Jronman

Festool just had an event and announced a major redesign to the 12v CXS and TXS. It looks to have a new battery pack more akin to the current 18v design but smaller. It even has a fuel display. The stand out feature to me is the 12v drills are now compatible with the 18v chucks meaning chucks are now completely compatible across the entire Festool drill lineup. I think that is a great move because you don't have to buy a bunch of chucks that work with only one model of drill. There was also a new cordless saw using two batteries like the Kapex but with a fence that is very different. The fence has the ability to angle almost more like a metal cutting saw but it seemed more like a wood cutting saw but I could be wrong.

I'm not much in the know on Metric shank bits. Is there a second Metric size of shank that is common? 1/4 inch is quite common here especially on the smaller routers.

Also the same product but under 100 different names issue is quite bad too. I don't want gkjhg drill or astwre drill or [fill in the blank no name brand] drill. I want a DeWALT or a Milwaukee or a [fill in the blank name brand] drill.

The two KREK2440 clamp kits I ordered came the other day I also got the Ultra Shear bit in. To my surprise it came with a RackBit base included. I might have to try out the full RackBit system priced a bit high though.

The Ultra Shear bit came in and to my surprise it came with a holder that is part of Woodpeckers RackBit system. I don't have the system but since it came with a holder I might have to give it a try. I checked prices and it seems alright. Priced high as expected but not crazy high I guess. Only thing is you can't buy the wall brackets without the bit holders and the bit holders come in one option that fits 1/2 inch and 1/4 inch shanks. for most of my needs that works great but I do have a few router bits that are not either of those sizes. They are 8mm metric shank if I remember correctly. It would be nice to have a holder option that fits the common metric shank size.

Are you using a water based finish like Minwax Polycrylic? Polycrylic is white and can leave spots if you have runs or other excess finish. I don't remember the spots being small and many. usually it would be a larger spot here and there more commonly along inside or outside edges if you didn't brush it out well enough. Minwax Polyurethane is a more yellow color. Making sure the finish is brushed out evenly is important in preventing uneven finish. Less is almost more. You can alway apply more thin coats to get the desired protection you want. In terms of cleaning, I normally use a tack cloth. I don't recall how mineral spirits work. I have also taken a cloth and rubbed in a very small amount of the finish into it and cleaned that way if a tack cloth is not an option. Just enough to make the cloth tacky but not too much as to be applying the finish to the workpiece.

I have enough of the Total Boat thin pour epoxy I got awhile back to do one board then I will open up the deep pour I have on order from Black Forest Wood Co. to do future boards. It should give me an idea on how much time a deep pour epoxy saves me. I have a few boards planned for family to increase my portfolio. My portfolio is currently just the one board. Having pictures of other boards could give potential customers a general idea of the types of customization they are able to do.

Usually tools get released at unknown dates and I like knowing that a tool is coming today. I might not know what tool but I know one is coming

I was recently in the market for a high end router bit and noticed a seemingly unique approach to router bits from Woodpeckers. Woodpeckers under their Ultra Shear branding is releasing a new router bit every Tuesday, and the new bit has a lower price the first week it goes on sale. I thought it is an interesting approach to product launches. What are your guys thoughts? Do you like the idea of a consistent launch of 1 to 2 router bits a week (or fill in the blank tool product launch), or would you prefer big product launches but less frequent and you don't know when they will drop? Part of me says why do they have to impose a seemingly artificial delay of launching router bits but another part of me says every Tuesday I can expect an email advertising the next router bit drop and the fact it has special pricing the first week it is available for sale might make it worth the wait.

20 hours was first attempt at using epoxy and first attempt attempt at making a cutting board/serving tray. It is no surprise it took so long. Cutting the time down should be easy. Using a deep pour epoxy should drop it down at least 4 hours alone. In terms of price a figure I saw for lawn mowing (my main occupation) is I should be charging a minimum of $60 an hour. I thought maybe it would be a similar rate for woodworking. 20 hours on a board would be $1200 usd. I don't expect anyone would spend that much on an 18 inch x 10 inch x 1-1/2 inch serving tray when you can buy epoxy cutting boards or charcuterie boards off etsy for a tenth the price that are listed as customizable. Sure those are using live edge boards where I am making my own boards with narrow strips of wood. I am also cutting a custom "river" into them for the epoxy instead of using a live edge as the "river". Also I will be cutting a letter of the customers choosing and cutting a border around the letter which also adds time. 10 hours is $600 and that still is a lot. That does not include material cost which is about $90 per board. I can't do mass scale production of boards to get cost down, but I do have 4 forms I can use to pour the epoxy meaning I could in theory make 4 boards at once. This could save some time. I want to save time without sacrificing quality. I included a picture of what I plan to build more of. The green "river" is what takes a lot of time. with it being 1-1/2 inch thick and only being able to cut maybe a 1/4 inch depth at a time it takes 6 passes plus an additional finish pass. I am hoping to cut that time down. Cutting the green river was a bit sketchy because the router was max depth with the bit slid down the collet a bit more than it should have been to reach the full depth of the board. I think the new method I am going to try will be much better overall regardless of if it saves time or not. Cutting out the part with the black epoxy is not something I think I can optimize much if any. I could speed up the board making process if I used live edge wood but then I wouldn't get the look of it being pieced together with narrow strips of wood.

I ordered two 4 packs of bessey kre clamps on sale for $193 per pack. Not a bad price for bessey clamps. Hopefully they come to the right address this time. I double and triple checked to make sure it was sold by Amazon and not some no name seller. I also decided on the router bit I wanted to order. I decided to go with the Ultra Shear from Woodpeckers compression 2+2 flute spiral router bit with the half inch shank.

@Altan thank you for the info. I am planning to try building another serving tray like one I previously built but in an effort to try and optimize and cut build time down I was going to try a different method to do a part I previously did completely with my Shaper Origin cnc. I want to eventually sell the boards so being more time efficient is needed. Took me 20 hours to do the first board but my goal is to get it down to 10 hours per board. I am still going to cut a shallow pass with my cnc then rough pass the full depth with the jig saw and finish pass the full depth with the flush cut bit referencing off the shallow pass I made with the cnc. With the cnc being not fully automatic, it takes a long time to go the full depth especially since it is only a 1/4 inch collat and a relatively low power rating. Eventually I might upgrade to a fully automatic cnc that would have more power but that is going to be awhile.

It has been awhile since I last hopped on the forum. It is nice to be back. I am looking in the not too distant future to get a flush cut spiral router bit. Something 1/2 inch shank and 2 inch long. I could possibly get by with an 1-1/2 inch cutter length but it would be super close since what I will use the bit for will be around 1-1/2 inch thick. I saw Woodpeckers is starting to sell some bits under the Ultra Shear branding. I have purchased tools from Woodpeckers that are great but have yet to try out their Ultra Shear line of tools. I have also used blades from Amana that are good. Whiteside is the only brand of the three that I have used router bits from. Whiteside makes a good router bit. I own one router bit from Amana but have yet to use it and can’t give much thoughts on it yet. Does anyone have any experience with spiral flush cut bits? Of these three brands is there one that is noticeably better than the others or are they all offering roughly the same bits? Is there another premium brand I should consider? I am NOT willing to buy a Chinesium/El Cheapo bit. I am only looking at premium or better. I also see there is 2, 3, and 2+2 (are these the same as 4 flute?) flute bits. Is the 2+2 flute something I should spend the extra for or should I stick with 2 flute? Maybe 3 flute would be a nice middle ground? Should I bother with a compression bit? Upcut and downcut are also options. The offerings from the three brands are in what I feel is a premium price point. $90-$130 usd depending on what options I go with for Ultra Shear. Not sure on the pricing for the other brands.

I have the old model. I wonder what is different about this model.

The listing for the commercial products listed above I could not find on the website I posted above. Not sure on details why. The non commercial products and the commercial backpack blower new for 2023 are still listed. While this North American Ego parts site no longer has them listed, some European sites still have more of the new commercial products listed.

Wow a grinder wheel more expensive than the grinder itself.

oh cool I didn't realize it had the secondary feature to level tiles.

I didn't know there was an art to crystal clear ice cubes. I'm not really an ice cube guy myself. Takes up extra space in my 1 gallon Yeti I use for work. I gotta maximize space to get the most out of my jug in the hot summer temps. I'm not really a fridge temp water guy either.

So this is basically like a Grabo but with DeWALT batteries instead of integrated batteries?

kinda surprised to see the xr branding to be honest.

I just wish we had a more definitive release date and the info for the modular charging system. Mow season is just starting and I could really use that 17in string trimmer haha.

oh yeah I have seen these I think. Makes more sense now. Honestly I would buy the micro systainer bit cases over many of the other options since many other options are not modular. They aren't the best option but better than many. The Festool super fan is gonna buy this regardless. The average Festool user who has a festool drill and who also has to pick between these micro systainer bit cases or the attic systainer inserts, I think the majority are going to go the attic systainer inserts. In some cases the drill already comes with an attic systainer, and it just makes more sense to buy the insert that fits into the attic than buying a completely separate box. I like flex's implementation of modular bit cases. they fit together and also fit onto the stack pack. I recently saw Milwaukee is coming out with modular bit inserts. I don't recall if they are cases or not but I know they are designed to fit into packout baxes.

Thanks to powerplusparts.com I found pricing on the new commercial products. I was recently going to buy parts for my ego snowblower and did some snooping on this sitewas surprised to find listings for the second generation commercial line including prices. EGO Power+ LBPX8006-2 Commercial 800 CFM Backpack Blower with 2 x 10.0Ah Battery and Dual Port Charger - $1299 EGO Power+ LBPX8004-2 Commercial Backpack Blower Kit 800 CFM with 2x 6Ah Battery & 280W Dual Port Charger - $699 EGO LBPX8000 Commercial Dual-Port Backpack Blower Tool Only - $399 EGO Power+ STX4500 Commercial 17.5” String Trimmer Tool Only - $299 EGO Power+ BCX4500 Commercial Bike Handle Brush Cutter Tool Only - $399 EGO Power+ HTX5300-P Commercial 21” Short Pole Hedge Trimmer Tool Only - $349 EGO Power+ HTX5300-PA Commercial 21” Articulating Pole Hedge Trimmer Tool Only - $399 EGO Power+ HTX5310-P Commercial 21” Extended Pole Hedge Trimmer Tool Only - $379 EGO Power+ EDX2000 Commercial Straight Shaft Edger Tool Only - $349 EGO Power+ EDX2000-C Commercial Curved Shaft Edger Tool Only - $299 EGO Power+ PSX2510 Commercial 10” Pole Saw Tool Only - $399 EGO Power+ CHUX6000 Commercial 6-Port Mobile Charging Case Tool Only - $699 There were no listings for the new modular charging system including the what I will call the "brain" that controls all the chargers, the 3 port charger module, the dual port module with off the grid charge feature, and the new giant battery for the dual port charger. Also we did not get any accessories like the user replaceable electronics, trimmer heads, blades, etc. I think the 10 in pole saw does have replacement chain and bar listed. I also saw some new "premium" twist trimmer line. not sure what is premium about it. There were also a few other listings for new products that weren't specifically commercial. EGO Power+ MST1603 Multi-Head 16" String Trimmer With POWERLOAD™ technology, 4Ah Battery and Charger - $399 EGO Power+ PH1420 POWER+ Power Head with Carbon Fiber Shaft (Battery, Charger, and Attachments Not Included) - $179 EGO Power+ BCA1220 12” Brush Cutter Attachment with Carbon Fiber Shaft - $209 EGO Power+ HT2600 26" Hedge Trimmer with Carbon Fiber Rail - Battery and Charger Not Included - $199 A bunch of mowers and a few other things also listed

The thing with Festool is it is integrated into their systainer lids. Something Festool has had since even the second gen systainers. Not sure if the version for the third gen systainers are any different than the second gen systainers. I feel while it may not be a modular bit case like what DeWALT, Flex, and others have introduced, the attic syatainer is more unique than just a bit case. It isn't that it isn't successful, it just serves a somewhat different customer base. If you're the type who buys a Festool drill, then you're probably going to want the Festool attic systainer to store bits. If you're the type to buy just a regular bit case, are you also going to be buying a Festool drill?

I was thinking about Ego tools today. (lawn season for the midwest is only a few weeks away) Anyone have any word on a release date for the updated Ego commercial line? Ego said 2023 but was no more specific than that. I am interested to try out the new charging system and the 17 inch string trimmer. I currently use a few of the regular chargers and one commercial series charger. I have a small charging station I built that I cable managed a year or 2 ago but to have essentially one cable for every battery would be super nice and the abilioty to throw any amount of batteries on chargers without having to think about tripping the breaker would also be nice. I would probably start with 2 chargers then get another one or 2 as I see fit.