New Woodpeckers Festool add on

[Kent A Bathurst]

OK - this thread made me - for the first time ever - look at the details of the MFT system on-line.

Never saw one in captivity.

From the cheap seats, I can't see how that thing would be sturdy enough to meet my requirements, but then, I am not lugging my stuff into jobsites - especially my workbench[es].

The most interesting thing - there is a lot - a LOT - of Woodpecker things listed for click-and-buy on the Festool site. Co-marketing, or whatever the word is. Clearly thy have an arrangement where Woodpecker designs and builds these accessories, and both companies make them available for sale.

Nothing inherently wrong with that - they have developed a separation of labor to take best advantage of the core competencies of both. That's smart, in my world.

But....when you look at those Woodpecker accessories, you are - pragmatically - looking at Green Kool Aid with a different color scheme. I wonder - what is Festool's rake off-the-top for each "sanctioned" Woodpecker item? Makes that giant price on the setup square more easily understood - 20% would be fifty bucks - just made up a number that is high, but maybe not all that unreasonable [representing the "value" of the Festool name and nod of approval, and the fact that Festool Owners are, by definition, willing to pay a premium price]

ANyway - as you were gentlemen - it was a Red Letter day for me, so I thought I'd toss in the comments.

[Fidel Fernandez]

Domino 500. Skew fence, you have to be aware that you have to retighten the fence after a couple or mortices. It will creep up and your mortices will be skewed, etc.
TS is prone to kick back. I was cutting and then I get a kick back, mainly my fault. There was time to replace my saw and tried to buy the TS REQ and it was in recall. I ordered the Mafell MT55cc and that is how the saws should it be. I tried by force to make it kick back, I am not being able to do so. The saw prevents that, it stops the blade.
My festool guide has some scars to prove how dangerous a kick back is.

Sanders, So many issues. The delta DTS400, froze one day after sanding some drywall and wood. I use my Festool vacuum all the time. I had to open it a vacuum/blow/brush all the dust.
The velcro grip at the tip is gone after a few uses.

Saw Guides. I have accepted the way to joing the guides to make sure they were straight. I have the new Mafell guides and now I know how they guides should it be. They are always straight because the join system is superior as the Festool. The sacrificial strip ungluing all the time and you have to buy your own glue to fix it.

Sanders, I had to remove the on/off switch on my ETS and DTS to sand it a little bit so they work smooth. Before it was really hard to move them. I accepted that kept working and using them after I sand them.

The tip hose the one you attach to the different tools, I have to put it together all the time. The rubber locks don't stay put. It is very common problem in the festool owners group. It was reported originally by the first forum owner Matthew Schenker so it is an old problem never fixed.

The plunge bars on the routers gets rusty very easy. My other routers never had that problem.

Sanders you have to let it run about 8 hours before they work smooth. That should it be done in the factory.

The drill clutch cannot hold the bits very well, many cases reported about bits falling. It happen to me very often.

There are a lot more, that I can keep writing. All those happen to me, but I "accepted" the way the festool tools work.

I am not talking isolated problems, these are real issues that shouldn't exist. What happen is we accept them and decided is ok. It shouldn't, for the money we pay.

Let me explain something and that will explain my issues. Festool makes great machinery (motors), They will last for many years. I don't know if the plastic/rubber things and add ons are outsourced and made by third parties. That is the weakest link in the Festool brand and people just accepted. There are other brands that work better some are more expensive and other are not.
I am bless to have a profession that allows me to buy this premium tools, but I want my money to be well spent.
You said the MFT rail hinge is easily solved, You shouldn't have to fix this problem. It shouldn't exist. It is a premium brand with a big flaw.

Is there a difference when you buy a tool and doesn't work and you return it for warranty. This is not the case we accept the problem and we live with it.
Imagine if you have to setup your Table saw every 5 cuts, because it is not square after the 5 cuts. I would return that type of machine, but not the festool. Why we accept that?? That is my question.

[Ty Williams]

I'm surprised at that list. I don't really participate much on the FOG, so I have no idea how common that stuff is. I will say that I use my tools quite a lot and I'm not especially nice to them. I have most of the tools you listed there and haven't had a single problem with any of them. I'm especially impressed that you have kickback problems with the track saws as that should be very difficult.

[Fidel Fernandez]

Well, like I said it was mostly my fault.

I plunged into the plywood before the saw was at max speed and got the kickback. My festool guide FS has the battle scars losing to the kickback.

I tried to do the same thing with the Mafell MT55CC and the Bosh/Mafell guides and the saw won't let the kickbad to happen. The blade is stopped and the saw moves up maybe 3 or 4 mm. (less than ¼ of an inch). The blade is never exposed above the guide.

The amazing thing is that this particular safety feature is not even advertised for the MT55CC, they just made it so the user is protected. That is what I expect from Festool, but I don't have it.

[Greg R Bradley]

.......
The most interesting thing - there is a lot - a LOT - of Woodpecker things listed for click-and-buy on the Festool site. Co-marketing, or whatever the word is. Clearly thy have an arrangement where Woodpecker designs and builds these accessories, and both companies make them available for sale.

Nothing inherently wrong with that - they have developed a separation of labor to take best advantage of the core competencies of both. That's smart, in my world.

But....when you look at those Woodpecker accessories, you are - pragmatically - looking at Green Kool Aid with a different color scheme. I wonder - what is Festool's rake off-the-top for each "sanctioned" Woodpecker item? Makes that giant price on the setup square more easily understood - 20% would be fifty bucks - just made up a number that is high, but maybe not all that unreasonable [representing the "value" of the Festool name and nod of approval, and the fact that Festool Owners are, by definition, willing to pay a premium price]

ANyway - as you were gentlemen - it was a Red Letter day for me, so I thought I'd toss in the comments.

I'm confused. There is nothing for sale on Festool's site, Festoolusa.com. Festools have to be bought from authorized dealers and there are no other brands for sale on the site either. Are you getting ads from pop ups? Are you looking at a dealer that sells both? Also, I don't see anything authorized about Woodpecker's MFT accessory. Where is that coming from? Am I missing something?

[Wade Lippman]

Domino 500. Skew fence, you have to be aware that you have to retighten the fence after a couple or mortices. It will creep up and your mortices will be skewed, etc.
TS is prone to kick back. I was cutting and then I get a kick back, mainly my fault.

I have never had these problems. Don't know about the Mafell being better, but since there is no problem with the Festools... Any tool is dangerous if you misuse it.

[Kent A Bathurst]

Are you looking at a dealer that sells both?

Right you are - I was completely wrong. I don't frequent Festool sites, and this place had the "auth dealer' off in a corner, with the big Festool logo and banner right up front. I took the head-fake.

Never mind.