New Festool toy

[benchmark]

This looks like a nice bit of kit for the workshop.

http://www.festool.de/artikel/artikel_weiterleiten.cfm?id=6837

Looks expensive.....especially this side of the Pond.

Paul

[ernie_balch]

All the Festool equipment is expensive. That looks like a handy unit but it is not in my new 2008/9 catalog.

ernie

[Brady Watson]

I betcha if you knew anybody with a CNC router...and did a little bit of your own research for vacuum specific items (here's a good browse: http://www.anver.com/) , you could MAKE your own for a fraction of what they sell theirs for...

Looks like a neat little unit, but knowing what I know about vacuum...it's a rip off if you own a CNC and constructively use your brain. I am still absolutely amazed that people who own CNCs buy commercial vacuum pods...

-B

[benchmark]

Brady,

Quote:- Looks like a neat little unit, but knowing what I know about vacuum...it's a rip off if you own a CNC and constructively use your brain. I am still absolutely amazed that people who own CNCs buy commercial vacuum pods...


But knowing what I know about CNC..... I could have built my own, but I chose to buy a Shopbot. There is a personal choice between making something and buying a product, you would need to spend a lot of money and hours to match the complex Festool pods.

Would I buy the Festool kit... No. I all ready have a vacuum pump, but I would buy the pods....Time is money.

Regards

Paul

[gabepari]

Although I agree with Paul's general philosophy... There is a big difference between building a CNC from scratch and building a vacuum pod.

Gabe

[henrik_o]

List price is 1059 euros at festool.de; that's $1650 (without shipping). Ouch.

I like Festool, but that's a complete rip-off for a tool that has the right idea but seemingly fails on some basic stuff.

I can see two design flaws right away. First, the lack of a manual clampdown system on the unit for attaching it to the support.

Vacuum clamping to a benchtop seems nifty and all, but if you're out of the shop it won't always work, and the alternative they give you is screws,
which also won't work in many cases. If, on the other hand, you're in the shop, then there should be plenty of supports to clamp it to, but manual clamps would work just as well. I don't really understand their thinking on this design decision. It seems like something an engineer far away from the shop floor came up with. Realistically speaking, I think a lot of people will end up manually clamping a vacuum-friendly material to the support just to be able to use the tool.

Second, and this is the deal killer, the release/tighten controls for the by all means clever tilt and rotate functionality is manual. This means you have to reach the tool to tighten or release. If you're using this to hold materials larger than say 80x60cm, accessing the controls and then repeatedly actuating them is going to be a major PITA. They really, really should have put those controls on the pedal unit, or a separate pedal unit. Sure, it's not a slamdunk solution to engineer, but in a tool that costs over $1500 I would have expected it.

In any case, as Brady said, this shouldn't be hard to make with the Bot and maybe inflict a cost of $200-300 in materials.

The design vision is neat and clever, but to arrive at a truly functional tool the tilt/rotation release needs to be by remote. I'm not sure how one would solve that, but if someone has an idea, by all means post it here.

[gene]

When i was at the I W F in atlanta a few years ago i said something to a tool rep about how the cost seemed to be high on what i was looking at. His reply was basically its not what the cost is but how much more effectively you get the task done and the time it saved in doing the task. While the festool vac is priced high you also have to ask about how much engineering ,prototyping and design work has been devoted to this product. it looks quite versitile and strong . I spent over several thousand dollars on a vac lift for sheet goods, did i think the machine was worth the purchase price , NO but i bought it for how much easier my sheet handeling will be and my back thanks me daily. I know that if i engineered , designed , prototyped, manafactured, packaged, advertised, sold and shipped a product i would want to make some profit for my troubles, would you?