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

 

[JMDUK]

I'd be very interested in your comparison and thoughts. We don't get the KSEB until the end of the year, sometime after the new tabless batteries are released at least.

I was planning to get the TSC 55 in a month or so, but I'm now going to hold out for the KSEB I think. I really like the form factor.

I am thoroughly impressed so far. The most astounding thing to me is the dust collection with the bag. I am switching from the Makita XGT 40v equivalent, which has ok dust collection with a CTL at full blast. Power-wise I can hear the difference if push the saw too hard but it’s negligible in MDF compared to the Makita 40v. I will be using it 90% for Birch ply so will have to wait and see where it’s limits are. But check this out, 12x 1000mm crosscuts in 12mm MDF using just the bag (I’m unsure if the old 36v TS55 was this clean, but compared to my Makita it’s worlds apart):

 

[luvmytoolz]

@JMDUK That's really pretty impressive dust collection with a bag!

I can imagine hooked up to an extractor it would be really good.

 

[Cheese]

I am thoroughly impressed so far. The most astounding thing to me is the dust collection with the bag.

But check this out, 12x 1000mm crosscuts in 12mm MDF using just the bag (I’m unsure if the old 36v TS55 was this clean, but compared to my Makita it’s worlds apart):

This is a great example of when a company designs the products & accessories to be symbiotic with each other instead of just hanging a dust bag off the back of a saw and calling it done. That's better dust collection with a bag than either my TSC 55 REB or TSC 55 KEB.

This is also a great example of actual product improvement and it's what Festool does well. Festool doesn't release a new product unless it's an actual upgrade of the previous version. So many tool manufacturers feel the need to "upgrade" their tools yearly when the only thing that's different is the color of the switch or the length of the cord. Mafell is also good at real product improvement.

 

[JMDUK]

What’s particularly attractive to me is that due to the machine itself being so efficient at sucking up dust, this should allow me to run a cordless dust extractor at much lower power and still achieve excellent dust collection compared to running max power with a severely limited runtime on other saws.

Also as far as I can tell the new TS55 is basically the TS60 motor housing bolted to the old TS55 base/blade housing. So theoretically we could easily see a cordless TS60, as the same motor unit with 18v input now exists for the new 55.

 

[ElevatedTrimandFinish]

Good one...at least you left a few items to purchase next week.

Went ahead and grabbed the fien kit - I know it’s overpriced and it’s the blades are too. But I was already buying Diablo blades for my Dewalt and Milwaukee Fien tools. As for the tool being overpriced, well so is cocaine and I believe made the right choice.

After putting my mK700 to work. I can’t see shit when using it - I’m just doing a basic profile on window sills, benches, etc. . Any ideas? Anyone?

Also the CX18 is making me want to shake babies, do I need to throw every single old driver bit away, or do I have to use the extension every time.

If I’m not yelling it already - I didn’t really look into the install driver - I just replaced my red one with that one and assumed it would be a tried and tested improvement. I do love it when I find the right bit/extension combo.

? I understand the sizing difference is my problem. Looking for solutions that are organized and contained small enough to fit behind calc/notepad in bag.

Ditched the used tools I bought on an impulse. MIDI was sub par as mobile table saw dedicated dust extractor with the JS Pro Sawstop setup (all oem parts on table saw)

Drill was abused and batteries continually disconnected. Sanders felt like they were used as hammers, lesson learned buy it new or on here.

Looking to ditch my storage system now completely. The Packout system is great, HD and the variety and setups are endless. But systainer is superior for a mobile trim carpenter who does more stairs than he will ever care to remember. I can pick four tools rather than taking the saw box the faster boxes etc and taking all those tools for one out of each box.

The koolaid is perfect

 

[ElevatedTrimandFinish]

Add in an LR/32 set and you have full-on cabinet shop, in only a couple of purchases.
All you are going to find around here is encouragement....and maybe some ice for your Koolaid

Sir I know I am portraying my overwhelming ignorance and my very apparent need for help. WTH is that