I don’t know if it is an indication of my drinking habits (not much), or the current weather patterns (too hot to even get out to the shed), but since getting a Festool Cooltainer from Ideal Tools during the October Wood Show, it has taken until yesterday before I finally commissioned it!
Festool S3 Systainer - Cooltainer is bigger!
The Cooltainer is based around the S4 Systainer, but instead of being a tool storage, it is lined with polystyrene insulation to turn it into an esky! Talk about a stylish esky, it fits seamlessly into a sophisticated workshop. Of course it stands out somewhat in my workshop given I don’t have any other Festool tools (yet). So my Roving Reporter came around with a 6 pack, and so we finally gave the Cooltainer a commissioning while we got a few bits and pieces done around the shed.
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About two 1/2 years ago, I decided to investigate dust extraction air flow, and come to my own conclusions about the effects of pipe length, pipe type (comparing PVC pipe with standard flexible dust extraction pipe), bends, junctions and diameter changes. I’m sure this has been done before ad nauseum, but there is one thing to read about it, and another to do the investigations yourself.
My first design of an anemometer took a 4″ diameter PC fan and as is the case with DC motors, you can use DC power to turn the motor, or, if you turn the motor, you produce DC current. So my idea was to stick the fan into the airstream, have it turned by the airflow and measure the current produced.
It kind of worked – I had a blast gate, multimeter, and of course, the fan. Driving the fan at different speeds did produce a measurable difference in current (I can’t remember, but I suspect it was different voltages), but it wasn’t as accurate as I wanted, nor could manage the low airspeeds I wanted to monitor, so the project was abandoned. However, the concept has remained in the back of my mind, and so it is getting resurrected.
I picked up a commercial anemometer today, so I could rediscover the investigation.
Commercial Anemometer
It can measure from 1 m/s up to about 30 m/s (or from about 3.6km/hr up), so I’m hoping it is sufficient for the task. It will also mean that I will be able to monitor the pipes downtrack, so I an detect if they are starting to become clogged with sawdust. The same applies to the air filtration unit – it will allow me to know easily if the filter needs cleaning. Of course this is very much finding ongoing justification for having an anemometer once the investigation is complete!
Filed under: Manufactures and Suppliers, Tools
Wow !that is one ugly plastic container for an WOODworker.
Save the earth make it in wood.
New Festool?? Selling the Triton/GMC stuff? a sign of things to come …perhaps
You are on to me TJ!
I’ve always seemed to worked on the principle of continual improvement, and although not the most economic approach, means I can upgrade to an item knowing that it is the right step to take, rather than blindly jumping off the deep end.
If having the right tool at the right quality means my shed has more of a twinge of green, red and beige (with a nice collection of anodised gold), rather than how it was with primarily orange (and a smattering of blue), then so be it – I’ll know I have chosen the right tools for the job.
Funny though TJ – sometimes even I don’t see the trends that are coming through in the collection of posts, and although I knew the trend itself was there (all part of the great shed upgrade), it is interesting to see that it is coming through in the blog (and someone noticed!)
I agree with the comments that the Cooltainer lacks a bit in the looks department, but the fact that it costs more than $100 is the real shocker!
As a general rule, most people who have a Cooltainer didn’t actually pay for it, as they are often given away by Festool as a promotional item when purchasing other Fes’tools’. However, there are some die-hards that can’t live without every single bit of Festool kit they can get their hands on, come hell or high water, so are happy to shell out the $100 just so they can say they have one!
In my case, I got it for free from Ideal Tools at the Wood Show – they had them as part of a raffle/give away. I was hoping to find a Domino inside, but perhaps next time!
I retract my comments!
‘Free’ is an excellent price for the Cooltainer (and the only one that I would pay!)
I think Festool is forcing other tool manufacturers to go the way of a “system” of tools rather then individual, can only be a good thing, (something Triton has done for ages), anyway, the way i see it is if you, of all people, are thinking about/going to sell your orange and blue gear, then i take that as a sign that triton and gmc wont survive, and if Triton does it wont be as it was itll will be cheaply produced gear. so whens the first black and green product review coming
?