charlese wrote:Maybe Festool will be starting another Forum = W.W.W.!:rolleyes:
They can call it "Wealthy Wood Workers'":eek:
Ed-et al.- You can make your own smart miter outfit for less than $5. The Idea and plans are in that "Workbench" magazine article posted a few days ago. It's the article about the Ultimate Home Workshop, with the expandable bench.
Chuck they have a forum dedicated to Festools
http://www.festoolownersgroup.com/
and one for Ezguide
http://www.sawmillcreek.org/forumdisplay.php?f=26
Yes you can build your own smart miter outfit but having used one and having tried a guide tool system there is as much difference between the two as riding a bike and driving a Corvette. Both get you somewhere but one makes the ride precise, pleasant, fast and enjoyable. But most of all these systems go beyond just sawing or cutting the wood to size. The offer precision in routing, drilling, sanding that simply can be met with a simply homemade guide.
If you were earning a living wood working (especially remodel) and were offered something that provided table saw/cnc machine accuracy, easy portability, versatility, and almost total dust containment I think you would be willing to spend the money.
There are stories of guys building entertainment centers for customers in the customer living room using the festool system. Doing cutting, routing, and sanding/finishing. The sound/dust was so miminal the contractor wasn't afraid to do it without covering the customers furniture. These tools systems are allowing remodelers, builders, and home hobbyist to do things that 5 years ago were considered impossible. Many handicapped hobbyist are enjoying wood working because they can do it sitting down and in safety both physically and enviromentally.
My interest is both the precision and the sound and dust containment. As I get older I find three things that I didn't consider all that hard when I was younger. First noise, my hearing is going fast enough I don't want to rush it using screaming power tools and vaccums. Second dust, I find each and every breath is becomming more and more precious to me, I would rather have it dust free and not ladened with all the crap people are putting into wood and wood products these days. Third while I can still easily toss sheet goods around I'm learning there is very little genius in doing it. I would rather slide the sheet out of the back of my truck onto a cut table and finish cut it into the exact dimensioned wood I need.
Apparently OSHA and the insurance industry is seeing the benefits of guided tool systems. Many professional shops are seeing huge insurance benefits going to the guided saw system. I'm told OSHA loves the safety and dust containment qualities and almost rubber stamp shops that are using it instead of tablesaws, panel saws, and RAS.
Further I think the industry sees it as the future, why else would Dewalt, Makita, Metabo and many others spend so much in RD developing the guided tool system.
Lastly I see it as real complement to the Shopsmith system and way of doing wood working. Both are space savers, both are high quality, both are unique, both are precision and both have strengths where the other may not be as strong.
One thing get pass thinking it is only for sawing. The guided tools system allows using routers in an almost CNC capabilites, the sanders are capable of taking raw granite down to polished counter tops and doing it with no dust escaping.
The manufacture of the Ezguide system is using his own guides to manufacture the aluminum guides and plastic components of his system. They show examples of using the guide tools systems to cut percision cuts in panels of wood, aluminum and plastic that can only be duplicated on CNC machines.
With the guided tools system it is easy to set up precise x y axis and using the depth of the machine to produce the z axis enabling precise controlled cuts.
Lastly the systems offer things like the Multi function table that is completely portable but is easily setup to produce precise perpendicular/parallel guidance to any tool used on the system. The have bridge and overhead setups to support the tool above the work surface to produce precise surface cuts.
Before you write it off as too expensive perhaps a little investigation should be done. And all of this comes with a HEPA dust containment. What is that worth to your lungs?
If you can't tell I'm sold on the idea.
