Festool 499896 Edge Banding Trimmer

Bought one for my shop, I’ve been using one for years. Absolutely love it, works great. Very durable.

The media could not be loaded. Ugh. I can hardly believe I am writing this. I use to just use a sharp utility knife to cut the edgebanding and it worked great. But I love festool and fantasized about getting this to speed up my process. At first, I was on the fence. It did seem to cut a little easier and more flush than the utility knife but not over $200 better and it was actually slower because you have to feed the end into the cutter and that takes more time than just hitting it with a knife. Still- I kept using it to try and see if it was just me and that it really would be worth it. Today - building some cabinets for a client and got out my contouro. First cut was ok. Not bad. Not great. Ok. Then- second cut- the jaws would not close all the way. There is a cutter blade that slips past a plate. Somehow the plate moved a micron closer to the cutter blade so the blade can't slip under it. This means the jaws won't close all the way and it won't cut at all!!! If I loosen the screw holding the plate a fraction - it works again. But still not great. And then you have a lose screw. I went to return it and no joke- window closed yesterday. I am so bummed.