What Festool Did You buy Today?

[menlobob]

Over the last 8 weeks:

ETS 125 with 90deg bracket
RO 90
MK 700
CTC SYS 50
Shaper Origin/Wkstation/Plate
Added bluetooth and hose garage to convert my CT15 to the equivalent of a Midi. Should have just bought a new Midi instead..
Last week my DF500 R preorder showed up.

Getting ready for retirement in the next few years..

Previous collection:
TS55, Carvex corded

 

[PaulMarcel]

Getting ready for retirement in the next few years..

I took a class recently with a guy who buys a "retirement tool" every Black Friday. Has a shop of stuff waiting for retirement (not sure why he doesn't pull those out in the meantime, but ok). So now I have an official name for a lathe I bought years ago with intentions to turn seriously: a retirement tool.

Nice retirement bundle you got; definitely play with them before retirement tho

 

[Cheese]

Added bluetooth and hose garage to convert my CT15 to the equivalent of a Midi. Should have just bought a MIDI instead..,

I suspect you’re not the first person to go through this quandary. The CT 15 is a great bare-bones vacuum and depending upon how you deploy it, it could be perfect as-is. However, most folks purchase it because of its price point and then decide to use it for activities it was never marketed for. As a testament to Festool's overall design is that it is capable of being upgraded with factory parts albeit that can become expensive.

 

[menlobob]

Nice retirement bundle you got; definitely play with them before retirement tho

Sawdust has been made…

 

[luvmytoolz]

I took a class recently with a guy who buys a "retirement tool" every Black Friday. Has a shop of stuff waiting for retirement (not sure why he doesn't pull those out in the meantime, but ok). So now I have an official name for a lathe I bought years ago with intentions to turn seriously: a retirement tool.

Nice retirement bundle you got; definitely play with them before retirement tho

This last bit I really had impressed upon me quite early on. My father in law who was a top bloke, spent most of the last few of his later years buying tools in preparation for retirement and all the planned projects.

After 45 years at GMH with about 6 months to go to retiring, at 61 he had a heart attack at his car right opposite work and couldn't be saved.

To this day I've always felt saddened he planned to do a lot of things he knew he would enjoy doing, but waited until he was retiring to start doing it.

It definitely made me think twice about holding back with things, although as a result I now have more hobbies than is safe or manageable, but I wouldn't change it for quids.

 

[menlobob]

I suspect you’re not the first person to go through this quandary. The CT 15 is a great bare-bones vacuum and depending upon how you deploy it, it could be perfect as-is. However, most folks purchase it because of its price point and then decide to use it for activities it was never marketed for. As a testament to Festool's overall design is that it is capable of being upgraded with factory parts albeit that can become expensive.

My very first Festool purchase was the TS55 with the Ct15. The dust extraction combined with the portability of storage with systainers is what hooked me. I don’t regret the CT15, but now that I have multiple tools in use at once I wish I’d left the CT15 stock and just bought a second Midi or 26 for Bluetooth and dedicated the 15 to the SYS 50.

 

[PaulMarcel]

This last bit I really had impressed upon me quite early on. My father in law who was a top bloke, spent most of the last few of his later years buying tools in preparation for retirement and all the planned projects.

After 45 years at GMH with about 6 months to go to retiring, at 61 he had a heart attack at his car right opposite work and couldn't be saved.

To this day I've always felt saddened he planned to do a lot of things he knew he would enjoy doing, but waited until he was retiring to start doing it.

It definitely made me think twice about holding back with things, although as a result I now have more hobbies than is safe or manageable, but I wouldn't change it for quids.

That's a sad story; sorry for your loss at only 61.

My lathe is the only retirement tool so far and mostly because people warned me to finish all my flat projects (haha! 'finish' haha!) before starting to turn since the dopamine hit will have you turning vs doing flat work anymore. I have used it, though, but mostly to drill centered holes and make a flying-pole base only to have them "well, the performance is done so you can take it back" instead of paying. I'll remember that.

Now, this doesn't mean that I don't have tools that I had good intentions of using for their special purpose (stringing for example) that were never ultimately used. Maybe those are also retirement tools; have to break them out for play day since I soft-retired

 

[BarneyD]

since I soft-retired

I also "soft retired" right before Covid. Perfect time for it. Late last year my boss asked me how long I was planning to continue working (engineering). I said "I've been meaning to talk to you about that". We sat down one day and I told him that I thought that 54 years is enough. So December 31st was my last day. And, so far, it's been awesome. Fingers crossed.

 

[luvmytoolz]

@PaulMarcel Using the lathe is a pure joy, but it's also the one hobby I tend to do in bursts as I usually need to plan for when I want to use it, as it creates so much mess.

Especially when I'm turning wood and resin blocks, the resin ribbons seem to fly into every nook and cranny and will cover absolutely everything in the shed.

I'm planning on starting another shed later this year in order to cater for a lathe being used all year round, so that will really be enjoyable and make cleanup easier!

 

[PaulMarcel]

@PaulMarcel Using the lathe is a pure joy, but it's also the one hobby I tend to do in bursts as I usually need to plan for when I want to use it, as it creates so much mess.

Especially when I'm turning wood and resin blocks, the resin ribbons seem to fly into every nook and cranny and will cover absolutely everything in the shed.

I'm planning on starting another shed later this year in order to cater for a lathe being used all year round, so that will really be enjoyable and make cleanup easier!

My lathe is in the other side of the garage in a dinky 1-ish car area (it was crowded when I parked a tiny Geo Storm). That's where I store house stuff and the wood pile. Shockingly, I can do turning, horribly, in there. To mitigate the mess, I ran a pipe across the ceiling behind me and behind the lathe. There's a big canvas drop cloth hung from both on nice shower curtain holders. Just remove the velcro from both, pull to the side and you have a turning clean-room. Otherwise, the house stuff cabinet, wood storage, and other junk stuff would get buried. Not perfect, but I have other improvements to make once I, you know, get more serious into it. The bandsaw's dedicated DC is right there so I may put a blast gate splitter to allow for one of those fancy hoods. I'll add that to my list... I am at this moment writing up notes of all my planned projects from piles of handwritten notes