Another festool question.

[Tony Sade]

Courtesy of an unexpectedly large tax refund (shh!-don't want the wife to hear) I'm thinking of getting one of the Festool Sanders. As expensive as these puppies are, I'd rather not have to also spring for the vacuum. (The refund ain't that big.)

Can I hook my Fein Turbo II up to the sander? If not, is there an adapter that will make this work? Right now, I get pretty dust free sanding using the Fein and my Dewalt and Bosch random orbitals. Thanks,

[John Miliunas]

Courtesy of an unexpectedly large tax refund (shh!-don't want the wife to hear) I'm thinking of getting one of the Festool Sanders. As expensive as these puppies are, I'd rather not have to also spring for the vacuum. (The refund ain't that big.)

Can I hook my Fein Turbo II up to the sander? If not, is there an adapter that will make this work? Right now, I get pretty dust free sanding using the Fein and my Dewalt and Bosch random orbitals. Thanks,

Don't see why that shouldn't work just fine, Tony. I've got several Festool pieces, but still have my little Fein Mini Turbo vac. Woodcraft sells (other probably, as well) rubber step-down adapters, which work famously! I think your Fein hose is probably the same size as my Mini. Just slip it on the hose and cut the smallest diameter of the adapter off, so that you're at the second "step". Fits the Festool dust ports *great*! :cool:

[Tony Sade]

Thanks, John. Now I just have to figure out which model to get, and how to slip it by the missus. "What, that ole thing? Had it for years! ;>)

[Halsey MCCombs]

I have the 125 festool and two wraps of masking tape on the sander outlet and the Fein ii fits. Halsey

[Jamie Buxton]

Tony --
I have a Festo 6" ROS, hooked to a Fein Turbo vac. (The Turbo preceded the present Turbo II.) Festo sold me a connector which I could easily modify. I just looked at their site (http://www.festool-usa.com/), and from the pictures I think it is the D 27 DM-AS or D 36 DM-AS. It has a rubber boot at one end connected to a rigid plastic piece at the other. The boot slips over the exhaust port of the sander, and grabs well just by friction. The rigid plastic piece has internal threads, and must be intended to screw on to some Festool vac. I used a Dremel to scrub away those threads, and now it is a friction fit on to the end of the Fein's hose.
Jamie

[John Miliunas]

Thanks, John. Now I just have to figure out which model to get, and how to slip it by the missus. "What, that ole thing? Had it for years! ;>)

Easy. With a name like "Festool", just tell her it's another el'cheapo HF knock-off. I mean, seriously, what "expensive" OEM would put that bright, lime green color on their tools if they were really "high quality"?! :D (Marino's gonna' kill me!) :cool:

[Chris Padilla]

Well, if Marino kills you first...he might be too tired to go after me for this one:

Tony, I gotta ask: It appears you have some good sanders already. True, Festool makes a wonderful sander but why do you need another sander?

Disclosure: I have a 5" Makita ROS and I went ahead and got the 150/5 Festool ROS. However, I want the Rotex for its versatility and once it shows up, the 150/5 is up for sale. In the meantime, I am thoroughly enjoying the 150/5. The Makita may go up for sale soon. I ended up with the 150/5 due to my own ignorance but I still love it....

[John Miliunas]

I ended up with the 150/5 due to my own ignorance but I still love it....

"Ignorance" you say? See that. I went and did it on *purpose*! :D (Glad I did, too!) :cool:

[Bob Marino]

I mean, seriously, what "expensive" OEM would put that bright, lime green color on their tools if they were really "high quality"?! :D (Marino's gonna' kill me!) :cool:[/QUOTE]

Kill you...or Chris?? Hey, not in my nature. But you mean that you don't like that lime green color ;) ?



Chris, just like clamps, one can never have too many sanders :D

Bob

[John Miliunas]

Kill you...or Chris?? Hey, not in my nature. But you mean that you don't like that lime green color ;) ?



Chris, just like clamps, one can never have too many sanders :D

Bob

Oh, I like it just fine! Fact is, much easier to spot in the shop! No, it's just an easier "sell" to SWMBO. You know...Lots of those cheopo HF tools and such have all them "bright" colored handles and whatnots. Heck, I wouldn't care if they were bright pink, as long as the tools and service stayed the same!

Oh, and it's clamps, sanders AND cordless drills! Don't forget the cordless drills.... :D :cool:

[Thomas Walker]

I think I'm with Chris on this one: Is the 150 gonna add that much? I have to admit the Festools have such a cache' that I recently ordered their plunge saw kit. But I feel I'm getting a product that no other company can really compete with.

And I thought of buying the sander since I'd already have the vac, but I doubted that it would be any better than my PC orbital sander.

If you needed the Rotex, then you'd have something unique, but from what I can tell that product was designed for manufactured countertop work -- it's really too heavy for what wood workers generally need. And then I found a sander review in Wood magazine. Guess what -- they rated the PC top tool, and the Festool middle of the pack. And they rated the PC excellent for dust collection.

On the other hand, maybe you can justify it on the basis of it's extremely low vibration.

As JP Morgan said, "Every man has two reasons for doing, or not doing something: a good reason, and the real reason."

Umm ... ok, I admit it -- I bought the Festool saw because it will match my favorite green shirt!! :-)

[Thomas Walker]

Ok, I just found the recent post that had a lot of great first hand experience with the Festool sander.

[Tony Sade]

Guys, guys-don't fight on my account. Chris, Thomas, you really need to ask someone on a tool board why he wants another cool tool? ;>) Everybody else (or darn near, it seems) has one! I want one too!

Seriously-I have a condition call tenosynovitis, aka DeQuervain's syndrome-frequent inflammation of the tendons in my hands/wrists. Not the same as or near as bad carpal tunnel syndrome, but uncomfortable anyway. Comes from trying to play superman in the weight room, I think. Anything that reduces vibration while sanding can only help, I think/hope.

Oh, yeah. Thanks for the tips on the vacuum adapter. I already have one that I use to connect the Fein up to my CSMS, as if that actually reduces the dust off that thing! Guess I'm already "hooked up".

Cheers, all.