im going to buy a load of festool gear ive been searching around where did you lot buy from ? cheers lads lee
no one discounts them but free stuff can be thrown in and good customer service goes along way. its over rated anyway
Same as most brands you should pick and choose. The TS55 in my opinion is underated, coupled up with the guide rails it is a real earner, routers are good but there are better about, in my opinion bosch make the best jigsaws on the market, festools systainers are unparalleled though, it would be tough to think up a more user friendly system for organising and moving kit about, saves me at least 2hrs a week, so £300 well spent on systainers and rolling boards. Kapex is a nice bit of kit but very expensive and in my opinion a bit over engineered.
well im going for the ts55 i think but how is it on solid wood worktops ? and rails im gunna upgrade to systainers for the rest of my kit too and i might strech out for an extractor too lee
i agree with lamello. i have said a few times that festool live off the plunge saw the rest of the stuff is good but overpriced.
Ive got the fein qa35 extractor and its very good. No bells no whistles, nothing to go wrong, but very effective.
I had to fit some stainless steel plinths to a kitchen on Friday and used my Festool gear to trim it all in to uneven floors. All the time I was think how its worth every penny I used my TS55 saw with vac and rails to cut it all and planer to scribe. They save so much time compared to any other brand of tools. Yes I do agree some of their tools are not so good but most are really good. The plinths I had to fit were chipboard with a metallic foil coating and the saw cut it with no tear out or chipping whatsoever and no sign of dust anywhere.
Absolutely agree Chippie, the saw and rails are as near to a perfect setup for cutting to a line as you can get in my opinion, some other festool gear sells on its name only but the TS55 is a cut above. There are some bits of kit that are just perfectly designed and tailormade for making money, the Fein Multimaster is in the same category as well, as is in my opinion the Blue Bosch 14.4v planer and jigsaw, simple tough and accurate.
Elliots seem to do the best prices for blades (elliots4tools.co.uk) and a few other bits and pieces as well. Don't have any rip blades for my TS55, just use the 48-tooth general purpose blade that came with the saw, no problem. Without hi-jacking the thread, does anyone know where you can get blades sharpened, ideally sent and returned by post? I've tried googling, but without much success. Cheers, Pete
Handyman, these guys resharpen blades really well. dont know if they do 'mail order' though, suppose you will have to ring them. Gerrymet LTD. Unit 5 & 6/Maybrook Industrial Estate, Maybrook Road, Walsall, West Midlands, WS8 7DG (West Midlands) Phone: 01543 378805 Fax: 01543 361045 s-s
just take em to local tool shop and they will send em off to be sharpened if you dont know your local place. I take mine to lm saw services and pay about £7
Thanks fellas. The only local tool shop I have that offers the service is in the con. charge zone, so I either have to try and remember to keep blades in the van and try drop them off when I'm over that way, or pay the charge - £8 each way, plus £20 to sharpen = not worth it, even for a Festool blade! I'll give them a try. Cheers, Pete.