Which Festool tools are made in Taiwan?

[squall_line]

Japan is repatriating a 700-ton press (pressing ability, not weight of the machine itself) from Brazil as it closes its first-ever plant in that country (others will remain open).
https://jalopnik.com/toyota-is-moving-a-700-ton-prewar-press-machine-halfway-1851173118

It's a fascinating bit of interest in how quality is as much about the company itself as it is about the geophysical location where something is produced.

See also: the NUMMI plant where the Pontiac Vibe was made alongside the Toyota Matrix back in the 90's
https://medium.com/10x-curiosity/worst-to-best-lessons-from-nummi-4cde7eb41f21

 

[Crazyraceguy]

The omission of the lack is of 7/16” socket is also there in the new Wera compact 3/8” handl d driver set, it comes with 1/4, 3/8 and 1/2” sockets.  I replaced the 3/8” with a 1/2” as those are  sizes more common to what I do, specifically the arm attachment and arm adjustment for door closers.

The truly offensive part of the missing socket is that those increased in 1/32" jumps, skipping from 13/32"....over 7/16" (14/32) and 15/32" all the way to 1/2"?
I wouldn't be nearly as upset if they had stopped at 13/32", but to jump 2 sizes and duplicate a size that exists in the same set with 1/2 drive. It defies explanation

 

[Mini Me]

I am surprised they did not put an 11mm socket in the set as it is very close to 7/16. It has become more common these days to multi use common metric/imperial sizes if they are close enough for the job instead of producing dedicated items for each size.

 

[Packard]

Japan is repatriating a 700-ton press (pressing ability, not weight of the machine itself) from Brazil as it closes its first-ever plant in that country (others will remain open).
https://jalopnik.com/toyota-is-moving-a-700-ton-prewar-press-machine-halfway-1851173118

It's a fascinating bit of interest in how quality is as much about the company itself as it is about the geophysical location where something is produced.

See also: the NUMMI plant where the Pontiac Vibe was made alongside the Toyota Matrix back in the 90's
https://medium.com/10x-curiosity/worst-to-best-lessons-from-nummi-4cde7eb41f21

Farberware, the pots and pans company, was a customer of mine in the Bronx, NY before they went out of business.

To laminate the the aluminum heat dispersing plate to the bottom of the pots, they pre-heated the the aluminum plate and then placed it on the bottom of the pot and struck the plate with the ram of a 1,000 ton screw press.  It was an extravagantly dangerous process, destined to kill someone if they had remained in business.

In order to fit the screw press in the building, they had to cut a hole in the ceiling of the factory and steal an extra 10 feet of height from the offices above.

Unlike a conventional press which uses a flywheel attached to the horizontally placed crank shaft, the screw press has a flywheel attached to a vertically placed lead screw.  The lead screw is constantly spinning.  When the operator touches the palm buttons, two halves of an engaging “nut” are pressed inward to engage the screw thread. The spinning screw thread drives the ram downward until it reaches the bottom and then it disengages.

One of the advantages of a screw press is that it is able to generate tonnage over the entire range of travel.  A crankshaft press only generates the maximum tonnage at or near the bottom dead center. 

They called my company in because they had cracked the frame (which was repaired) and my company sold equipment that measures the generated tonnage.

It is a widely misunderstood fact that the 500 tons of the 500 ton press, is not a measure of how much tonnage it can generate.  It is a measure of how much tonnage the components can withstand before destroying itself.  There is not a punch press in the world that I could not destroy by simply playing with the setup of the punch tools.  They are all able to generate more tonnage than the components can handle.

I don’t know how well it finally worked out.  I was ordered by the management of the company I worked for to no longer sell to Farberware because their manufacturing processes were too dangerous.  We sold safety equipment and the concern was that we would get dragged into a lawsuit. 

Relocating a massive punch press requires a lot of planning.  Is the building to receive it tall enough to accept the machine?  Are the footings in the factory floor deep enough to support it?  Is there a door large enough to take it in?  Is there moving equipment capable of transporting it from the ship to the factory?

So no simple matter. 

 

[Crazyraceguy]

I am surprised they did not put an 11mm socket in the set as it is very close to 7/16. It has become more common these days to multi use common metric/imperial sizes if they are close enough for the job instead of producing dedicated items for each size.

They did. There are metric and imperial in this set. That sounds good "in theory" but doesn't really work, because there are others that would do the same.

8mm= 5/16"
16mm=5/8"
19mm=3/4"
24mm=15/16"

They are all very close, the 8mm and 19mm are within .002", 24mm being the farthest off a .011"
It has been pretty common (in US) for cheap sets to eliminate 19mm to save a few dollars, but I have never seen it done with other sizes.

 

[Ultimate Tools Marketing]

None of Festool's current products classified as tools are made in Taiwan. There are a handful of accessories and consumables, however, that do have country of origin listed as Taiwan.

 

[Packard]

Unlike the USA, the country of origin is optional in Grrmany.  It is required when shipping to the USA.

Also, in Germany, there are guidelines for that designation that are at best vague, at worst misleading (but much better than the laws there in the 1980s).
http://www.parchim-airport.com/upfiles/Guide to Made in Germany by IHK.pdf

 

[ChuckM]

Quality is not necessarily determined by a country's name, but by who actually delivers it (from the latest issue of Popular Woodworking):

[attachimg=1]

 

[Michael Kellough]

That is clearly the best table saw fence since the Paralok. It cost 3 times as much (although $200 less than is listed in the article) but it been nearly thirty years since you could buy a Paralok.

 

[ChuckM]

No doubt the Harvey fence is superior, loaded with unique features not available in the fence systems we're accustomed to. I never knew how much the T-glide fence that came my PCS cost individually. A quick check shows it is surprisingly cheap (cheap as in inexpensive) compared to Harvey's:
https://www.sawstopstore.com/product/t-glide-fence-assembly-professional-series-ii/

The SawStop cabinet saw is the most used machinery in my shop, but I find it very hard to justify replacing the T-glide fence because it really does a good job even though it is not loaded with any bells and whistles.

 

[Packard]

The most important feature for me, when I purchased my table saw, was that the fence had a capacity of 48”.

I don’t care how well-made a fence is, if it will not extend to 48”, it will yield occasional inaccuracies with wider cuts.

Of course, if you never use sheet goods, that is not an issue at all.

The factory fence on my Delta saw is accurate, square and yields cuts that are highly repeatable. 

 

[leakyroof]

Japan is repatriating a 700-ton press (pressing ability, not weight of the machine itself) from Brazil as it closes its first-ever plant in that country (others will remain open).
https://jalopnik.com/toyota-is-moving-a-700-ton-prewar-press-machine-halfway-1851173118

It's a fascinating bit of interest in how quality is as much about the company itself as it is about the geophysical location where something is produced.

See also: the NUMMI plant where the Pontiac Vibe was made alongside the Toyota Matrix back in the 90's
https://medium.com/10x-curiosity/worst-to-best-lessons-from-nummi-4cde7eb41f21

Farberware, the pots and pans company, was a customer of mine in the Bronx, NY before they went out of business.

To laminate the the aluminum heat dispersing plate to the bottom of the pots, they pre-heated the the aluminum plate and then placed it on the bottom of the pot and struck the plate with the ram of a 1,000 ton screw press.  It was an extravagantly dangerous process, destined to kill someone if they had remained in business.

In order to fit the screw press in the building, they had to cut a hole in the ceiling of the factory and steal an extra 10 feet of height from the offices above.

Unlike a conventional press which uses a flywheel attached to the horizontally placed crank shaft, the screw press has a flywheel attached to a vertically placed lead screw.  The lead screw is constantly spinning.  When the operator touches the palm buttons, two halves of an engaging “nut” are pressed inward to engage the screw thread. The spinning screw thread drives the ram downward until it reaches the bottom and then it disengages.

One of the advantages of a screw press is that it is able to generate tonnage over the entire range of travel.  A crankshaft press only generates the maximum tonnage at or near the bottom dead center. 

They called my company in because they had cracked the frame (which was repaired) and my company sold equipment that measures the generated tonnage.

It is a widely misunderstood fact that the 500 tons of the 500 ton press, is not a measure of how much tonnage it can generate.  It is a measure of how much tonnage the components can withstand before destroying itself.  There is not a punch press in the world that I could not destroy by simply playing with the setup of the punch tools.  They are all able to generate more tonnage than the components can handle.

I don’t know how well it finally worked out.  I was ordered by the management of the company I worked for to no longer sell to Farberware because their manufacturing processes were too dangerous.  We sold safety equipment and the concern was that we would get dragged into a lawsuit. 

Relocating a massive punch press requires a lot of planning.  Is the building to receive it tall enough to accept the machine?  Are the footings in the factory floor deep enough to support it?  Is there a door large enough to take it in?  Is there moving equipment capable of transporting it from the ship to the factory?

So no simple matter.

Takes me back to my days of working in a Custom Sheetmetal fabrication shop.  We had the old Mechanical Presses; as you noted, once trippped, they went through their cycle. You had better have checked before tripping the pedal that things were not too 'tight' , or, as you also noted, the poor machine could crack or suffer damage.
They DID have a small motor to adjust tolerances to gain or lose distance to the metal, but the newer Hydraulic Presses that we bought to replace, and supplement the old presses were so much more forgiving to check a bend out before actually committing to it.  You could 'walk' into a bend, then back out at the touch of a button, all in super controlled slow motion.... [cool] [cool]
  The oldest press in the shop had a MASSIVE weld in the frame from someone bottoming it out at some point, and it got repaired. The flywheel pictures on the side of the Toyota Press really takes me to another time.... [smile]
There probably wasn't a guard added to those until later. In the 30's, safety guards were still hit or miss... [scared]

 

[Packard]

Weird.  When I follow the notification link, it tells me to sign in.  When I go to the site, it has me already signed in. 

At any rate, in the beginning of OSHA’s existence, there were a lot of things that were ill-defined. 

In most of my sales territory, it was understood that “The flywheel must be fully contained by a guard cage”, meant that a sheet metal or expanded metal cage had to protect the workers from accidentally coming in contact with the flywheel.  In some cases this was illogical as the flywheel was so high that the workers could not come in contact with it. 

But one OSHA agent interpreted that “contained” meant that the cage had to be strong enough to “contain” the flywheel in the event it shattered. In bigger presses, the containment cage would have to be as heavy as the press itself.  My customer appealed to people above that agent to get that clarified.

That same agent fined a customer for having a defective ladder. 

One of the rungs on the ladder had broken, so he bought a new one.  He put the broken ladder in the dumpster.  The agent said that someone could easily have removed the broken ladder from the dumpster and used it.  Why someone would do that when a brand new ladder was available escaped me. 

That agent was later replaced.  I suspected, but had no proof, that he was actually soliciting bribes with these extreme cases. 

In any case, most of these ambiguous rules were later cleared up.

In the last visit from an OSHA agent where I used to work, the agent brought along a GFI tester.  He tested every outlet in the factory.  He found two that indicated a fault.  Fines, as I recall, were $250.00 per instance. The beauty of this was that the company could not argue.  The light lit up “red”, and we were “guilty”. 

A warning would have been sufficient.