Festool Cordless Drills
Thank you for purchasing a Festool cordless drill. We’ve put together some useful information to help you get the most out of it. Although this will be of particular benefit to beginning woodworkers, we hope those with more experience will find something of value here too.
Knowing the characteristics of the various models of Festool cordless drills helps you choose the right tool for the task at hand, so we’ve created the reference chart below. This also shows at a glance which bit holders and accessories are compatible with your model.
This is followed by some quick tips for helping you get the best results.
Overview of Festool Drill Models
The family of Festool cordless drills covers a full range of drilling and screwdriving applications. The following summary provides an overview of some of the drills.
| Model | Features | |||
| Key strengths | Handle format | Bit holder & accessories | Motor & torque control | |
| CXS | Lightweight, good for general assembly work and overhead work | C | CENTROTEC | 12 torque settings and torque switch-off |
| TXS | Plenty of torque for drilling and driving in a compact format | T | CENTROTEC and all FastFix attachments compatible | Brushless motor, and electronic torque setting and switch-off for precise screwdriving |
| T18 + 3 | Good for all heavy-duty drilling and screw-driving applications | T | CENTROTEC and all FastFix attachments compatible | Brushless motor, and electronic torque setting and switch-off for precise screwdriving |
A Few Drilling Tips
Here are some shop-tested tips on how to make your Festool drill more efficient and deliver better results.
1) Drilling in Tight Corners
With a Festool drill, you can mount a screw bit directly into the chuck for the few occasions where there is no clearance to use a bit in the Centrotec chuck (Photo 1).
Photo 1
2) Precision Drilling
When accurate holes must be drilled, use an awl to mark the desired center point, and drill the hole with a brad-point bit (Photo 2). You can also use a push pin as an awl (Photo 3).
Photo 2 & 3
3) Applying the Proper Drilling Force
When using a C-handle drill for heavy-duty drilling, hold the top part of the handle (Photo 4). With a T-handle drill, you can push the motor housing with the other hand to apply the driving force needed (Photo 5).
Photo 4
Photo 5
4) Matching the Drill Bit to the Screws
Predrilling for screws prevents splitting, but using a drill bit to screw size chart to find the right bit can be impractical. The simple trick to find the right bit is to choose a bit that is the same size (or a hair larger in the case of drilling hard wood) as the screw’s minor diameter (Photo 6). With brass screws, it can be helpful to use a tapered drill bit and chase the threads with a steel screw before installation.
Photo 6
5) Freehand Level Drilling
Instead of “eyeballing” level holes as you drill, you can strap a line level to the top of your drill housing with rubber bands. While drilling, keep an eye on the bubble to maintain the levelness (Photo 7).
Photo 7
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