TS55/75 quick assemble workspace

[Flowboy]

Hi all,
I recently aquired a TS75 plunge saw. I was unhappy with the recommended set up for dressing timber (using cross beams at intervals along the rail), so I thought this would be better. (Haven't tried it yet, but the fact that there is a clean cut from start to finish should help get rid of "wobble" during the cut.
Basically, in fact totally, it's two boards joined with dominos cut to a shallower depth than their length and set toward the bottom edge of the support boards. I used 5mm dominos and a depth of 12mm in each board to give a gap between the boards of 6mm and distance from the board top of 9mm. More than enough for the saw depth. The "work bench" is portable, easy to assemble on workhorses and fully recyleable as it is not damaged (by the saw) in any way.
Pics below.

Just thought you'd like to see it, probably everyone's done it anyway.
But I'm a simple soul and easily excited!

Regards,

Rob

[Auld Bassoon]

Rob,

Are you sure you're not a Special Agent of Herr Doktor Festo? :D :D

I also have to admit that I hadn't the faintest idea what a TS75 was until I looked it up :rolleyes:

[Flowboy]

Steve,
Ahhhh! Discovered!!:eek: :cool:

I've changed the title to Plunge Saw. Can't stand Jargon.:rolleyes:

Regards

Rob,still mourning the table leg

[Powertoolman]

Rob,
Are you aware of the methods used in the U.S.? If I understand you correctly, it may be applicable to what you are trying to achieve.

Many people will place a sheet of polystyrene foam (sheet insulation) under their cut. This allows the blade to cut into the foam without cutting into their worktable.

By the way, I have a new English-only manual for the TS55 that might be of interest to you. This is not officially released by Festool yet, so please don't distribute the URL outside of this thread. http://waterfront-woods.home.att.net/festool/TS_55_EQ_US.pdf

Rick Christopherson

[Flowboy]

Hi all,

Yesterday i cut three 42mm Merbau boards to make a table top. I used the TS75 to cut and joint the edges. I used my jig detailed earlier to do the cuts. There was no change in speed of the saw during the cuts and they came out very clean. This was done using part of the method used by Bob Merino is the States, given to me kindly by "Ideal" Anthony. The full method would have included recutting at the joint of both boards so as to cut both to the same profile. If I thought that was necessary, I would have. There are some pics below.

[ian]

more than impressive

[Flowboy]

Hi everyone. On the weekend I needed to cut some short and thin stock to act as a lip for a shelf. Somewhere around 4x4mm.
Ater much thinking, I decided to use the TS75 plunge saw with the Festool rail and using Ironbark which I had ripped or resawn, can't remember, much earlier. This was 4mm deep. I used the saw to get a couple of different couple of different widths.
Below is a pic, showing the stock at left and 3,4 and 5mm widths. Camera resolution may make them look wavy, but they are dead straight cuts. In addition, your fingers are so far away from the blade, thee is no chance of accidents.

Regards,

Rob

[Auld Bassoon]

Good stuff Rob!

I generally use my bandsaw for this sort of work, but of course the sawn edge(s) required either planing or sanding to remove the fine cut marks.

How do you find the TS75 in this regard? (I think I can guess :))

[Flowboy]

Hi Steve,
One of the problems I find with using a TS is that you tend to move the timber in a less than smooth motion which results in some chatter especially on long grain workpieces of about 0.5m upwards. Using the TS75 with the rail allows you (with very little practise) to take one continuous smooth cut, so you get no chatter on the cut face. It's quite remarkable to see. As the speed is also variable for the saw and depth of cut allowing typical Festool accuracy, you end up with really good control of the saw. I sincerely doubted tat I would get anything like what came off. So to answer, I find the edges very clean in everything from 42mm to 4mm depth. I hardly use the TS now. I wish I could show you personally how clean they are. I might try setting the camera on a tripod for a closeup. I should also say this was cut using a Festool standard 36 ( I think) tooth blade, now I really feel I'd benefit from an 80 tooth blade.

Regards

Rob

[Flowboy]

Hi all,

Just a couple of close up shots of the cut faces of the small pieces I showed earlier.
Sorry they're a bit blurry. As I said, these were done with a 36 tooth blade.

Regards

Rob

[econ]

Thanks for all the info and pics Flowboy

Whats the legth of your guide rail?

If its one of the shorter ones how would
you rip a sheet of ply ?

[econ]

Didnt look closely enough at your first pic it says 1400mm for the guide rail
So if you need to cut something longer how would you go about it ?

[Flowboy]

Hi Econ,

I have two 1400mm rails which I can join with a pair of metal slats giving me 2.8m of rail. The rails are availabble as 800,1400,3000 and 5000mm I believe, but its cheaper to buy the connectors and join two separate rails of whatever size you need. One thing, you will need sufficient rail to allow the saw to be mounted before the workpiece and sufficient to allow the saw to finish the cut.
I don't have a lot of Ply experience, but I'm guessing you are worried about tear out at the top of the cut. The saw comes with a plastic chipbreaker which helps a lot apparently These are sacrificial and can be bought in bags of 5 I think. There is also a stop which mounts on the rail at the back of the saw and prevents the saw kicking back. Other than that, using an appropriate speed should help heaps.(Least it does when jigsawing Ply.)
I have to say that it's a great system. Powerful, controllable and accurate. I also can't stress the benefit of not having cross beams to cut through. The cleaner the cut path the better the result

Regards,

Rob

[econ]

yep my reference to plywood was in part about chipping but the other question on my mind was when joining two guide rails together is the straight edge and therefore accuracy maintained ? Or is it better to get a single long rail and pay more ? Its strange I'd expect a single long one to cost less than two short .
Thanks again

[ian]

yep my reference to plywood was in part about chipping but the other question on my mind was when joining two guide rails together is the straight edge and therefore accuracy maintained ? Or is it better to get a single long rail and pay more ? Its strange I'd expect a single long one to cost less than two short .
Thanks againecon,
in terms of materials, a long rail should cost less than two single rails. The cost comes in the shipping. A 1400 rail is delivered in a cardboard wrapper. The 3000 and 5000 rails are (according to the guy from Festo) delivered in a rigid MDF box and these cost a fortune to send anywhere.

ian

[rené]

when joining two guide rails together is the straight edge and therefore accuracy maintained ?

econ,
Joining two rails (the older version of the FS1400 and the newer one) with only one connector and i got a straight rail that was as straight as i was able to aligned the two pieces together...
May be that the new rails with two connectors (in place of only one) improve that.
I believe that one rail is more accurate and stronger (to handle) than two rails connected.
rené

[Flowboy]

Hi Econ,

First, Ian is right, since this is extruded Aluminium, cost should be at least the same, but shipping is a killer. That said, 3-5m of 150mm wide rail is not an easy thing to carry or store.
I have not used the joints for my two rails, but I must say that as it is Festool we're dealing with, it wouldn't be for sale if the system didn't work. The joiners are close to 300mm long.
I bought two 1400 rails as space is at a premium for me. Also, I make mainly furniture, so the longest cut I could see myself doing would be about 2.4m for a tabletop. If I had space for storage and a place big enough to lay 3 metres out, I would have gone this option.
Also, I noticed that there are 1900 and 2700mm rails available. Price for the rails varies between (approx) A$110 for the 800mm and A$550.00 for the 5000mm.
I also forgot to say that there is a rubber lip along the cutting edge of the rail, which should also help with tearout, and, of course saw blades for the appropriate material to be cut.
If you don't have one of the saws yet, bear in mind that the TS75 uses a 210mm blade with a 30mm bore. The rest of the world of course, uses a 25mm bore for this size blade.
I don't know where you are, but f you call Festool, or Ideal tools in Melbourne, they will give you a lot more info and may arrange a demo for you. Hope this all makes sense, I'm typing around a cat!

Regards

Rob

[HoutBok]

I have used the two joiners with two 1400mm rails to cut MDF 8'X4' down with no problems. Does feel a bit sus when you swing them arround to position them but they are solid. Just need to make sure you snug them up real well before tightening the screws.

[zuma]

I've collected some rails in the time buying Festool equipment. The 800 with the OF 1010, a 1400 withe the ATF 55, a ? length with the MFT and a really superb LR 2400. No real need to couple rails, but sometimes it was necessary. When you clamp the rails onto the material it really isn't a great problem to get them 100% aligned.