Good repair consultation from Festool

[Frank Pellow]

There is something that has been wrong about my Festool ATF 55 E circular saw since I first bought it last February. The safety catch that must be engaged before one turns on engages a lever with often catches forcing me to release it with a nail, pen, whatever.

I talked to Festool when I first got the saw and they agreed that the saw could be repaired under warranty and that they would pay the shipping. But, I simply did not want to be without the saw for the period that it would take to fix it, so I lived with the problem.

Yesterday, I finally got really annoyed with the problem and phoned Festool service to see if they could talk me through repairing the saw myself. David of the Festool service department agreed to do so and 3 calls (taking about 20 minutes in total) later the saw is fixed. Furthermore, David is sending me a "Toolie Tool" (Festool item #490 833) to compensate me for my trouble.

I am attaching a picture of my grandson Ethan helping me to take apart the saw this morning.

[Chris Padilla]

Frank,

You can edit the title if you wish.

Nice to hear about Festool's good CS. Aren't we all about sick to death of hearing about how wonderfull Festool is?? No?! Didn't think so! :D

[Frank Pellow]

Thanks Chris -the ability for a thread originator to change the title must be recent.

[Christian Aufreiter]

Hi Frank,

I'm not the least bit surprised that you could fix the problem. I bet that Festool USA has an excellent service but the key to the solution was certainly Ethan's help.
Have a great time with him!

Regards,

Christian

PS: Don't forget to let him drill a couple of holes with a real (corded or cordless) drill. That was addicting when I was at this age. In fact my dad drilled and I just put my hands on the drill but the sound and the feeling was wonderful.

[Frank Pellow]

Hi Frank,

I'm not the least bit surprised that you could fix the problem. I bet that Festool USA has an excellent service but the key to the solution was certainly Ethan's help.
Have a great time with him!

Regards,

Christian

PS: Don't forget to let him drill a couple of holes with a real (corded or cordless) drill. That was addicting when I was at this age. In fact my dad drilled and I just put my hands on the drill but the sound and the feeling was wonderful.

Good advise Christian. In fact, Ethan and I drilled three holes this morning just that way. And, he loved taking the savings out of the hole.

[Chris Padilla]

Frank,

When was Ethan born? I have a 2.5+ year old daughter and I just successfully taught her how to sink nails into wood. Of course, it was a minature ball-pean hammer and some #16 wire nails but she was so happy to finally get the nail into the wood far enough so it wouldn't fall over! :) Funny thing, she kept changing between her hands which to hold the hammer and which to hold the nail. She finally settled on doing it right-handed (hammering with her right). Kids are great! :)

[Christian Aufreiter]

Frank,

When was Ethan born? I have a 2.5+ year old daughter and I just successfully taught her how to sink nails into wood. Of course, it was a minature ball-pean hammer and some #16 wire nails but she was so happy to finally get the nail into the wood far enough so it wouldn't fall over! :) Funny thing, she kept changing between her hands which to hold the hammer and which to hold the nail. She finally settled on doing it right-handed (hammering with her right). Kids are great! :)

My dad "pre-nailed" the nails for me so it wasn't necessary to hold them. Could hold the hammer with both hands and "finish the job". :)

Christian

[Christian Aufreiter]

Good advise Christian. In fact, Ethan and I drilled three holes this morning just that way. And, he loved taking the savings out of the hole.

GREAT! I think working together is a wonderful experience for both of you.

Christian

[Frank Pellow]

Frank,

When was Ethan born? I have a 2.5+ year old daughter and I just successfully taught her how to sink nails into wood. Of course, it was a minature ball-pean hammer and some #16 wire nails but she was so happy to finally get the nail into the wood far enough so it wouldn't fall over! :) Funny thing, she kept changing between her hands which to hold the hammer and which to hold the nail. She finally settled on doing it right-handed (hammering with her right). Kids are great! :)

Ethan was born on the 1st of May 2002, so he is almost two and a half.

That's great that your daughter can now hold nails and hammer them in. Ethan can't do that yet. He does use a screwdriver (square head) and screws into pre-drilled holes. I think that I will get him a small hammer and try Christian's suggestion of having him hammer into pre-drilled holes. Once he masters that, we will move on to having him hold the nails where there is no hole -I expect that this will be a big step.

[Chris Padilla]

My daughter was born on the 24th of February 2002 so she is a little more than two months older than Ethan.

I also put a screw a little way into the wood (also square-head) and she managed to use the square-drive screwdriver to back it out. I'll have to teach her to screw into a pre-drilled hole...good idea. Fun, fun, fun.... :)

I'm curious, do you speak French in your home? Our home is a bilingual home so my daughter is picking up two languages (English and Serbian). Only my wife speaks both but our Nanny is all Serbian and I'm all English. Makes for interesting conversation some times! :)

[Christian Aufreiter]

Ethan was born on the 1st of May 2002, so he is almost two and a half.

Thats great that your daughter can now hold nails and hammer them in. Ethan can't do that yet. He does use a screwdriver (square head) and screws into pre-drilled holes. I think that I will get him a small hammer and try Christian's suggestion of having him hammer into pre-drilled holes. Once he masters that, we will move on to having him hold the nails where there is no hole -I expect that this will be a big step.

There's probably no difference in the learning curve but my dad didn't pre-drill the holes but he got the nail into the wood far enough so it wouldn't fall over (thanks for this sentence, Chris :D ) and I sank it. That's what I called "pre-nail".

Regards,

Christian

[Frank Pellow]

...
I'm curious, do you speak French in your home? Our home is a bilingual home so my daughter is picking up two languages (English and Serbian). Only my wife speaks both but our Nanny is all Serbian and I'm all English. Makes for interesting conversation some times! :)

Ethan's dad (Jonathan) speeks French well, but neither Ethan nor his sister Isla are (yet) learning it. My wife's French is not bad but my spoken French is terrible (my reading ability in French is, perhaps, tolerable).

My other son-in-law Kirby's first language is French. He is married to my daughter Kristel and they live near Ottawa. They have three daughters 0, 2, and 3 and they are all learning both French and English.

Boy, has this thread ever gotten off topic!

[Frank Pellow]

Post #1 in this thread was a pre-gloat in that I mentioned that Festool was sending me a "Toolie" tool because I took the time to do my own repairs.

It arrived today, so here is a picture of my new tool. Supposidly it contains every driver head for all fasteners utilized in Festool tools.

[Jim Becker]

Very kewelie toolie!!! I'm gonna have ta stroke Uncle Bob about one of those things!

[Chris Padilla]

You know, anything with Festool on it belongs in the shop. I was eyeing some nice looking matts at the counter of a favorite ww'ing store...I'm going to see if I can swing a couple! :D