The Festool Road Show 2018

[Cheese]

Yesterday the Road Show came to the St. Paul/Minneapolis area. Steve Bace was there and he's always a pleasure to converse with.  [smile]

Here are some of the things that interested me the most:
1. The new hoses are so flexible and light that I'm willing to trade my Festool sleeved hoses for the new ones. We also took apart a sleeved hose and tried to insert the new hose into the sleeve with the plug-it cord. That does NOT fit because the new hoses are significantly larger in diameter than the sleeved hose.  [sad]  The new hoses are slick.  [thumbs up]

2. To allow the new hoses to be so flexible, Festool removed the carbon loading from the hose material itself and now just a very small diameter wire is molded into the wall of the hose. Both end connections are still heavily carbon loaded and they make contact with the copper wire to complete the "circuit".

3. The cordless hybrid sanders are sweet and the ergonomics are terrific. Until I used the new sanders I really had no desire to purchase one. That's now changed.

4. The ETS/ETSC, DTS/DTSC & RTS/RTSC sanders all have 2 internal fans. One for cooling and one for dust removal. Thus they can be used with the new dust collection bag. The ETS EC and Rotex sanders only have one fan for cooling and thus they need to be used with an extractor.

5. The reduction in height of the ETS EC sanders is the result of using only 1 internal fan as opposed to 2 fans.

6. The new CT Cyclone is also pretty slick. They had one hooked up to a Planex that they were sanding drywall with. While I've always been familiar with the advantages of a cyclone, I never seriously considered one because they're rather clunky to move around if you want to be mobile and take the vac somewhere. They're also tall & tippy and if placed on top of a Festool vac, you then also lose that space to place items/tools that are being used.
This one's nice and to maintain a lower profile, you do NOT need to use the clear plastic bins. Just couple the top section to the bottom section and you're good-to-go.

7. Rumor has it that Festool is redesigning the MIDI to incorporate the Bluetooth module.

8. The Multi-Jetstream 2 pad will be for the 150mm sanders only. Festool did some testing with the 125mm versions and found no appreciable gain in dust removal. The Jetstream 2 pad was originally designed to be used exclusively with the new net abrasives.

[attachimg=1]

 

[Dick Mahany]

Yesterday the Road Show came to the St. Paul/Minneapolis area. Steve Bace was there and he's always a pleasure to converse with.  [smile]

Here are some of the things that interested me the most:
1. The new hoses are so flexible and light that I'm willing to trade my Festool sleeved hoses for the new ones. We also took apart a sleeved hose and tried to insert the new hose into the sleeve with the plug-it cord. That does NOT fit because the new hoses are significantly larger in diameter than the sleeved hose.  [sad]  The new hoses are slick.  [thumbs up]

2. To allow the new hoses to be so flexible, Festool removed the carbon loading from the hose material itself and now just a very small diameter wire is molded into the wall of the hose. Both end connections are still heavily carbon loaded and they make contact with the copper wire to complete the "circuit".

3. The cordless hybrid sanders are sweet and the ergonomics are terrific. Until I used the new sanders I really had no desire to purchase one. That's now changed.

4. The ETS/ETSC, DTS/DTSC & RTS/RTSC sanders all have 2 internal fans. One for cooling and one for dust removal. Thus they can be used with the new dust collection bag. The ETS EC and Rotex sanders only have one fan for cooling and thus they need to be used with an extractor.

5. The reduction in height of the ETS EC sanders is the result of using only 1 internal fan as opposed to 2 fans.

6. The new CT Cyclone is also pretty slick. They had one hooked up to a Planex that they were sanding drywall with. While I've always been familiar with the advantages of a cyclone, I never seriously considered one because they're rather clunky to move around if you want to be mobile and take the vac somewhere. They're also tall & tippy and if placed on top of a Festool vac, you then also lose that space to place items/tools that are being used.
This one's nice and to maintain a lower profile, you do NOT need to use the clear plastic bins. Just couple the top section to the bottom section and you're good-to-go.

7. Rumor has it that Festool is redesigning the MIDI to incorporate the Bluetooth module.

8. The Multi-Jetstream 2 pad will be for the 150mm sanders only. Festool did some testing with the 125mm versions and found no appreciable gain in dust removal. The Jetstream 2 pad was originally designed to be used exclusively with the new net abrasives. [attachimg=1]

Excellent update. Much appreciated.  I have been wondering about the new hoses also, but not sure I can justify replacing my perfectly good old style hoses, but now you've got me thinking.

 

[GoingMyWay]

1.  That's too bad that the new hoses wouldn't fit into the sleeve.  Having the cord and hose together is nice.  Using some velcro to attach the cord to the smooth hose just isn't the same.  Had they never tested inserting the smooth hose into the sleeve before or were they just showing you as "seeing is believing?"

4.  I didn't know that some sanders have 2 internal fans.  Cool, that explains why some can use a dust bag while others cannot.

 

[Cheese]

Had they never tested inserting the smooth hose into the sleeve before or were they just showing you as "seeing is believing?"

I guess not. I talked first with Kevin the local rep, then with Steve Bace and he then turned me over to the "Lebanon Guy". I'm sorry I can't remember his name, a really nice guy and very committed to answering a customer question. So the 4 of us took on the task of holding various hoses, sleeves and hose end pieces while trying to zip the new hose into the cloth sleeve. Only 1/3 of the new hose would fit into the sleeve before the zipper refused to move further.

The difference in hose ID sizes is quite dramatic between the 2 hoses. I can see why they tout the increased suction power of the new hose. Although I've had no issues using the sleeved hoses with the 700/1010/1400 routers, the DF 500/700 or the TS 55, I can see where they may be an issue. I think it would be completely unusable with the HL 850 planer.

I was told the sleeved hose was developed to be used exclusively for sanders. That makes sense...

 

[Sparktrician]

1.  That's too bad that the new hoses wouldn't fit into the sleeve.  Having the cord and hose together is nice.  Using some velcro to attach the cord to the smooth hose just isn't the same. 

You can always use Gorilla Sleeve (your choice of color) and heat shrink tubing to anchor the sleeve in place on the hose.  It retains both the hose and a power cord.