When will Metric Tools return?

[jpmeunier]

[member=25351]rst[/member]

Thats what I use they have a app I use on my iPhone and IPad. So this metric Imperial thing is a nothing burger

As an Engineer/Manager in an industrial facility, the use of a mixed system is a nightmare. All of my European equipment suppliers use metric, half of my American suppliers do as well.

 

[jeh]

As an outsider observer, I think some here are missing the voltage issue, which is related. Almost all of Festool's market outside the US and Canada is Metric and 220/240V. The exception is 110V on some building sites in the UK.

Consequently Festool has now committed the majority of its 110V production to Imperial. Well st least the application of guides with Imperial stickers.  [smile] I wonder which days if the week Routers for NA are made?[big grin]

I think a Metric is the go, and I have used it most of my adult life. My childhood was Imperial, but I rarely use it. But Hey?  I do not live in NA.  [eek]  [smile]

As to Festool's reasoning?! In part - see #13

In the past they offered consumer applied Imperial Stickers, why not Metric stickers now. The tools are still Metric.

The motors used in a lot of tools are universal 120v/60Hz and 110v/50Hz or 240v/60Hz and 220v/50Hz. The 110v tools sold in the UK will work in the US as will the 220v tools. I have not verified that the motors are the same part number, but have done so with other manufacturers. The only difference is the cord. I own and use several 110v UK tools that I bought in England and they work fine. None are Festool, but it is highly unlikely they use different motors for the UK than the US.

 

[DeformedTree]

The motors used in a lot of tools are universal 120v/60Hz and 110v/50Hz or 240v/60Hz and 220v/50Hz. The 110v tools sold in the UK will work in the US as will the 220v tools. I have not verified that the motors are the same part number, but have done so with other manufacturers. The only difference is the cord. I own and use several 110v UK tools that I bought in England and they work fine. None are Festool, but it is highly unlikely they use different motors for the UK than the US.

110V is also much more than just the N.America,  it's also most the Caribbean nations, Central America, some places in South America, parts of Northern Africa,  Taiwan, Japan (100V and uses US plug), and even North Korea (lots of sales there for sure  [tongue]).  Now of those, only Japan is going to make for much of a large market, but the point being that the tools are going to be far from unique to US/Canada/and construction sites of the British isles.  So certainly aren't streamlining anything by making them inch for US/Canada.  I wish NA would have ditched split phase 220/110 system in the 50s, but as is, we are stuck with 110 for small appliances.  Only way it goes away now is via DC conversion brought on by Solar/Battery market growth.

Still, just like computers, having the tools handle anything from 100V to 240V with the exact same tool is something they could have done, and as I mentioned above, as others take the  DC/AC approach on tools, so can Festool.  Make 1 model of each tool and be done.

Maybe they should sell the tools in Japan not in Metric but in Shakkan-hō,  according to wiki they are still common in carpentry in Japan.  Based on the logic forced on the US, they should change there too.

 

[weekendwarrior]

I vote for removable imperial stickers to be factory installed on all NA tools.

You want to switch to the dark side and utilize the metric mechanisms that the "imperial tools" are actually using?  Just peel the sticker off!

Charge dummies $75 for Festool USA to reapply an imperial sticker in the correct place if it was removed.

That way, EVERYONE is happy: metric users, imperial users, and the whiny vendors with money tied up in stock.  End of story!

 

[vkumar]

I think for some tools --routers come to mind, they have to swap out the rack and pinion for the depth stop-maybe I am wrong about routers but I am sure there are some tools where it is more than a sticker involved.

 

[Corwin]

I vote for removable imperial stickers to be factory installed on all NA tools.

You want to switch to the dark side and utilize the metric mechanisms that the "imperial tools" are actually using?  Just peel the sticker off!
...

I think we have a winner!  [thumbs up]

I think for some tools --routers come to mind, they have to swap out the rack and pinion for the depth stop-maybe I am wrong about routers but I am sure there are some tools where it is more than a sticker involved.

No, the routers simply have an Imperial scale while the mechanism remains metric.

 

[DMcL]

I joined the FOG in May 2013. Very soon,  with some other Aussies and others from Europe, I found myself within often vigorous debates with some USA members regarding the relevant merits of metric and imperial measurement systems.
[size=24pt]
Obviously Festool USA listened!!  [eek]

[size=13pt]But it is only a scale. The tools are still Metric. Can not see why both scales can not be offered in North American markets. Big mistake by Festool USA here - getting many of their  consumer base to convert/adapt  to Metric, and then dumping on them.

I'm a Canadian and grew up with metric. I just purchased a TS75 today only to find out it is imperial. Why is my first question? Canada is not the US, but for some reason we are catering to old men here instead of the new young people in my age range who are getting into wood working, or in my case using the tools for sculptural means. It is infuriating that every time I get a festool, I need to bug the Canadian reps to send me a metric scale for my already metric tool that has ridiculous imperial markings on it. I thought the USA was trying to get away from the Monarchy? You'd think the US would have been the inventor of metric based on their distaste for British Royalty.

 

[markchamness]

Solution:https://www.ultimatetools.ca/products/retrofit-metric-scale-for-festool-ts-55-req

 

[Birdhunter]

I’m amphibious, I use both inch and metric.

 

[Ron B]

I am just thankful we Americans have our monetary system on metric.  OK-we may have a quarter left over from the Spanish pieces of eight days, but we have dollars and cents which is metric.  It took the UK a while to catch up with that. 
However, surveying is a completely different animal, a language all its own.  A rod is 16 1/2 feet, a chain 66 feet, a link 7.92 inches, a section one square mile.  Pull out your land deed and try to decipher the description. 

 

[Crazyraceguy]

My original DF500 and OF1400 were metric and nothing else I had at that time had scales. I remember the talk about the stickers, but it didn't affect me, back then. When I had to replace everything in the fall of '19, it was all imperial.....but not really. Everything about them is metric except the depth scales.
I really don't understand the complaint from the ones who wanted it that way? Everything else is still metric. The TS 55 blade? 160 mm with a 30mm bore. The measurement from the far side of the base plate of the TS55 to the blade? 160mm. The holes on the MFT? 20mm with 96mm spacing.
The cutters and Dominos themselves are still metric.
The only real concession to Imperial measurement is with router collets. It takes some real effort to get 8mm router bits here, but I am glad that Festool still includes them with the OF1010, OF1400 and MFK700. Sure, you can get a few, but only because of the internet. Locally no one carries them.
I have used the ones from Lee Valley for years and recently ordered a Bosch set from Amazon UK. There are dozens of Festool bits on that site too, but the famous NAINA comes into that.

 

[tsmi243]

Solution:https://www.ultimatetools.ca/products/retrofit-metric-scale-for-festool-ts-55-req

Shipping quote is $100.  Never ordered from Canada before, is that typical?

 

[petersd]

$100 seems a bit pricy. Their auto shipping calculator may be off. I would call and ask for a better shipping price.

 

[WillAdams]

Including 8mm collets seems a no-brainer since they're essentially 5/16", no?

I've been switching over to 8mm (5/16") tooling on my CNC and have been finding said tooling far more rigid.

 

[mino]

Including 8mm collets seems a no-brainer since they're essentially 5/16", no?

I've been switching over to 8mm (5/16") tooling on my CNC and have been finding said tooling far more rigid.

Yep. 8mm is just the nice balance for a hand-held tool use.

6 mm (and 1/4) is too weak for many uses and 12 mm (and 1/2) are overkill for most uses

Where one *needs* 12mm+ one is already moving into the route-table-really-desired territory where e.g. an OF1010 would simply not have enough oomph to begin with.

My collection is all 8mm except a few dedicated trim-router bits.
I think in US 1/2 is so popular precisely because 1/4 is just too weak for so many hand-held uses that people got used to "needing 1/2" almost as a default by it being "the thing bigger than 1/4".

 

[Crazyraceguy]

Including 8mm collets seems a no-brainer since they're essentially 5/16", no?

I've been switching over to 8mm (5/16") tooling on my CNC and have been finding said tooling far more rigid.

Yep. 8mm is just the nice balance for a hand-held tool use.

6 mm (and 1/4) is too weak for many uses and 12 mm (and 1/2) are overkill for most uses

Where one *needs* 12mm+ one is already moving into the route-table-really-desired territory where e.g. an OF1010 would simply not have enough oomph to begin with.

My collection is all 8mm except a few dedicated trim-router bits.
I think in US 1/2 is so popular precisely because 1/4 is just too weak for so many hand-held uses that people got used to "needing 1/2" almost as a default by it being "the thing bigger than 1/4".

Yes, me too. I have traditionally bought 1/2" shank router bits for pretty much everything where the cutter itself is bigger than 1/4". I only have 1/4" shank bits for the smallest things. Laminate trimmers, 1/8" roundover, etc.  I got my first 8mm bits when I first bought the MFK700 and did the Paul Mercel modification to the zero degree base. Later, after buying the OF1010, I began to look into expanding my collection, to better utilize it.