What Festool Did You buy Today?

[Mike Goetzke]

I haven't tried mesh yet but it's "on the list".

I'm pretty happy with the YouTube favorite of Cubitron II mesh discs for my ETS/EC 150, and if they make them in the 90 size, I'll try those for this as well, but I probably should get some coarse ones in Granat, too.

Mesh is interesting. I see they say interface pads make them stick better. Which pads do you recommend?

 

[Packard]

For me the the Cubitron II (purple) outlast the Granat mesh but the Granat mesh outlasts the Cubitron mesh.

I'll be interested if 3M changes their Cubitron™ II sandpaper line over to the newer Cubitron™ 3 version.  If they do, the cutting power and the paper life should extend considerably. Right now only the grinding line has been changed over.

Here's the geometry differences between older Cubitron™ II and newer Cubitron™ 3.

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It reminds me of the difference between a pattern makers’ rasp and a conventional rasp.

The irregular placement of the teeth in the pattern makers’ rasp has it cutting much quicker.  (They are also more expensive to make and to buy).

Pattern makers rasp (The reasoning escapes me, but the randomness of the teeth is supposed to cut much faster.  About 30 years ago, I wanted to buy one.  The only one I found was made in England with the teeth hand cut by artisans. Apparently they are now machine cutting these):

And a conventional rasp:

The hand cut rasps are apparently still available (though I question the use of stainless steel for this application.)
https://toolsforworkingwood.com/store/item/GT-CMRASP.XX

 

[Cheese]

Pattern makers’ rasp (The reasoning escapes me, but the randomness of the teeth is supposed to cut much faster.  About 30 years ago, I wanted to buy one.  The only one I found was made in England with the teeth hand cut by artisans. Apparently they are now machine cutting these):

Auriou still hand stitches their rasps.
https://www.leevalley.com/en-us/sho...MIwr-mm7KrhQMVNnJ_AB1pLw5lEAQYASABEgJeZPD_BwE

 

[rvieceli]

I haven't tried mesh yet but it's "on the list".

I'm pretty happy with the YouTube favorite of Cubitron II mesh discs for my ETS/EC 150, and if they make them in the 90 size, I'll try those for this as well, but I probably should get some coarse ones in Granat, too.

Mesh is interesting. I see they say interface pads make them stick better. Which pads do you recommend?

Mike the deal behind the mesh discs and an interface pad is to protect the hooks on the sander pad. The mesh discs tend to be thin and open possibly allowing the hooks to contact the surface being sanded. This cause the hooks to heat up and deform causing the loops on your sandpaper to not engage with the main pad. this make the pad wear out faster and you have to replace an expensive sander part. The interface pad allow some extra space between the sander pad and the work surface.

Ron

 

[Packard]

Pattern makers’ rasp (The reasoning escapes me, but the randomness of the teeth is supposed to cut much faster.  About 30 years ago, I wanted to buy one.  The only one I found was made in England with the teeth hand cut by artisans. Apparently they are now machine cutting these):

Auriou still hand stitches their rasps.
https://www.leevalley.com/en-us/sho...MIwr-mm7KrhQMVNnJ_AB1pLw5lEAQYASABEgJeZPD_BwE

They are still expensive, and I still have no idea why the randomness of the “stitching” promotes faster cutting and a smoother finish.

 

[PaulMarcel]

They are still expensive, and I still have no idea why the randomness of the “stitching” promotes faster cutting and a smoother finish.

With the teeth in an organized pattern, a push will tend to have teeth ride in the wake of the previous row not actually cutting much. With the random pattern, you get teeth cutting what the previous row missed all throughout the push. At least that's my take on it. I have the Auriou rasps and they definitely cut faster and smoother than the previous machine-made ones I had. The randomness also lends to the 'smoother' finish just like ROS does vs disc mode

 

[Packard]

They are still expensive, and I still have no idea why the randomness of the “stitching” promotes faster cutting and a smoother finish.

With the teeth in an organized pattern, a push will tend to have teeth ride in the wake of the previous row not actually cutting much. With the random pattern, you get teeth cutting what the previous row missed all throughout the push. At least that's my take on it. I have the Auriou rasps and they definitely cut faster and smoother than the previous machine-made ones I had. The randomness also lends to the 'smoother' finish just like ROS does vs disc mode

Well, in the absence of any other explanation, I will accept this one.  I’m not 100% convinced that the reasoning is on point, but I do accept that it cuts faster and leaves a smoother finish.

Addendum:

A little more google research yields this guy, who really loves his rasps.  His explanation is not wholly more convincing, but is at least in concurrence with the above.  But he offers more on the subject: https://theartoflutherie.com/wood-rasp/

I now have a flap disc for my angle grinder and I have become fairly adept with it.  So I am less likely to spend $169.00 for a wood rasp than I might have a few years back.

 

[PaulMarcel]

Ah that link will be very interesting. In the first paragraph, he mentions "if you follow my channel, you know which rasp is my favorite" and recognized the dragon rasp in the header photo. It's a nice one especially for getting into things with the point and gentle curve of the surface.

Anyway, one thing I've always wondered is in the age of CNC, why couldn't a rasp manufacturer scan a hand-stitched rasp and use that to program the machine to replicate the stitch. May cost more than using a bar with 20 stitches across it to whack out a row, but it would be far cheaper and faster than ordering hand-stitched rasps. I know my Auriou order took a while.

 

[luvmytoolz]

Festool had a promotion that started early Feb advertising the Cordless Collated Screwgun Kit DWC 18-4500 with a free small systainer, but after a couple of weeks it strangely disappeared from the promotion and the product website, but last week I spotted it on a dealers site for $300 off, I think Festool was clearing stock, and as soon as they ran out marked it discontinued so dealers could mark down leftover stock.

First impressions are it doesn't feel quite as grunty as my Makitas, I could be misremembering though, I need to play more with it but it seems to do the job, just maybe a little more effort. I do love the auto trigger mode, That's nifty. I know the Makitas get a bad rap a lot, but I got extremely used to the "knack" of repetitive fast driving with the Makitas, and apart from the occasional jam they've performed really well and driven many, many cartons of screws.

Curious how others have found it compared to the Fein or Makitas? I know the Hilti is supposed to be the bees knees but haven't used one myself. So long as it doesn't jam heaps I can put up with the torque. Although the 2500 would have been better, but sadly not available here.

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[six-point socket II]

I’ve run thousands of screws through mine, couldn’t be happier. Used it for drywall to both wooden and metal substructure as well as decking. I showed years ago that the torque is sufficient for wood/wood applications, however with hardwood decking I chose to pre-drill.

To me it is best in class, I sure don’t miss any Hilti/Makita/Fein/(…)

The only jams I ever experienced were caused by me through either miss-alignment/ hitting an obstacle while pushing or wrong settings.

Performs flawless and is very easy to field strip/ clean.

Kind regards,
Oliver

 

[Lincoln]

Bit the bullet and grabbed a 2700mm guide rail. Will sell off one of my 1400's to offset the price a bit.

 

[luvmytoolz]

[member=61712]six-point socket II[/member] I've had a chance to play with the screwgun quite a bit more, and I have to agree with you, it's really sensational! The mechanism on the magazine is just superb in action, great control and nice driving. It's definitely got a bit less torque than my Makitas, so 45mm screws into hardwood are a bit much for it, but anything less dense than our "like iron" hardwoods it handles really well.

The feeding is great, and the way the mechanism is designed it looks like it wouldn't be prone to jams, whereas the Makitas have a sorta knack to get used to. Using the depth stop is awesome too, it's stupendously fast driving screws in, almost like punching them in!

Overall I'm pretty stoked with it, so I can sell off a couple of my others now!

 

[Packard]

My son stopped by the other day, and his headlights are all clouded, so this may actually be the first application - crazy that it wouldn't be woodworking.

For polishing out headlight covers there are 17 different threads covering the suggestions/solutions. Just search "headlights".

Here's one that I contributed to 8 years ago.
https://www.festoolownersgroup.com/festool-tools-accessories/sander-48751/msg482204/#msg482204

My 1967 Alfa Romeo Spyder came with headlight covers.  They were made illegal in 1969 and were eliminated.  The plastic back then was not up to the standard we have today.  I polished mine using tooth paste (Colgate).  I diluted it with a little water (though I think cooking oil would have worked better) and rubbed it out by hand.  It took about 15 minutes per cover and I had to do it every year.

I did the same on the rear window of the convertible top. The engineers in Italy designed the rear window so that it did not have to be zipped in place.  Replacing it was a much bigger job than on other cars.  Again, the plastic was not up to the standards of our current plastics and scratched much easier.

Some other notes:  It was on this car that I saw Velcro for the first time.  For a couple of years, I thought it was an Italian word.

The owners’ manual had some translation quirks.  It said to “shampoo” the car once a week to protect the finish.  Back then, there were no dedicated car wash soaps.  Typically we used Spic n’ Span, which stripped away all the car wax.  I followed the instructions and used Breck Concentrate.  [big grin]  It had the advantage of doing a commendable cleaning job and not stripping away the wax.  I used Breck for several years until specialized car soaps came on the market.

 

[FestitaMakool]

After a long time considering.. I got the BOX-OF.. there are som really useful bits in there.

Also, great things come in small packages - especially the LEYSYS-FT1 - a collaboration with BMI (Bayerische Maßindustrie). - More on this in an own post.
There is also:
DC bags for my “new” CT 17 E
A Cleantec nozzle with airing option to go with my CT-SYS (It needs an airing option, as the bypass valve are working overtime sometimes)
A Centrotec 4mm HSS drill bit to go with the 3mm in the attic of the CXS 12

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[PaulMarcel]

That BOX-OF is some cool packaging. Maybe not the most practical, but cool.

Wish the level fit in the handle of the SYS3 T-Bag. That handle is curved, which is nice, tho.

 

[jujigatame]

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I'm pretty excited about this one!

 

[PaulMarcel]

I'm pretty excited about this one!

YOU WILL ABSOLUTELY LOVE IT

It's been stated here before, but make sure you have it easily deployed. In Systainers on a shelf might not be grand. I did that for the first couple years I had it and didn't use it as much as I do now because I made it take a minute to setup.

I assume you have the assortment of heads since you are showing the "middle" head (unless you got an SE-2 with a separate pump?) If not, get the assortment before it is literally NAINA. It makes a world of difference.

Speaking of VAC-SYS heads... anybody have a 3D print file for the base of a VAC-SYS head? It would be awesome to have that modeled so you could add whatever topper you want. Sure you can do the "melamine+weather stripping" custom head Sedge (HTH..) talks about, but making other custom heads would be awesome. I suck at 3D design software...

 

[jujigatame]

I'm pretty excited about this one!

YOU WILL ABSOLUTELY LOVE IT

It's been stated here before, but make sure you have it easily deployed. In Systainers on a shelf might not be grand. I did that for the first couple years I had it and didn't use it as much as I do now because I made it take a minute to setup.

I assume you have the assortment of heads since you are showing the "middle" head (unless you got an SE-2 with a separate pump?) If not, get the assortment before it is literally NAINA. It makes a world of difference.

Speaking of VAC-SYS heads... anybody have a 3D print file for the base of a VAC-SYS head? It would be awesome to have that modeled so you could add whatever topper you want. Sure you can do the "melamine+weather stripping" custom head Sedge (HTH..) talks about, but making other custom heads would be awesome. I suck at 3D design software...

I've been playing with it for an hour now. I absolutely love it!

I'm going to make Sedges vac sys shelf this weekend!

It came with everything, all the heads. It's older, but at least 2 of the heads have never been used. The guy I bought it from said he's used it maybe 4 times.

I believe him.

 

[Cheese]

I noticed that Hartville Hardware was offering the Festool 769031 mixer at 50% off. So I picked one up to use while rocking the garage.
https://www.hartvillehardware.com/product/sku-1304951/festool-mixers-and-stirrers-accessories

What I didn't realize is that it comes with a 14 mm threaded end for use on the MX 1200 mixer, so I needed to make an adaptor to fit a 1/2" drill chuck.

A 14 mm coupling nut, a 14mm-2.0 x 60mm hex bolt, some red Loctite, a safety lock washer along with some minor lathe work and assistance from a 4-legged friend took care of the issue.  [big grin]

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[rvieceli]

[member=44099]Cheese[/member] nice work. Do you think that paddle is sturdy enough for thinset?

Ron