, upholstery nozzle and suction brush. I really like this set because it has more attachments than the workshop set. Here is a link to my site, I did a short review for it there, Installer Cleaning Set.
Corwin
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- Jan 22, 2007
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- 2,624
rodwolfy said:
The Boom Arm comes with a shorter section of D50 hose, a connector and a short length of power cord. These items connect up with your equipment where the Arm's upper and lower tubing connect. Attach either a D27 or D36 hose as needed. I leave the D36 installed on the Boom Arm and add the D27 (attached temp from cord hooks with rubber bands) when I want to do some sanding.
The 'Y' is not needed unless you want to service two tools at once. Nor is a longer hose. If you add additional hose you would only defeat the purpose of the Boom Arm as the extra length would be, once again, on the floor. The Suction Hose Holder is rather pricey for what it is, and while not required, it does help some with or without the Boom Arm.
Oh, and I would have to say YES on if the better floor nozzle is worth it or not. If not for the kit, I would never have paid the price for the nozzle and tubes. And I probably would be going along quite happily in my ignorant bliss had I not ordered this kit. But I am glad I did. Not too expensive to add some of Festools plastic accessories as needed.
Corwin
Michael Kellough
Member
Eli said:
Don't forget that you can remove the entire (front) bracket in a few seconds, just unlock and slide it off the rail. With the stop nut in the rail you can put the bracket back on in exactly the right place in just a few seconds too.
Michael,
I hadn't thought of that. You're right. I was flipping the short guide rail up and then doing my rip cuts using the 55" going across the table. When you guys rip narrow stock and don't have a table saw handy, say 5" or less, can you do it with the TS55? Specifically, I'm going to be doing rails and styles at my parents house and my dad doesn't have a table saw. Can I use the guide rail to get two 2 1/4" rails out of a 1x6"? Or do you use the parallel guide along with the Panther blade?
Rod
I hadn't thought of that. You're right. I was flipping the short guide rail up and then doing my rip cuts using the 55" going across the table. When you guys rip narrow stock and don't have a table saw handy, say 5" or less, can you do it with the TS55? Specifically, I'm going to be doing rails and styles at my parents house and my dad doesn't have a table saw. Can I use the guide rail to get two 2 1/4" rails out of a 1x6"? Or do you use the parallel guide along with the Panther blade?
Rod
Dave Ronyak
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- Jan 23, 2007
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If you purchase a cleaning kit with the 36mm hose, you'll appreciate its larger size being less prone to clogging when routing. I bought the fancy cleaning kit with the SS wand, and and extra small round brush and crevice nozzle. The tools that come with a Fein Turbo II vacuum fit the Festool hoses perfectly - I use my Fein tools much of the time with my Festool CT 22 vacuum machine. I also purchased the Y-connector and the Boom Arm kit. With the Y-connector, I hook up two hoses to my router table - one to the base of the enclosure below the table and the other on top pulling chips off/through the fence. With a few turns of electricians vinyl tape on the tool end fitting of the 36mm hose, I can simply slip on the vacuum machine end of any of Festool hose, e.g. the 27mm hose supplied with my CT 22, and reach anywhere in my garage/shop without moving the vacuum, which I have hooked up through an Oneida Dust Deputy using Festool's 50mm hose supplied with the Boom Arm. Festool's 50mm A/S hose supplied with the Boom Arm is equipped at both of its ends with the same fitting that fits into Festool's (and Fein's) vacuum machines. I don't think Festool offers adapters to enable simple connection of the tool end fitting of their 36mm hose to the vacuum end fitting of any other Festool hose. I wish they would, especially since they indicate use of up to 22 feet of hose is acceptable.
Dave R>
Dave R>
Here's one with a few bonus ones linked to it about ripping thin stock.
http://festoolownersgroup.com/index.php?topic=666.0
http://festoolownersgroup.com/index.php?topic=666.0
Eli, Thanks for the link!
I looked at several ideas. One was from Clint Holeman and was a jig out of MDF, which I liked. Another jig I saw in the photos section was by Jesse Cloud. He just mounted a section of what looks like 1/8" angle iron ("L" shaped) and used it in the "T" tracks of the MFT. That was a great idea and one that I'm going to use for ripping other narrow pieces of stuff.
My other issue is if I use the Panther blade it would easily rip the pieces. But, the kerf is 2.5mm instead of 2.2mm and I didn't want to mess up my guide strip edge. It seems especially silly to buy a second guide rail to do solely rip cuts in conjunction with the Panther blade. But, that still gets me back to ripping an 8' board of Oak from Lowes down to 2 1/4". I don't want to use the guide rail with the Panther blade and mess up my 3000mm rubber strip. But it also seems dumb to not use the rip blade that I have on solid wood strips. So, do I need to be concerned about the power of the combo blade on an 8' rip of 3/4" oak or MDF?
I'm thinking that I could use the Panther blade and the parallel guide if I made an 8' long jig like Clint Stevens with "T" slots across the width like on John Stevens jig. I could put the piece to be ripped on the jig and rip it in place on the jig. Tell me if you think this would work:
Rod
I looked at several ideas. One was from Clint Holeman and was a jig out of MDF, which I liked. Another jig I saw in the photos section was by Jesse Cloud. He just mounted a section of what looks like 1/8" angle iron ("L" shaped) and used it in the "T" tracks of the MFT. That was a great idea and one that I'm going to use for ripping other narrow pieces of stuff.
My other issue is if I use the Panther blade it would easily rip the pieces. But, the kerf is 2.5mm instead of 2.2mm and I didn't want to mess up my guide strip edge. It seems especially silly to buy a second guide rail to do solely rip cuts in conjunction with the Panther blade. But, that still gets me back to ripping an 8' board of Oak from Lowes down to 2 1/4". I don't want to use the guide rail with the Panther blade and mess up my 3000mm rubber strip. But it also seems dumb to not use the rip blade that I have on solid wood strips. So, do I need to be concerned about the power of the combo blade on an 8' rip of 3/4" oak or MDF?
I'm thinking that I could use the Panther blade and the parallel guide if I made an 8' long jig like Clint Stevens with "T" slots across the width like on John Stevens jig. I could put the piece to be ripped on the jig and rip it in place on the jig. Tell me if you think this would work:
Rod
You should just use your regular blade. Maybe it's a good excuse to build yourself a jumbo MFT! That drawing looks like it'll work okay.
If you're doing rails and stiles though, you could just cut them to length first. Might be faster in the long run to dock the lengths and then rip them.
If you're doing rails and stiles though, you could just cut them to length first. Might be faster in the long run to dock the lengths and then rip them.
Dave Ronyak
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- Jan 23, 2007
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- 2,234
Rod,
You could also use Festool's 28 tooth GP blade. I have been using that blade for most of my cutting, both rips and crosscuts, in both solid hardwoods and birch plywood. Also a little pressure treated SYP 2X stock. No problems with good, clean cuts in any of these applications, and the kerf width is supposed to match that of the 48 tooth blade supplied with the TS 55. I say supposed to match because despite Festool's published specifications, when I installed the 28 tooth blade, and made my first cuts using the same guide rails, I noticed a slight amount of black rubber chips! But I have not observed any ill effects from switching between these two blades. I have a Panther blade, too, but have yet to use it. I probably will the next time I need to rip some 2X stock. I trimmed the edges of 3 oak framed doors using the 48 tooth blade - no problems but I did have to go a little slower than with the lower tooth count blades.
When I am making rails and stiles or other relatively short pieces and particularly if I am starting with rough sawn or poorly planed lumber that is not perfectly straight and flat, I prefer to cross cut longer boards to approximate length first, then rip them. This saves material compared to trying to create a straight edge over 8 ft or more when beginning with a bowed board. Besides, often when I rip a relatively narrow strip off a perfectly straight and flat wide board, that results in relieving counteracting tension in both pieces which end up being not straight after the rip cut. Which means a trip to the jointer and the planer, provided enough width/thickness is available in the off cut piece.
Hopefully the quality of the lumber you are obtaining is better than much of what I frequently get.
Dave R.
You could also use Festool's 28 tooth GP blade. I have been using that blade for most of my cutting, both rips and crosscuts, in both solid hardwoods and birch plywood. Also a little pressure treated SYP 2X stock. No problems with good, clean cuts in any of these applications, and the kerf width is supposed to match that of the 48 tooth blade supplied with the TS 55. I say supposed to match because despite Festool's published specifications, when I installed the 28 tooth blade, and made my first cuts using the same guide rails, I noticed a slight amount of black rubber chips! But I have not observed any ill effects from switching between these two blades. I have a Panther blade, too, but have yet to use it. I probably will the next time I need to rip some 2X stock. I trimmed the edges of 3 oak framed doors using the 48 tooth blade - no problems but I did have to go a little slower than with the lower tooth count blades.
When I am making rails and stiles or other relatively short pieces and particularly if I am starting with rough sawn or poorly planed lumber that is not perfectly straight and flat, I prefer to cross cut longer boards to approximate length first, then rip them. This saves material compared to trying to create a straight edge over 8 ft or more when beginning with a bowed board. Besides, often when I rip a relatively narrow strip off a perfectly straight and flat wide board, that results in relieving counteracting tension in both pieces which end up being not straight after the rip cut. Which means a trip to the jointer and the planer, provided enough width/thickness is available in the off cut piece.
Hopefully the quality of the lumber you are obtaining is better than much of what I frequently get.
Dave R.
Dave,
I doubt it. I just get the junk from Lowes most of the time as it saves the J/P workout. My last set of kitchen cabinets I did in my shop using Poplar that I hand picked thru at Lowes. I have found that it's easier to cut the cope cuts on both profiles before I rip them apart. It gives me more surface area to keep square to the fence.
But, I have also bought some toggle clamps to make a couple of sleds for my portable router table. When I did that kitchen in the photo (posted earlier - not these ones), I was about 200 miles from my shop. I just used my portable router table to make all of the doors. I used the router as a jointer, which many people don't get (you use a straight cutting bit and then shim the outfeed side of the table).
My mom has actually been researching sewing rooms and it sounds like it's about to get a lot more complicated that a sewing table with a set of drawers! She wants the whole room converted to a customized space!
I may just have to resort to using the shaper on my Felder again... I made custom doors for a friend a few years ago. He wanted them to match the exsisting cabinets in his kitchen. The doors were 42" tall and mitered frames - 3 1/2" wide doorframes. I ended up having to make the doors custom from 1x4 oak, as no one sold the moulding profiles. Numerous passes on the shaper, tilt the head and more passes, and even some hand plane work. Then to make matters worst, I cut off my last 10% extra and had to re-make an extra 8' from scratch! Took me a month, not to mention the finish! I'll post some photos, which I always like to do.
Looks like my new Festools will really get a workout. I'm going to put in another order this week & I'll be in the doghouse for another few months! :
Rod
I doubt it. I just get the junk from Lowes most of the time as it saves the J/P workout. My last set of kitchen cabinets I did in my shop using Poplar that I hand picked thru at Lowes. I have found that it's easier to cut the cope cuts on both profiles before I rip them apart. It gives me more surface area to keep square to the fence.
But, I have also bought some toggle clamps to make a couple of sleds for my portable router table. When I did that kitchen in the photo (posted earlier - not these ones), I was about 200 miles from my shop. I just used my portable router table to make all of the doors. I used the router as a jointer, which many people don't get (you use a straight cutting bit and then shim the outfeed side of the table).
My mom has actually been researching sewing rooms and it sounds like it's about to get a lot more complicated that a sewing table with a set of drawers! She wants the whole room converted to a customized space!
I may just have to resort to using the shaper on my Felder again... I made custom doors for a friend a few years ago. He wanted them to match the exsisting cabinets in his kitchen. The doors were 42" tall and mitered frames - 3 1/2" wide doorframes. I ended up having to make the doors custom from 1x4 oak, as no one sold the moulding profiles. Numerous passes on the shaper, tilt the head and more passes, and even some hand plane work. Then to make matters worst, I cut off my last 10% extra and had to re-make an extra 8' from scratch! Took me a month, not to mention the finish! I'll post some photos, which I always like to do.
Looks like my new Festools will really get a workout. I'm going to put in another order this week & I'll be in the doghouse for another few months! :
Rod
Dave Ronyak
Member
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- Jan 23, 2007
- Messages
- 2,234
Those are some seriously complicated profile on the oak cabinet door frames, assuming there is no applied beading. Very nice work. I don't mind the jointer/planer workout because it helps ensure accurately machined, flat stock. But I am just a hobbyist and thus not often faced with dealing with signifcant quantities of wood.
Dave R.
Dave R.
