power feeder on a festool table saw

[alladd]

The review wasn't too kind to the Festool table saw, (a different kind of saw than the ones they compared it too) but it showed off the power feeder I make to good advantage. With it's t-track fence this power feeder  could mount easily to the Festool table saw (though that's not how they did it in this comparison/review.)

 

[ChuckM]

Thanks for the link.

For those who, like me, don't want to watch the whole video, here is a gist of the review:

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[luvmytoolz]

I can't watch the video till tonight, but can anyone help make sense of the "Rank" figures, as judging by the pictures the Flex is far from the best to my eyes?

 

[ChuckM]

The reviewer's rating is that the lower the rank, the better the saw. So 1 is the highest score.

 

[smorgasbord]

Actually, I like the zoom-in close-up of the power feeder right at about 54 seconds in. Also a nice pan-around shot at 11:30 in.

As for the review:

1) The sliding table on their copy wasn't perfectly aligned with the saw top, so that hurt the flatness test.
2) They used a cheap "Beall" digital angle finder for testing saw blade angle. They claim it has an accuracy of 0.1º, which is really +/- 0.1º. Anyway, their test results show read-outs to 0.01º - which is garbage data.
3) The video claims the iGaging dial indicator is accurate to 0.0005", but that's incorrect. It's only accurate to +/0.001". Again, the extra display of data is not reliable for measurement, at best only good for repeatability in the same setup.
4) On fence parallelism out of the box, they mention that closer is bad for safety/quality of cut, but didn't adjust the rankings accordingly. A reasonable amount of the rear of the fence further is better than a smaller amount closer, but the rankings don't reflect that.
5) For the ripping test, they used a 24 tooth blade for all the saws except the Festool, where they used a 40 tooth blade. So, no wonder the ranking there.

I pretty much stopped watching after that. I can see, however, that for US general contractors, the Festool isn't what they're looking for.

 

[luvmytoolz]

The reviewer's rating is that the lower the rank, the better the saw. So 1 is the highest score.

Thanks, that explains it then!

 

[alladd]

I agree that some of their testing sounds more impressive than it actually is, but they do put on quite a show! They're pretty smart guys.

Good point about too many teeth on the Festool blade for fast ripping.

I think they were clear that the Festool is a different kind of saw (more shop saw than job-site-or fine finish than do-all), and they also made the point that it is battery powered, so a candidate for this review.

Notably absent is SawStop, whose safety mechanism might not work with battery power, as they do make a smaller version of their job-site saw which would be a logical tool to battery power, if they could.

I think their video is a compelling testimony to how well the power feeder can work on these tiny saws, allowing safe accurate rips without additional infeed, outfeed, or hold-downs. This would be the case in both shop and job-sites.

It's amazing to me that no one has even asked about the power feeder in the viewer comments,  (and Rob responds to most questions) and they don't give me any attribution, even though I gave them the power feeder.  This is a hint .....

They may do a review of the power feeder in the future.

They did a comparison of job-site corded saws six years ago that has received 2.4 million views. Doesn't look like this one will come close to that!

 

[ChuckM]

Like the battery-powered table saws, power feeders are uncommon among the general woodworkers, and maybe that's why no one asked about your specialty device.

Perhaps you should've asked the reviewer to acknowledge your contribution as part of the conditions of getting the feeder from you. But yes, it is professional courtesy that he should've given credit where credit was due.

One question: did he approach you for the feeder or did you offer it to him on your own accord? If the latter, he might think he was doing you a favor.

 

[Crazyraceguy]

That just seems silly to me. Why would anyone need a power feeder on such small saws?
Its more than overkill.

 

[alladd]

If you've ever tried to feed a long workpiece  on a saw with a short fence, you'd know the answer to your question. The power of a feeder's hold against the fence is many times what can be achieved by hand or even by Jessem's Clear Cut guides that so many woodworkers have plunked down upwards of $300 for. And repeat work, especially dados, become a snap rather than a drag.

But it is unusual.....

 

[smorgasbord]

BTW, when is the new/improved power feeder going to be available?

 

[alladd]

I have a couple projects I need to complete first, but i hope to have  new feeders ready to ship by about  December 5-10th.

 

[ChuckM]

If you've ever tried to feed a long workpiece  on a saw with a short fence, you'd know the answer to your question. The power of a feeder's hold against the fence is many times what can be achieved by hand or even by Jessem's Clear Cut guides that so many woodworkers have plunked down upwards of $300 for. And repeat work, especially dados, become a snap rather than a drag.

But it is unusual.....

The real question is not about how short or long the saw fence is, but about how many pieces of the same are ripped. That's the whole purpose of a power feeder: making many many repetitive cuts of the same.

I didn't watch the whole review video, but if it involved ripping many many pieces in the tests, then it made sense to use a power feeder. If they ripped only a few strips on each saw, considering the set-up time, it'd be considered an overkill for the review.

 

[Michael Kellough]

If you've ever tried to feed a long workpiece  on a saw with a short fence, you'd know the answer to your question. The power of a feeder's hold against the fence is many times what can be achieved by hand or even by Jessem's Clear Cut guides that so many woodworkers have plunked down upwards of $300 for. And repeat work, especially dados, become a snap rather than a drag.

But it is unusual.....

The real question is not about how short or long the saw fence is, but about how many pieces of the same are ripped. That's the whole purpose of a power feeder: making many many repetitive cuts of the same.

I didn't watch the whole review video, but if it involved ripping many many pieces in the tests, then it made sense to use a power feeder. If they ripped only a few strips on each saw, considering the set-up time, it'd be considered an overkill for the review.

I think this power feeder is fitted to the fence so it works with any width.

 

[ChuckM]

Yes, that power feeder can work with plywood sheets.