BOYS TOYS!
January 3, 2006
I’ve heard it said that the only difference between men and boys is the price of their toys. Last Thursday I received a fun toy shipment from the UPS deliverer that looked like this:
I am a member of the SAW-PA (Susquehanna Area Woodworkers of Pennsylvania) which meets at the Woodcraft Store in Harrisburg, PA, and each time I have gone there, I have drooled a bit over the German-made, Festool line of shop tools. Having a bit of Christmas cash at my disposal (and being a fool for new toys), I placed a tool order. Here is what came out of the boxes:
What you see here is a WONDERFUL vacuum unit on the bottom and, latched to the top of it, neat plastic containers which house different tools that go with the vacuum. Those tools are lying atop the unit and are an orbital sander
and a router.
A persistent problem in a wood shop is the ever constant presence of sawdust. I have invested in Festool as a way to get around constantly dealing with a dusty workshop. The German makers have very carefully crafted their tools to have very effective dust collection ports. When coupled with the dedicated vacuum, it virtually eliminates sawdust in most shop operations (and it also does a great job of vacuuming the floor and the surfaces of the workbench and stationary tools.)
I have decided that the vacuum unit is the core of the entire Festool line. In the several days I’ve had it, I’ve used duct tape and other modifications and have now used the Festool vacuum with my Ryobi drum sander, the Laguna band saw, the Makita palm sander, and have used it with a magnetic collector on the table saw and with other operations.
The tools themselves are quite well made and lots of detail has gone into their design. When using a tool,
pressing the “on” switch of the tool automatically switches on the vacuum unit (with vacuum hose attached to the tool). Using the sander this way, there is NO dust during use and when switched off, running one’s hand over the workpiece yields NO residual sawdust! Totally amazing. Power for the tool comes from an electrical outlet located right on the vacuum.
The large green dial chooses from “auto”, “manual” and “OFF” modes. The tool is plugged into the outlet (I’m holding the cover open with my left hand.) “Auto” makes the vacuum turn on and off as the tool is turned on and off. The vacuum also has variable speed, so one can use the smaller green dial to choose how much vacuum one wants to use with a given tool. At high speed, it makes what I would consider an average vacuum cleaner noise; no high-pitched sounds. Inside the vacuum is a 5.8 gallon paper vacuum cleaner bag that holds a LOT of shop dust and shavings! It has nice wheels that make it roll around the shop with ease.
HERE’S THE BIG SURPRISE I DISCOVERED TODAY: I was of the impression that, in order to avail one’s self of Festool’s automatic vacuum on/off feature with tool usage, one had to use the specially wired, Festool components. Looking at the power cord on the Festool sander and router, I could see no difference from any other power cords in my shop, so I plugged my Makita sander into the vacuum outlet. I turned on the sander switch and VOILA! THE VACUUM WAS ACTIVATED!! This turkey will work with ALL my new AND old shop tools!!! It apparently senses the flow of electricity to the tool which activates the vacuum! Totally amazing! When I discovered this, I was HYPED!! The only drawback is that the Festool cords are 11 feet long (or whatever) and most of the cords to my non-Festool tools are much shorter, so I’ll probably have to use extension cords to make my old tool cords be as long as the vacuum hose. Life is good!