Thread: Tale of Two Routers (and a guide bush)

Originally Posted by Tisorp

Donald,
I presume the reason you purchased a Festool router ( and therefore paid a premium price ) was that you expected it to be, amongst other things, significantly more accurate than comparably powered machines at a lesser price.

Yes

Originally Posted by Tisorp

Since this has turned out not to be the case it seems reasonable to request that Festool or their representatives explain, to you and the rest of us, why this is so. Is your tool just a ´one off` Monday lemon? Are your measurements erroneous? Or Is Festool quality merely advertising hype?

I suspect so

Originally Posted by Tisorp

I am surprised (disappointed) that you have not been contacted by the manufacturers offering to examine and, if necessary, replace your faulty router. The retailer appears to have behaved most admirably in offering to take the machine back but that is not really the point They (Festool) must be aware of your post since they (presumably) contribute to the costs of this forum. Perhaps they are hoping this will all soon be forgotten or perhaps there is no good explanation to offer.

I suspect so

I have decided to return the router. Festool don't have a manufacturing tolerance. At least not a public one. I doubt that they will respond, as to do so will confirm that. It is better for them to leave it alone and "let sleeping dogs lie". Short memories and all that.

I have also noticed that when you turn the router upside down and plunge say half way (power disconnected, as I am just inspecting), there is in fact free movement with the base relative to the bit/motor. ie if I put pressure on one side only, the base moves to one side relative to the bit. I would consider that there is too much clearance in the plunge guides. Not a problem when it is in the fixed mode, it just stays off centre.

It is interesting that they do quote the depth control adjustable to 0.1mm. I would have been nice to get the tolerances to be the same in terms of concentricity and repeatability.

I am not sure it is a "lemon" in the normal sense. Just a wide range of "acceptable" outcomes as the tool comes off the assembly line.

It is disappointing, as I had to psyche myself up to buy it in the first place.

I will now have to go back to the drawing board to find a router for the purposes that I bought the Festool.

Cheers

Donald (on the Rock)

OK. So I'm now going to admit to my ignorance. I've read the entire thread a couple of times and am left wondering exactly what the outcome of this problem is, in practical woodworking terms?

soth

Originally Posted by masoth

OK. So I'm now going to admit to my ignorance. I've read the entire thread a couple of times and am left wondering exactly what the outcome of this problem is, in practical woodworking terms?

soth

In practical woodworkng terms, I would suppose it depends on how one views the world. In a truly practical sense, one hopes to get what you pay for, in the expectation of getting just that.

Secondly, the extra $500 spent in attempting to "get what you pay for" could have been spent on something else, in practical woodworking terms, another tool.

Other than that, nothing!

I am aware that the world of Woodworking isnt quite in the same relm of Fitting and Turning and clearly a little more forgiving. But life isnt that simple or else we would all have Ozitools stuff (no offence meant to Ozitool owners! )

Cheers

Donald (On the Rock)

The epilogue to the tale.

I did return the router to the dealer from which I did purchase it. He was willing to accept it as a return. He forwarded it onto to Festool. I haven’t had a response from Festool, not really a surprise from what I have learned elsewhere.

I have since relooked at routers. I went into a shop that had basically all the brands, The Good, The Bad and The Ugly.

I was unable to check on the concentricity as I didn’t have access to the necessary guide bushes and bits.

I did checked them all for side play in the plunge mechanism, and the smoothness of the plunge.

Interestingly, in the bunch of 1/2'' routers, the two current Hitachi routers (made in Taiwan) were probably the worst for free play. In fact they were dreadful (~ 2mm of play in the body with the plunge unlocked). They were also clunky in their action.

The best were the Dewalt 625E and the biggest Festool (OF2200) (which is a bit of a brute and cost $1300 bare).

I ended up with a Dewalt ($470), and have since got it home.

It has the same lack of concentricity as the Festool, but virtually zero free play on the plunge columns.

The plunge does work smoothly, and has the conventional thumb lever to lock the plunge.

The depth setting adjuster is similar to the Festool.

The base size and shape is better suited to the Leigh Jig, for my purposes anyway.

The collet chuck has a depth of 64mm (~2.5in), so there is no problem in the bit bottoming out with the result of increasing the likelihood of bit jamming in or the chuck letting go. (My old Hitachi has a chuck depth of around 30mm.)

So, "in a practical sense" I got better than an equivalent machine, with less side play and $500 in the bank for the pleasure (and another toy).

The only thing I miss out on is the quick stop feature of the OF1400.

But such is life!

Cheers
Donald (on the Rock)

hi fraserbluff, your story is a mirror image of my own experience.
i posted on the FOG website(your thread) about this problem.

every little detail you have experienced and explained here, i have had the exact same issues.

i believe in the festool brand, i think they make fantastic tools, but it is very disappointing that they have not taken any action to rectify this problem.

the major flaw that i see is simple. the OF1400 router comes with a fast clip on guide adaptor. if this was a normal screw on type, you could adjust it to suit the leigh guide bush. that is exactly what i do with the OF1010 and OF2000 and it works perfectly.

done. i hope festool read this and your thread on the FOG website, surely they can put their very intelligent heads together and work this out for us poor humble carpenters/wood butchers!

p.s. do you agree with my solution fraserbluff or do i need to take my medication now?
regards, justin.

That would probably fix it. Or Festool get their act together and machine all the parts concentrically.

Cheers

Donald (On the Rock)