Plugin' It (cords suck)

[Scorpion]

I've been using an old Dewalt corded drill for pocket hole drilling so I can use my Midi for dust removal.  Works awesome but I've grown incredibly tired of unwinding the cord, removing my Festool cord to plug it in, using it, unplugging it, re plugging in my festool cord, and winding up the cord...sometimes for a single pocket hole.  Many times I just pile it up as a result and then it bugs me because it's messy.  Yeah I get it, boo-hoo.

So I managed to get my hands on a Plug-It convo which I'll use to eliminate my pain.  After taking everything apart I decided to make an adapter that mates the plug-it housing to the drill itself so I don't have to have a dongle between. 

I started by machining a piece of delrin to 1-inch diameter with a couple of grooves in it for the plug-it end. 

After parting it off from the main trunk of material I was able to take it over and figure out what I needed to do to match it to the drill.

A little soldering

Heat shrink

And sealed it back up.

Now the drill works with "the system", fits well in a Systainer, and will be much more efficient to use.  Now I just need to find a case deal on the Plug-its so I can convert the rest of my tools.  I think, in this case, the Plug-it is more expensive than the drill new.

 

[thedude306]

I like it Scorpion.

How many other tools do you have?  Have you looked at other plug ends?  After using my plug it I figured it was a brilliant idea and converter every tool in my shop to the nuetrik true one connector that are readily available in NA.

Untitled by thedude306, on Flickr

 

[Ajax]

Is the PlugIt cord worth more than the corded drill?

 

[Scorpion]

I like it Scorpion.

How many other tools do you have?  Have you looked at other plug ends?  After using my plug it I figured it was a brilliant idea and converter every tool in my shop to the nuetrik true one connector that are readily available in NA.

Untitled by thedude306, on Flickr

I've seen those but not yet in person.  How do you intermingle the Festools with your Nuetrik True One ends?  Did you make an adapter?

I like the concept of cordless corded tools sharing a single cord but aren't tightly coupled to the $40 festool end.  Even at $20 they'd be kinda pricy for what they are.  If I were Festool I'd make them a loss leader and sell them slightly over cost just to get everyone leaning that way.

 

[Scorpion]

Is the PlugIt cord worth more than the corded drill?

It's now part of a system making it worth much more. 

 

[thedude306]

Guys laugh when I tell them that the true one connectors are my favorite tool in the shop.  I wouldn't be with out them on every tool.  The only thing is that you have a pig tail but honestly, I don't even notice it.  I was using the domino and MT55 tonight and it's a non issue.  The nice thing about the true one is that it's rated well and you can connect it/disconnect it live.

Here's what I did for the festool machines.



I keep a cord with every tool now and then have about 5 extras floating around the shop and on my vac.