Official Luthiers Forum!

Today at my local Woodcraft, I had the opportunity to try out a couple products by Festool.

Have you ever picked up a handmade guitar and compared it with a cheap factory-built guitar? Yes, I know "Stupid Question"...but I know it's one you folks on this site can relate to. Well that's what it's like picking up and using a Festool product.

I had the opportunity to try out their 6" round sander, Model RO 150. I wasn't sure whether I liked it at first when I picked it up. I was used to a "taller" 5" sander by Bosch, which I own and use. As soon as I turned on, it felt like it had no torque. But I was holding it in mid-air. Then, I set it down on a piece of maple. Whoa! That thing had a lot more power than I expected. The salesman, Aaron, told me "lean on it Don...make it bog down!" I tried. I couldn't slow it down. That thing had more torque and power in reserve than you can imagine. It blew the doors off my Bosch.
Someday I'm gonna buy one of those things...

Next thing I checked out was a cordless drill, Model C 12. Amazing. You could actually sense the precision of the machining of the parts in it. No slop, no wasted energy. Changing out drill heads was so simple. They even had one that was eccentric, so if you needed to drill ahole right up against a corner, you could.

Festool also has a great vacuum system, and all the tools operate with the same removeable chord, so switching from one tool to another is a snap.

Their circular saw is second to none.

If you haven't checked out these products, you really should. They are significantly more expensive than most handheld power tools, but in this case, "You get what you pay for" is nothing but solid truth.
Don Williams38766.8280439815

_________________
"I want to know what kind of pickups Vince Gill uses in his Tele, because if I had those, as good of a player as I am, I'm sure I could make it sound like that.
Only badly."

Is that the sander that is switchable between RO and regular orbital pattern? They do make some nice tools.

_________________
Tickle your guitar daily, and it'll tickle you back.

Yes it is...and quite impressive too. It can hog off a ton of wood, then the switch over and it smooths it right out. There was 80 grit on it and it still was a smooth finish with no detectable swirl marks. The other amazing thing was how well the vacuum picks up the dust, there was virtually none that escaped.

_________________
"I want to know what kind of pickups Vince Gill uses in his Tele, because if I had those, as good of a player as I am, I'm sure I could make it sound like that.
Only badly."

I have the RO 150 (yes switchable, sands everything from floors to cars), the circular saw, an alternate saw, a router with circle cutter and some amazing accessories together with the mid size vacuum sistem. They are wonderful and wouldn't change my Festools with anything else.
Luigi

Don,
I have the Ro 150 as well as the little 5" palm sander,
router and circular saw with rails by Festool.
I love them.
I use the Fein tool actuated vacuum.
One of the things I like best about their tools is the amazing dust collection-even on the router I get about 98% of the dust!!
Their prices have actually come down recently-but not the quality.

I wish I could justify a Festool router (Think 300 dollars over here), but with the amount I build, I'd rather spend the money on two routers and set 'em up dedicated. Someday, when I set up shop properly, I'll buy a Festool Plunge router. The ROS is dang tempting, though....

Mattia if I could get a Festool router for $300 I'd jump at it! I've got one Festool router the 1400W 1/2" and it cost more than $600, but worth every penny. Soft start, electronic braking, fine adjusters on everything, and build quality that means you have to include it in your will, as it'll last several generations. If money were no object they would be the automatic choice.

Colin

_________________
I don't believe in anything, I simply make use of a set of reasonable working hypotheses.

[QUOTE=Colin S] Mattia if I could get a Festool router for $300 I'd jump at it! I've got one Festool router the 1400W 1/2" and it cost more than $600, but worth every penny. Soft start, electronic braking, fine adjusters on everything, and build quality that means you have to include it in your will, as it'll last several generations. If money were no object they would be the automatic choice.

Colin[/QUOTE]

Heh, OK, right, underestimation there! I can get the 1010 watt plunge for a hair under 400 Euros locally (direct from Festool's website, actually), the 1400 watt for 530 euros, but still, considering I got two Porter-Cables in the US quite recently for less than 300 dollars combined (690 with fixed base and a 310 production lam trim), the fact my 900 watt Blue Bosch is still going strong, and the fact I really don't need more routers right now, well...y'know.

ETA:

Ok, Don, you've now got me looking at various RO sanders; what do you folks figure the best 'orbit' is? I'm seeing 3, 5 and even 7mm, and I'm guessing the larger the number, the more agressive the sander, but what's the real deal here?Mattia Valente38767.3022106482

I was at Woodcraft yesterday, Sunday, and after reading this thread last week, I couldn't help but look at the Festool sanders. After looking at the 5 and 6 inch models, I finally convinced myself that I could spring for the 5 inch model. Then, I noticed that the 6 inch model was on closeout for $70 off, which brought it down to an 'affordable' $350. I bought it. It has both modes, RO and regular orbital. Tom

The larger the swirl, the more aggressive. The smaller, the better for fine finish work.

_________________
"I want to know what kind of pickups Vince Gill uses in his Tele, because if I had those, as good of a player as I am, I'm sure I could make it sound like that.
Only badly."

Hi Mattia,
             I have a E.S. 150 3 E.Q. . Given me by a couple of mates as a birthday gift (nice mates Huh ?)

The 150 3 has a 3 mm. sanding stroke and designed for fine finishing . It has higher R.P.M. than the 5mm. which is designed for more aggresive work.

I think the 3mm. is more suitable for guitar building.
I use mine after my wood has gone through the wide drum sander, giving a finish I can't duplicate by hand

Regards KiwiCraig

_________________
CRAIG LAWRENCE of AUSTRALIA
_____________________________________________

for guitars, especially archtops, would there be any benefit to the 5" over the 6". I could see on large flat surfaces the 6 would be better, but how 'bout on curves... Wonder why the 6 is being replaced with the 5..