Festool introduced a new hand sander at the 2009 AWFS that uses the same 6″ hook-and-loop disc abrasives their orbital sanders use. I thought these sanders looked familiar, so I searched the Toolmonger archives and found this post from Rick. Hmmm, they look pretty similar, don’t they?  The question is, did Festool copy this design, or are they relabeling a pre-existing product?

The ergonomically designed sander design is reminiscent of a computer mouse. On the bottom of the foam sander is a hard pad that backs the sandpaper and helps with shaping and coarse sanding. The sanders use 6″ abrasive discs which wrap up around the sides. Festool claims it’s designed to use their 6″ abrasive discs, but in all probability you can use any flexible abrasive discs.

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Festool’s MFT/3 basic multifunction table looks like a piece of thick pegboard with some legs from a card table. It’s more than that, we think. It also comes with rails and a lot of options and accessories; however the $475 sticker shock that comes with it is a lot to take.

The folks at Festool call it “The Evolution Of The Workbench,” but the next generation workbench weighs 54 pounds. That doesn’t seem very “Next” to us. It does feature a 43 3/8″ × 28 1/4″ work surface, a 35 7/16″ working height, and can be folded up to 7 3/32″ thick for stowage, which is cool.

Our question is: what does this have over the Vika Twofold that doubles as a scaffold and runs about $130, or maybe a hollow-core door across two saw horses? What do you think — are we missing something, or is this a little on the steep side for what it delivers? Let us know in comments.

Festool [Manufacturer's Site]
Vika Twofold [Manufacturer's Site]
Street Pricing [Google Products]

Looks like Festool has pulled an April Fools Day joke on their customers. They were planning to introduce the EHL 65E one-handed planer on April 1st, but according to the latest SysNotes they’re delaying the introduction for some unknown reason — possibly because they realized April Fools Day might not be the best day to introduce a product.

To optimize the EHL 65E for one-handed use, Festool gives it an ergonomic handle, makes it well-balanced, and keeps the weight down to 5.3lbs.  The 2-9/16″ wide spiral-head cutter can shear up to 5/32″ of material at a time.  A large knob on the front allows you to adjust depth in 1/256″ increments.  Finally, this wouldn’t be a Festool tool without high-efficiency dust extraction.  You can attach the dust port to either the left or right side of the planer.

Of course Festool manufactures the planer in Germany.  It’ll retail for $390 whenever they decide to release it.

EHL 65E [Festool]
SysNotes [Festool]
EHL 65E [McFeely's]
EHL 65E [AceTool]

Festool built the TS 75 circ saw with the same formula as their TS 55, but with more of everything.  Like the TS 55, this high-end circular saw can safely plunge into a sheet of wood, and it’s not your average 2×4-chopper or deck-builder, but a fine tool for fine woodworking.  But while the TS 55 boasted an impressive 55″ guide rail, the TS 75’s rail is 75″ long.  The TS 75 also sports a bigger 8-1/4″ blade; it runs at thirteen amps, three more than its little brother; and it weighs an extra three and a half pounds.

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Once you see Festool’s new parallel guide system, you may start to question whether you really need your table saw.  The system works in conjunction with their guide rail to give you consistent rip cuts.

The guide has a pair of stops that hold the edge of the material parallel to the rip guide — you can adjust them to make cuts up to 25-19/32″ deep.  A separate extension attaches to the parallel guides with a thumb screw and allows you to make repeatable narrow rip cuts from 1/16″ to 7-11/16″.

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A few months ago in their SysNotes Newsletter, Festool announced the launch of their Imperial-Metric tape measure. The tape reads in both imperial and metric units, incorporates a window in the top of the case for reading measurements against a wall, and creates arcs or circles with a flip-out tab.

Just yesterday I spotted a tape measure from BMI that looked very familiar and matched the Festool tape feature for feature. I’m not the only one who noticed the similarity — after digging I found some Festool owners had already commented on it in the Festool Owner’s Group forum.

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With the Gecko suction cup holder from Festool, you can lift and carry loads with smooth, non-porous surfaces that weigh over 100 lbs — pretty cool.  Add the guide rail adapter to all that coolness, and you can hold Festool guide rails on any surface that the Gecko will cling to, without using clamps.

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The long wait for the Festool sliding miter saw may actually be over. Distributors are taking pre-orders, and they expect the tools to arrive by early July. But some Toolmongers may still be a bit skeptical, and rightfully so — Festool first teased us with the KS 120 about a year ago, and since then we’ve only had a few pictures and wishful thinking to go on.

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If you’re thinking of buying directly from the Festool site, you’d better hurry — they’re closing the virtual doors on their web catalog April 1st. This comes as a bit of a surprise, but we’re guessing the tools aren’t flying off the shelves directly from the site.

So if you haven’t found a local Festool dealer, you’ve got about three weeks left to get your Net-shop on. We understand why they’re going this way, but it’s always nice to have the option of going straight to the source, especially if you aren’t close to a dealer.

Press Release [Festool USA]

A look at the Festool site will have fans of the green and black drooling over the May release of the MFK 700 multi-purpose routing tool. The 700 features a quick-change base that switches from vertical to horizontal mode in about six seconds and requires no additional tools.

The video on the Festool site makes the unit seem pretty slick. The MFK 700 features good stuff like a 10k - 26k RPM motor and a connection for a dust collection attachment. The unit will weigh in at 4.2 lbs and will ship with the adjustable base attachment. Nothing on price yet — but if it follows general Festool pricing, “cheap” won’t be the word to describe it.

MFK 700 [Festool]

Festool’s Domino joiner has seen a lot of positive press this year — from us and others. It was even included in PopSci’s Best of What’s New 2007, with our hearty recommendation as part of the selection committee. But those of you who read past the basics know that you’ll need a variety of various-sized cutters and Domino tenons to really make use of Festool’s new rig. Thankfully, they now offer a sweet case to store your collection in a style worthy of this high-buck tool.

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Why detail sand by hand when you can buy a power tool to do it for you? To mimic hand sanding, the Festool Duplex LS 130 EQ linear sander’s head reciprocates in a straight motion. This allows it to sand with the grain, which leaves less visible scratches. And when you consider the advantages of finishing the job up to three times faster and landing most of the dust in your dust collection system instead of on you, its price of $290 doesn’t sound so high.

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When I visited my local Rockler shop this weekend, I noticed Festool products randomly littered through the store.  Then I saw a very large half-assembled Festool display case.  So I asked the sales guy about it, and he confirmed that on September 11th, Rockler will start selling Festool Power Tools in their retail stores.

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Most drill chuck clutches stop when the drill applies a certain measure of torque.  If you’re using all the same fasteners and driving into exactly the same material, that translates to approximately the same drive depth.  But Festool’s new FastFix “depth-stop” chuckstops at a fixed depth every time — no more worrying about variations in wood density.

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Above, you’ll find an artfully-posed photo Festool’s entry into the miter saw world: a $1,758 monster loaded with all sorts of kick-ass features you wish you had.  We’ll write more about this when we have time to digest the spec sheet that’s as long as my, um, arm.  But in the meantime, drool away.

This sander from Festool offers the ability to switch from a “rotary” mode — which removes lots of material — to a random orbiate mode that’s appropriate for fine sanding and polishing.  Add to that a tool-free disc change system and you have one interesting little sander.

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Festool will soon release their new “domino” joiner system, and as we’re always pretty excited to see new power tool systems on the market, this is no exception.  Festool is kind enough to provide some great info about the new joiner right on their website, so we took a gander. 

The new domino system uses a router bit which both spins and sweeps from side to side to carve out a mortise in which you insert a solid beech tenon.  There are three width settings which allow you to use the Domino for exact registration or a looser fit for easier assembly.  It can join members that are as small as 7/8” by 5/8”, and you can use the largest tenon or combinations of tenons for larger furniture pieces.

The big news, though, is that unlike normal “biscuit” joints, the joint in this case is square, domino-shaped solid beech tenon, which Festool claims has a greater sheer strength and larger glue surface for a more solid joint.

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