Site Update, it’s now easier to find stuff!!!!

Hi All,

Well, a couple of things to cover today. Firstly, the Festool sale at Just Tools last Friday and Saturday went gangbusters. I’m off work today with a rotten dose of the Flu so I havent seen the final wash up but I reckon that close to 100 tools went out through the door and over the web during the two day period. It was good to catch up with everyone and on behalf of the sales team at Just Tools I’d like to say thanks for your support.

I’ve updated the theme on the site today which will make it a bit easier to track down particular articles. If for instance you’re looking for information on the Rotex, click on the “about” button and on the right side at the top there’s a category header with a drop down list showing all the article categories on the site. Click on the Rotex Tab and all articles on the Rotex will be listed.

When viewing the site on a mobile device the category list is at the bottom of the “about” page.

Please let me know if you like the new format, I’d love to hear your feedback.

Anyway guys, Ive got lots more articles in the pipeline so watch this space.

As always, be safe and have fun,

Cheers

Bryan

May 6, 2013 0

Festool Sale Day, Getting Ready

Well, after a full on day we’re ready for the Festool sale days on tomorrow and saturday.

What I know so far is that the TS55 will be $898 with 2 guide rails and a bay, CT26 $955 with a free box of bags, 20% discount on all accessories and a further 5 % off our already discounted prices except for those products listed as Nett Lines.
Remember that the boys from Festool will be on hand to help with your questions and to demo these outstanding tools

A small selection of the stock we have to sell.

Anyway Guys, it should be a good couple of days so I hope to see you there.

Cheers

Bryan

The balloon boys!!!!!!!!

May 2, 2013 0

Festool Sale Days

Hi All,

Well it’s that time of year again and down at Just Tools were getting ready for our annual two day Festool Sale.

As always there will be bargains and the Festool reps will be on site to demonstrate the tools and hopefully answer any questions.

I’ll be around the whole time so be sure to come over and say hello,

As always, be safe and have fun

Cheers

Bryan

Just Tools are at 180 Clarendon Street Sth Melbourne Vic

Sale Times

Friday 3/5 10 am to 5 pm
Saturday 4/5 8.30 am to 1 pm

May 1, 2013 0

Waxing Painted Timber Surfaces

Waxing Painted timber surfaces

I recently completed a notice board for my daughter to hang her copious amounts of drawings and general tweenage girl stuff. The board is big, measuring around 1 metre by 1 metre and features offset corners for a bit of added interest.
I knew from the beginning that the piece would end up being painted so instead of using stock from the premium rack I had a fossick and ended making the noticeboard frame from some long offcuts of 90 x 35 framing pine that I had in the workshop. The idea of using bog standard timber to create a high-end decorative piece has always intrigued me, and I was looking forward to the challenge of seeing how good I could make this pedestrian timber end up looking.
When the frame was complete I filled all the imperfections and sanded the entire frame up to 1500 grit. I used the interface pad described in part 1 to ensure that I didn’t flatten any of the rounded edges on the piece.

When all the sanding was complete, I gave the entire frame its first coat of paint. The paint I used was the leftover acrylic matt ceiling paint that I used when painting my daughter’s room. The colour was tinted to a light ivory tone which gave the piece a nice warm feel.

You may be wondering why I used matt paint? Well, firstly, I had it, and I suppose I was being a bit of a cheapskate and didn’t want to buy more paint and secondly, the flat surface of the paint provided an excellent key for the wax finish.

When the first coat had had a full 24 hrs drying time I gave it a sand with 800g Vlies abrasive to de-nib the surface and prepare it for the next layer. It is important to sand slowly with minimal pressure and had the sander set to speed 1 in the Rotex mode. We need to avoid building excess heat which can affect the paint surface.
I always use Vlies during this stage of the process as it is a soft abrasive which minimises the risk of sanding through the paint surface and it gives a beautiful finish.
Clean off any excess dust then repeat the process until you’ve got at least 4 coats of paint on the frame.
When the final coat of paint is dry, sand the entire surface with 1500 grit Titan remembering to use an interface pad if required.
Wipe all surfaces to remove excess dust, then grab your can of Gilly Stephenson’s cabinet makers wax and use a soft, clean cloth to apply a thin coat to one side of the frame. Do one side at a time to ensure that the wax doesn’t set or get sticky. Put a sheet of 1500 grit Titan paper on the sander and on speed 1 in the Rotex mode, begin to gradually work the wax into the paint surface. Once the first side is done repeat the process with each of the sides until the frame is done. When you’ve completed this stage place a paper napkin on the surface then, place your sander on it and with speed set to 1, in Rotex mode, burnish the entire furnace of the piece.
The wax burnishing process described above is taken from my earlier article, “How to get the most from your Rotex” and is an excellent method to achieve a high-grade wax finish.
I’ve recently been experimenting with the white ‘Vlies’ pads which are an excellent substitute for the paper towel. While the paper towel method is certainly cheaper, still, suggest you get one or two from your local Festool dealer and try them out for yourself.

Repeat the process to build up the finish until you’ve either had enough or have reached a level of finish you like. For my work, I find that around 3 to 4 coats are sufficient but see hoe you go and stop when you’re happy with the finish.

There’s a lot of scope for experimentation with this finish so don’t be afraid to play!!

As always, thanks for reading, be safe and have fun.

Cheers

Bryan

March 2, 2013 5

Festool Hand Sanding Pad

Hand sanding pad

For those occasions when an electric sander is too aggressive or when you’re sanding delicate materials such as small mouldings, the hand sanding pad, (Festool part # 495966) is an absolute gem.

The pad features a Velcro backing which wraps around the piece and easily accepts all styles of 150mm diameter abrasives. I’ve teamed it up with the new series of Granat papers to sand small timber mouldings up to 1500 grit for a project I’m working on and have been extremely satisfied with the results to date.

Available as either a hard or soft pad and selling for under $40.00 they’re a worthwhile addition to your sanding kit.

As always, your questions and comments are appreciated

Be safe and have fun,

Cheers

Bryan

November 19, 2012 0

TS55R & CMS Module

Hi Guys

Todays post is all about the new CMS module for the TS55R plunge saw. For those of you who aren’t familiar with the CMS system, it is in essence a Triton workcentre on steroids.

It offers a really accurate and easy to use module for the TS55R saw, a module for the PS300, 400, and hopefully PS420, jigsaws, a linisher module and possible the most outstanding router table on the market today, the CMS-OF, which fits all of Festool’s routers. though, my personal favourite is to use it with the OF 2200.

Please watch below to see the Wood Whisper’s video review on the CMS router table.

I had fun with the CMS TS55R unit but must admit to being a bit perplexed by the lack of clear assembly instructions and the inclusion of components from the old CMS TS55 Module

Please click here, (CMS TS55R) to read my full article.

As always, your questions and comments are appreciated.

Be safe and have fun

Cheers

Bryan

November 18, 2012 0

Rotex + Granat + Marble = Wow

Hi Guys,

I apologise for it being quite a while since I updated the site, but I’ve been busy behind the scenes working on an upcoming book on trammel routing and an E-book on the Rotex. Today’s post is all about the new Festool Paper “Granat” which would have hit the shelves at your local Festool dealer a few months ago. I hadn’t had a lot of time to test it until an opportunity presented itself recently where a client of mine had a problem with some marble that needed some love and Granat proved the perfect solution.

Read the full article with the technique on how to polish stone with Granat here.

This new hybrid abrasive is impressive and I’ve found that it lasts nearly twice as long as Brilliant and Rubin on timber, Corian and stone.

Have a read and let me know what you think.

As usual, your questions and comments are appreciated.

Be safe and have fun,

Cheers

Bryan

October 29, 2012 2

The New TS55R is here!

Hi All,

Well the new TS55R is here and I’ve finally had a chance to have a bit of a play with one. Mechanically, it’s the same as the old TS55 with no changes to either the motor size or electronic components.

The major changes are to the body of the saw with the new flat side design enabling you to cut within 12mm of a wall, or, by laying the saw on its side you easily and quickly undercut skirting boards and door frames to allow for floating floors.

You’ll also notice the change to the riving knife with the new rounded tip fitting into the saw cut more easily. The riving knife is also now in a sealed compartment of its own so you don’t have to worry about it getting clogged with swarf.

There is now a clear viewing port at the front of the blade so you can clearly see where you’re cutting. The clear port is removed and replaced with the newly designed splinter guard for splinter free offcuts.

The measuring scale has been completely revised with a dual scale and pointer showing the cutting depth both with,(FS), and without the guide rail.

The black knob to the right of the scale is another new feature. It’s use to calibrate the blade depth. When you put a re-sharpened blade blade on the saw, set the scale to zero and plunge the saw, (without the power on), then turn the turn the knob until the tip of the place touches the work surface.

One important point to remember with the new TS55R is that owing to the body changes it will no longer fit the CMS saw table. There is a new plate on the way as well as an adapter kit to retrofit existing CMS, TS55 modules.

I’ll post more info as it comes to hand.

That’s all for now, remember to be safe and have fun.

Cheers

Bryan

August 5, 2012 2

Trammel Routing with the OF 1010, (part 2)

Hi Guys,

After the success of last weekends foray into Gothic Trammel routing, I had a bit of free time this weekend to further refine the technique. The purpose of this exercise is twofold, firstly to see how far you can go with trammel routing, and secondly to create and refine some different router techniques for a upcoming book.

Last week I made a Gothic Trefoil Frame so this week I decided to attempt a Gothic Quatrefoil motif.

I remembered to take the camera into the workshop this week, so I could document the process.

The first step is to prepare the panel. There is a process to this which i’ll cover in more detail in future articles

Once the panel is prepared, the next step is to draw the design using a compass and rulers.

The next stage is to drill a small hole to accommodate the shaft of the trammel. the router and trammel are then placed on the workpiece and the plunge depth is set as per normal. I’m using 19 mm pine for this test piece but will only be cutting the design in 18mm deep, (it’ll make sense later) the inner line of the small circles are cut first and the position of the cutter is is determined by sighting the edge of the cutter to the pencil line.

Once your set carefully start cutting.

Cut each circle to the maximum depth before moving on to the next one. The trammel is visible in front of the router in the photo above.

Once you’ve completed the inner set, move out to the next set of rings taking care to stay within the design.

When you’ve done all the straight cuts, change to a face cutting profile bit and add some detail as I’ve done on this example.

The next step is to put a scroll cut blade on your jigsaw and carefully cut the frame from the panel.

Once thats done your piece will probably look like this

Dont stress, we now turn the frame over and put a bearing guided flush trim cutter in your router or trimmer, and set it as shown below

Carefully trim all edges and you’ll hopefully end up with something that resembles this,

Now all it needs is a good sand and finish according to your taste.

Ok guys, thats all for this post, they’ll be more on this topic in following posts leading up to my routing book which will hopefully be ready in the next few months

As always, your comments and questions are appreciated.

Be safe and have fun,

Cheers

Bryan.

July 9, 2012 4

Festool Domino DF 700

Hi All

For those readers who have either purchased or are contemplating the purchase of the new Festool Domino DF 700, I’d highly recommend that you click here, to download the supplamental manual for this awesome machine.

The manual, which was commissioned by Festool USA offers a clear and concise overview of the DF700 and will make it a lot easier to understand all the functions of the machine.

Hope you enjoy and as always, your questions and comments are appreciated

Be safe and have fun,

Cheers,

Bryan

July 4, 2012 1