Retractable Festool power cord built into workbench

[seanmoore]

Im looking to add a festool power cord that is built into my workbench, that I can pull out when needed and then have it retract when its not in use.

Does anybody have an idea how to make this possible? I was thinking of buying one of those retractable cord reels and replacing the female plug with a festool power plug? Can I just cut the end of a festool cord off and wire it to a cord reel?

Thanks!

 

[luvmytoolz]

If you want it to retract I'd definitely only be using the cable that came with the unit, and change the plug as you mention. Pulling on cables not meant for the spring loaded units puts a lots of strain on them and the strands can break in the cable.

 

[Mini Me]

I can't help you with any way to do what you want but I have found that a retractable overhead real the best answer got me as it can be used anywhere in the workshop without being a trip hazard laying on the floor.

 

[rmwarren]

Years ago I made a ~4" adapter, PlugIt to 120V standard. Just plug the standard 120V into any extension cord and the PlugIt into the tool.

You can find a replacement PlugIt end and add it to a short section of a suitable cord, or reverse it and lop off a spare PlugIt cord and add a 120V plug. Hope this makes sense.

RMW

 

[rmhinden]

Im looking to add a festool power cord that is built into my workbench, that I can pull out when needed and then have it retract when its not in use.

What I (and I suspect many others do) is to attached the Festool power cord to the dust extractor hose.  This works well given that most Festools with plug-it connectors require dust extraction.    You might think about how you want to manage the dust extraction hose and power cord at the same time.

Bob

 

[Crazyraceguy]

I've had a retractable cord reel mounted to the side of my mitersaw station. It's about 8 feet from of the main assembly bench, powering the CT15, on that end. I have a CT26 on the other end, flipping the hose and cable over a bracket on the wall.
The ceiling is waay to high to bring it down from above, though it would be nice to have it like that.
It is great for clean-up time. The CT cord plug just barely hangs out (rolled up inside), so I disconnect it and retract the cord. The floor is wide open at that point.
This leaves me with a Plug-it on both ends, easy to reach, but not in the way.

 

[Mini Me]

The ceiling is waay to high to bring it down from above, though it would be nice to have it like that.

My overhead reel has a moveable cable clamp to allow for high ceilings and leaves a long tail hanging from the reel down to whatever height you can reach.

 

[Cheese]

An alternative method that I'm going to pursue is the installation of a Miele reel inside a Systainer. It's really nice & compact and Miele auto-reel units are bullet proof, they just keep working. This Miele unit came out of a 16 year old Miele we decided to upgrade. The local Miele store gave us a $150 trade in on the 16 year old vacuum and when I asked him if it was going to be refurbished, the owner said no it would be trashed. I then asked about the auto-reel unit and he proceeded to open up the vac, remove the auto-reel and hand it to me...what's not to like about that?

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The Festool Plug-It cord can be directly hardwired to the Miele auto-reel eliminating splicing wires and making for a safer and more pleasant looking conversion.

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[Crazyraceguy]

The ceiling is waay to high to bring it down from above, though it would be nice to have it like that.

My overhead reel has a moveable cable clamp to allow for high ceilings and leaves a long tail hanging from the reel down to whatever height you can reach.

My "space" is in a big cabinet shop. I think the ceiling is 20 feet. That's not so good.
There are a couple of 50' air hose reels over in the countertop laminating area and they lose quite a bit of length because of it. It's still better than having all of that on the floor though.
I have several power points in my area, so above is not a big deal. There are a total of 16 outlets on 6 different circuits, all within 25 feet of my assembly bench.

 

[six-point socket II]

That's a wicked mod [member=44099]Cheese[/member] , love it!

Kind regards,
Oliver