Festool... Anyone else tearing their hair out?

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Woodielanger

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Henley on Thames
We are a small workshop with lots of festool. In years gone by, I would rave about festools quality and precision but over the last year or so we have had nothing but problems with every tool, sometimes we have had the same tool repaired 5 times for the same fault.

Has anyone had endless problems with the plug it cable on festool products? If so, have you found a satisfactory solution?

We have 2 orbital sanders and last week, they both went in for new cables and festool said they both also needed new bushes. After 2 years !!! That does not seem like good value for money!

I am sure we don't over use or abuse our tools.

Festool don't seem to be interested in helping anymore ( out of warranty now! ) I wonder if it's possible to re-wire a standard cable?

Sorry about the rant, many thanks for any advice.
 
Ive had no end of problems with the plug it cables. I have hardwired 2 sanders a router and the domino as the leads kept burning out the only one thats still working is the ts55 saw. Most of my tools are out of warranty so i have just removed the male part of the plug it connector on the tools and wired it in direct and havent had any problems. You just need to make sure the cable is held in securely and cannot pull out. The plug it cable design is totally rubbish and i must have spent a small fortune on spare parts and new leads over the years.

cheers

Jon
 
A side of festool I had never heard! Can it be fixed with just a new plug it cable?
 
Chems":28890p17 said:
A side of festool I had never heard! Can it be fixed with just a new plug it cable?
Click to expand...

The problem is the part of the plug it cable that is in the tool wears very quickly resulting in both the lead and the internal socket often getting damaged. I put 4 new parts into my festool ets sander before getting fed up with shelling out and hardwiring a lead. The design is very weak IMO the belt sander I have that has a normal lead hasn't missed a beat and it's done as much work if not more than the other tools.

Cheers

Jon
 
Thanks for your comments, nice to know (in a round about sort of way) that it's nothing we are doing and that were not the only ones!

I will try to hard wire them all. It's a shame, the plug it idea is a good one on paper!

Anyone recommend another brand of orbital sander ? It's the tool we use the most and it's not only the cable the goes wrong, the main bearing goes too causing you to fight with the tool. Dust extraction is important so it would have to have facility for that...

I'm new to the site and Im finding it great to chat to like minded people. Thanks for your comments.
 
I cant afford these things but i think i may have a solution for you too keep the plug "ability".

Get http://www.dcdi.co.uk/product/66/power- ... c13-socket and cut the solid end off and hard wire it to the device.

Then get http://www.dcdi.co.uk/product/66/power- ... c13-socket and use it to connect.

One advantage of this is the cables are cheap and you can by the C13 & C14 ends in Maplins without the cable so it it wears out you can replace quite cheaply.

You can also do this for higher rated items on multiple phases using slightly different cables e.g. C19 & C20
http://www.dcdi.co.uk/product/66/power- ... 4QodDluEAA

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IEC_connector lists all the different types & their ratings.
 
Meanwhile they continue to break the law re insisting on no-discounts/RPM but the OFT will do bu**er all about it. Shame the OFT hasn't got the balls of their contemporaries in Australia.
 
you could quote Sale of Goods as not fit for purpose if you can demonstrate you have older / cheaper equipment that still works and/or the problem is widespread and so must be a build defect.

or if the equip is expensive threaten with small claims as it will cost them more to defend than to just fix the issues.

IANAL but might be worth a try if you are really pineappled off.
 
I do like Festool stuff but I must admit nearly every Festool I have bought has had some problem. Some were small things like the fence for my planer wasnt parallel to the planer and my of1010 router had a lot more vibration than I would have expected from such an expensive router. I had the OF1010 replaced but now Ive noticed unless you really crank the plunge knob tightly it will loosen off which is very bad. Festool always seem to sort things out quickly but these problems shouldnt happen when you are paying their prices.

PS ive not noticed any problem with any of my "Plug it's" but maybe the 110v ones are tougher or something.
 
Festool - I was once told it stood for

"Fairly expensive stuff, typically overpriced, often lousy!"

Sorry if I have offended anyone on hear who loves Festool.

Rog
 
Pvt_Ryan said:
I cant afford these things but i think i may have a solution for you too keep the plug "ability".

Maybe Festool tools are like those female woman, You spend years coverting them and saving money for them but once you have got one they only let you down and leave you with an empty wallet !! Tee Hee, of coarse my wife's lovely actually !


I thought buy cheap buy twice, Not buy premium and buy twice! Thanks for the links, I will look into that idea, It may well be a winner !


On a positive note, Our Makita tools keep going on and on with not one fault ! Maybe there lies the key ...

Many thanks to all.
Click to expand...
 
My TS55 is worth its weight in gold though.

Yesterday I had to build a fancy open wall unit on a kitchen Im fitting and rather than being the usual ready made hang it on the wall and add the doors job it had to be built from loads of melamine end panels etc. Anyway using the TS55 saw and rail I cut all the various bits up and put it together not one chip in sight and all cut perfectly square in no time at all, try doing that with a hand saw or a normal circular saw.
 
I agree that the ts55 plung saw absolutely transformed what we could acheave on site. I don't know what we would have done without it. Accuracy and speed in a compact tool and completely unique when it came out.

We still use ours on site for shooting doors in. We prefer using that than a planer.

It's the cost v reliability issue thats let us down. Although I have to say our ts55 has been one of the more reliable festool tools, but not without plug it problems!
 
Its the second mouse to the trap that gets the cheese-cheers guys sometimes its a blessing not having more money than sense :idea:
 
barkwindjammer":1wf3hcco said:
Its the second mouse to the trap that gets the cheese-cheers guys sometimes its a blessing not having more money than sense :idea:
Click to expand...

whats that all about ?????????????

:? :? :? :? :? :? :? :? :? you got me there very strange quote. I would love to have more money than sense :D
 

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