Weird AC plug on CT-33 ?

[NuggyBuggy]

Hi everyone,

New Festool user here.  I just bought a TS-75 and MFT/3.  I also picked up a used CT-33 on Ebay.  It works fine, but there was something odd.

It had a weird AC plug.  It looks like a "regular", type B power plug (e.g. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fileomestic_AC_Type_B_USA.jpg), except that one of the blades is oriented perpendicular to the other blade. 

The vac came with a short (< 1') adapter which takes these prongs to a "regular" type B plug, but I am wondering: was this vac designed for use in some other country ? I looked around and could not find a description of plugs with such a layout.  I'm thinking not, since the AC jack on the vac itself is "regular" type B, i.e. blades are parallel to each other. 

I downloaded the manual and can't see mention of such an adapter, and don't understand why the plug would be different from the AC jack hosted on the vac.  And, I'd like to know what part I need to order should I ever lose this adapter.

thanks everyone !

terry

 

[Administrator_JSVN]

Terry,

Welcome to the forum!

The plug on your CT 33 is a 20 amp plug, hence one prong being perpendicular to the other.  The "pigtail" is used as a converter to allow you to plug it into a 15 amp outlet.  If you have 20 amp outlets, more common in commercial buildings but also in some residential, you can use it without the pigtail.  If you search the forum, you'll find a few other discussions about this.

Shane Holland
Festool USA

Edit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NEMA_connector#NEMA_5

The 5-20P plug has the neutral blade rotated 90° and shifted so its inner edge is approximately 1⁄2 in (12.7 mm) from the hot blade.

20 Amp outlet:

 

[bill-e]

You beat me to it Shane

 

[NuggyBuggy]

Thanks guys !  I now see that the plug WAS depicted in the Wikipedia page I linked to, but the presence of the parallel blades dominated what I was seeing...  [embarassed]