Plug-it pigtail NAINA - would you like one?

[Eli]

*WARNING*

GRATUITOUS TAUNT BELOW

You can't have a Kapex though, we're keeping them.​

 

[Lou Miller]

I know I sure could use a couple of them. If this works out, put me down for two. I'd even be willing to be the person you ship them to here in the US. Although, someone in the middle of the country might be better so everyone gets a better shipping rate. Either way, I'm willing if everything else works out.

Aside from legalities, would these even work on our tools here? I don't know that much about them, but I can't help but wonder if the differences in voltages wouldn't come into play...

 

[jonny round boy]

Aside from legalities, would these even work on our tools here? I don't know that much about them, but I can't help but wonder if the differences in voltages wouldn't come into play...

Lou, Unfortunately, you may be right about the voltage. I've been discussing this with another member, who pointed out that in the US you have two different plug-it cords, or differing wire gauges (16 & 18, IIRC). Here in the UK, the plug-it adaptors are only available in one wire gauge, but as of now I don't know what that is - I suspect that it may be the smaller of the two*. If that is the case, then they wouldn't be much good to you for many of the tools. Maybe Festool have a good reason for not offering them in the US afterall!!!

*That makes sense - at half the voltage you'd need twice the current, hence in the US you'd need a larger wire gauge for the bigger tools.

I'm going to try & find out the wire size of the pigtails, and I'll report back when I have more news. Sorry to all for building up expectations & then (potentially) disappointing you!

 

[semenza]

Hi,

    Jonny , that wire size may be marked right on the cable portion of the Plug It pig tail.  Do you use gauge over there or something else? Also I know that FOG member Paul Franklin is using them. He had offered one in the classifieds. I don't know if he got them  from UK or elsewere.  Anyone  who has one please chime in on this!

Seth

 

[Corwin]

If this would be the correct gauge for the sanders, then we're talking.  Haven't purchased the RS2 yet hoping to wait out the plugit thing.  Don't think I will wait much longer, so a pigtail might be in order.

Corwin

 

[ejfud]

Festool should really offer some kind of retro fit for the older tools.

 

[bolson]

I'd be interested in some as well and have a FedEx account for easy redistribution in the US if needed.  I also have a paypal account to mediate payments too.

Let me know

 

[Programmergeek]

Put me down for 3. 

 

[Dave Ronyak]

Aside from legalities, would these even work on our tools here? I don't know that much about them, but I can't help but wonder if the differences in voltages wouldn't come into play...

Lou, Unfortunately, you may be right about the voltage. I've been discussing this with another member, who pointed out that in the US you have two different plug-it cords, or differing wire gauges (16 & 18, IIRC). Here in the UK, the plug-it adaptors are only available in one wire gauge, but as of now I don't know what that is - I suspect that it may be the smaller of the two*. If that is the case, then they wouldn't be much good to you for many of the tools. Maybe Festool have a good reason for not offering them in the US afterall!!!

*That makes sense - at half the voltage you'd need twice the current, hence in the US you'd need a larger wire gauge for the bigger tools.

I'm going to try & find out the wire size of the pigtails, and I'll report back when I have more news. Sorry to all for building up expectations & then (potentially) disappointing you!

I am guessing that Lou may be interested in the Plug-it kits for a Deltex 93 sander and an RS2 sander.  Both of these units are relatively low power and hence low amperage demand units, even after taking into account the difference in voltage in Europe and USA, and should not overload even the smaller wire gauge Plug-It kits.  The older Rotex 150 might be a problem for the smaller wire size.

Dave R.

 

[Forrest Anderson]

One solution to the possible problem of the current-carrying capacity of the supplied cable/flex might be to just get the bare plug-it connector itself, and leave it up to the end-user to fit the right gauge of cable/flex.

The connector (without cable) is Order No 489685, as per illustration No 4 on page 305 of the UK catalogue:

This item is currently available on eBay from Healy's, a large UK Festool dealer for 9.95 GBP inc VAT, postage free within the UK.

Note that the plug-it conversion kits (ie connector and cable) are available in two lengths (360mm and 420mm) and two voltage ratings (240V and 110V) in the UK. If people in the USA wanted the conversion kit rather than the bare connector, it might therefore be best to ship one of the 110V versions, rather than the 240V version.

Forrest

 

[Lou Miller]

Aside from legalities, would these even work on our tools here? I don't know that much about them, but I can't help but wonder if the differences in voltages wouldn't come into play...

Lou, Unfortunately, you may be right about the voltage. I've been discussing this with another member, who pointed out that in the US you have two different plug-it cords, or differing wire gauges (16 & 18, IIRC). Here in the UK, the plug-it adaptors are only available in one wire gauge, but as of now I don't know what that is - I suspect that it may be the smaller of the two*. If that is the case, then they wouldn't be much good to you for many of the tools. Maybe Festool have a good reason for not offering them in the US afterall!!!

*That makes sense - at half the voltage you'd need twice the current, hence in the US you'd need a larger wire gauge for the bigger tools.

I'm going to try & find out the wire size of the pigtails, and I'll report back when I have more news. Sorry to all for building up expectations & then (potentially) disappointing you!

I am guessing that Lou may be interested in the Plug-it kits for a Deltex 93 sander and an RS2 sander.  Both of these units are relatively low power and hence low amperage demand units, even after taking into account the difference in voltage in Europe and USA, and should not overload even the smaller wire gauge Plug-It kits.  The older Rotex 150 might be a problem for the smaller wire size.

Dave R.

Dave, you're correct on the Deltex. However, the other one I want is for an older RO150.

 

[Dave Rudy]

One solution to the possible problem of the current-carrying capacity of the supplied cable/flex might be to just get the bare plug-it connector itself, and leave it up to the end-user to fit the right gauge of cable/flex.

The connector (without cable) is Order No 489685

Forrest,

If I ordered just the connector, would it couple with my plug-it cords?  In other words, would it replace (except it would be a pigtail) a plug it connector normally installed into the tool itself?

Dave

 

[semenza]

One solution to the possible problem of the current-carrying capacity of the supplied cable/flex might be to just get the bare plug-it connector itself, and leave it up to the end-user to fit the right gauge of cable/flex.

The connector (without cable) is Order No 489685, as per illustration No 4 on page 305 of the UK catalogue:

This item is currently available on eBay from Healy's, a large UK Festool dealer for 9.95 GBP inc VAT, postage free within the UK.

Note that the plug-it conversion kits (ie connector and cable) are available in two lengths (360mm and 420mm) and two voltage ratings (240V and 110V) in the UK. If people in the USA wanted the conversion kit rather than the bare connector, it might therefore be best to ship one of the 110V versions, rather than the 240V version.

Forrest

Hi,

      The replacement connector won't help. The pig tail adapter is what is neede.  The tool side, not the cord side. If someone can find out the wire gauge on the pig tail this might be a go.

Seth

 

[Forrest Anderson]

       The replacement connector won't help. The pig tail adapter is what is neede.  The tool side, not the cord side. If someone can find out the wire gauge on the pig tail this might be a go.

Seth

Are you saying that the replacement connector (the RK-plug it, item 4 in the illustration, and Order No 489685) is the part that is attached to the plug-it cable side, rather than the tool side, and is designed to repair the 4m and 7.5m plug-it cables?

Although this wasn't the way I read it, you may well be right, but there is a footnote to Connector No 489685 which says:

Safety information: the conversion involves direct intervention on the tool, which should
only be carried out by your Festool service workshop or a qualified electrician. The conversion
kit is not suitable for tools from other electric power tool manufacturers.

To me, this implied that Connector No 489685 was attached to the tool side, but I may be wrong.

Forrest

 

[semenza]

Hi,

      I see what you mean about the foot note. But the picture of the item certainly looks like the plug it power cord connector (strain relief, green twist ring, etc).  The same foot note is atached to the Conversion Kit also. Maybe they just used it as the safety note for both.
    Personally I am not planning to re-wire the tool. I will put a regular female plug on the pig tail conversion. Then just shorten the standard power tool cord to a pigtail. Effectively making an adapter out of the plug it pigtail to go between the tool and plug it cord. That way it will be useable with any tool I want to connect.  That will preserve the original tools saleability If non-Festool. Plus I will only need to buy one. Also I won't need to be messing around with opening up tools and fiddling around re-wireing them.

Seth

 

[semenza]

Hi,

    O.K. I just got an email back from Healys. They say the 110v pig tail conversion kit is .75 gauge. Is someone able to convert that to NA gauge?

Seth

 

[semenza]

Hi again,

    I just Googled a conversion chart. I am thinking that Healys meant 0.075 not 0.75. If that is the case it would be about 15ga for NA. Plenty for anything we need. I also sent Healys a reply to conferm 0.75 or 0.075.

Seth

 

[Forrest Anderson]

I just Googled a conversion chart. I am thinking that Healys meant 0.075 not 0.75. If that is the case it would be about 15ga for NA. Plenty for anything we need. I also sent Healys a reply to conferm 0.75 or 0.075.

Healy's specification of 0.75 sounds much more likely.

In the UK we tend to use the cross-sectional area of the wire in square millimetres. If the cross-sectional area of the wire is increased, either by increasing the diameter of the individual strands or by increasing the number of strands, the current-carrying capacity is increased.

An appliance flex rated at 6A might typically have live and neutral wires each made up of 24 strands, with each individual strand being 0.2mm in diameter. This is sometimes known as 24/0.2.

The cross-sectional area of a circle is (PI x dia x dia / 4), so the cross-sectional area of one strand 0.2mm diameter is 3.14 x 0.2 x 0.2 / 4 = 0.0314 square millimetres

The cross-sectional area of a bundle of 24 such strands is 24 x 0.0314 = 0.7536 square millimetres

This is very close to the cable specification that Healy's gave you of 0.75, and is  typical of appliance cable rated at 6A. This would be suitable for up to a 1380W appliance on a 230V supply, or a 660W appliance on a 110V supply.

Heavier cable might be made up of 40 strands, each of 0.2mm dia (known as 40/0.2), giving an area of 1.25 square millimetres, and is typically used for 13A appliance cable.

As regards converting the cross-sectional area to US wire gauge, the table athttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_wire_gauge suggests that 0.75 sq mm wire is between 18 and 19 gauge:

18 gauge - 0.823 sq mm, thicker than 24/0.2
19 gauge - 0.653 sq mm, thinner than 24/0.2

A 6A cable may not be heavy enough for operating quite a large number of hand-held power tools in the US.

Forrest

 

[Michael Kellough]

I've been using a few Plug-It conversion kits for a couple of years. I don't want to get into how I got them but I think they came from the UK and am guessing they are the 110v versions because when I received a couple of new Plug-Its a few months ago from Germany my impression was that they seemed to be a lighter gauge then the earlier batch. Just an impression, I can't make a definite determination at this time.

My memory impression leads me to guess that the first batch (UK 110v?) is 16 gauge and the German (220v?) are about 18 gauge.

I installed one of the longer UK pigtails in my ATF55 which is the highest amperage tool I have with Plug-Its installed and I haven't had a problem with overheating yet even during extended use. I'm not entirely pleased with the conversion though because the Plug-It connector sometimes snags on the beginning end of the guide rail. If anyone else is considering converting an ATF55 you might try using the shorter pigtail Plug-It. If doing so, trim off some of the jacket so the leads are long enough to reach the switch, which will also place the connector closer to the saw handle so it won't snag the guide rail. Converting the ATF was much more difficult than any other tool I worked on as more stuff had to be removed to get to the switch.

While Plug-Its are not intended for use with other brands they work perfectly with other contemporay German tools like Bosch and Metabo. There seems to be an industry standard way of terminating leads in all the German tools.

 

[semenza]

Hi,

  Excellent info , thanks.   Healys repair dept says they refer to it as .75. So I think that you are most likely right. And what I found on the conversion chart must be a different method of rating.  So 18- 19 ga , 6 amps. This would cover the sanders that don't have plug-its.  Every tool that I own that is up to 8 amps is supplied with a 18ga cord in the US. So the pigtail is probably boarder line for 7-8 amps.  
   So the next question is- does the 420mm Plug It Conversion have a heavier wire gauge? As it is listed as a conversion for the ATF55.
    And does this have a compatible plug it connector or something different?

      Or perhaps the 240v version would do the trick?

Seth