Thread: When is a square not a square?

Originally Posted by markharrison

No it doesn't.

Best take the square and rail back to the dealer and have whichever one is at fault (or both if necessary) swapped for a combo that is square. No point going any further until that is sorted.

That's pretty crazy that the FS90 could be out of square.

Is there some mistake, such as packing tape left on one edge perhaps? The rails bar having a kink?

I had an eye on one of these. Its no good that's it's manufactured incorrectly (i'd've said inconceivable)

I don't think TSO make the squares for Fe$tool. I believe Fe$tool licence the design from them, and manufacture it themselves - when I spoke to the rep about it he suggested that Festool could offer it so much cheaper was because of their access to much greater manufacturing capacity. Maybe they also buy some of the bits - like the clamp.

That's just speculation and joining the dots on my part. I'm not certain.

I too have the TSO versions of the GRS-16 and GRS-16 PE, and both cut square. Must be worth the extra $10 or $20 per tenth of a millimetre

Originally Posted by Bernmc

I don't think TSO make the squares for Fe$tool. I believe Fe$tool licence the design from them, and manufacture it themselves - when I spoke to the rep about it he suggested that Festool could offer it so much cheaper was because of their access to much greater manufacturing capacity. Maybe they also buy some of the bits - like the clamp. That's just speculation and joining the dots on my part. I'm not certain.

Also sounds likely. Either way TSO or Festool making them, they seem identical to the TSO square.

Thought I'd mention.... My own Festool FS-90 rail square with my rails attached are square and giving square cuts. Also, I've not had any customers report issues with theirs to date.

So I thought i'd o some test cuts with mine.
First I put a square against the reference clamp edge and it is definitely out by a small amount.

So I cut a fresh edge then referenced off that and used FS-90 to cut 'square edge'.
IMG_2775.jpgIMG_2776.jpgover 600mm out by 1mm.

Thought I would try the 5 cut method. Offcut piece was out .15mm over 1 metre. Thats not too bad.
Diagonals, bang on perfect with my blurry eyes.
3,4,5 measuring method, dead nuts perfect.
So now I'm really confused, surely every square I own cant be out the exact same amount? My blade is on the very dull side so I will have to get it sharpened and try again.

I put a straight edge across the reference surface of the FS-90 that it clamps too. There is a 0.1mm dip that starts about 15mm in from each edge. I'm guessing so that the clamp pulls firm?

Good investigation Shane.

One thing worth mentioning is ensuring the little green cams under the saw are appropriately set (taking out any slop as they glide up the rail ribs) and therefore saw sideways saw movement as you progress up the rail.

Originally Posted by nt900

Best take the square and rail back to the dealer and have whichever one is at fault (or both if necessary) swapped for a combo that is square. No point going any further until that is sorted.

I went back on Friday. Carbatec opened up another one while I was there and it has the exact same defect in the same degree of error.

In the meantime I've just wrestled the panels across the panel saw. As I have now just obviated my original need for the kit, I'm just going to return the whole kit and get my money back.

Originally Posted by markharrison

I went back on Friday. Carbatec opened up another one while I was there and it has the exact same defect in the same degree of error. In the meantime I've just wrestled the panels across the panel saw. As I have now just obviated my original need for the kit, I'm just going to return the whole kit and get my money back.

Hi Mark. It's s shame you could not get it sorted and functional for your needs. I would also have liked to seen the issue resolved and the root cause identified (which was the contributing item, the square, rail, or something else) so we can use that info to resolve the issue for anyone else if it comes up again.

Originally Posted by nt900

Hi Mark. It's s shame you could not get it sorted and functional for your needs. I would also have liked to seen the issue resolved and the root cause identified (which was the contributing item, the square, rail, or something else) so we can use that info to resolve the issue for anyone else if it comes up again.

I will definitely be investigating this further. It seems I bought mine direct from Festool last year in July. I will contact them to see what they have to say, but will also try a fresh sharpened blade and a different track. Ive seen a few videos of it in use with excellent results so want to find out if there is a bad batch or user error.

Originally Posted by shanesmith80

I will definitely be investigating this further. It seems I bought mine direct from Festool last year in July. I will contact them to see what they have to say, but will also try a fresh sharpened blade and a different track. Ive seen a few videos of it in use with excellent results so want to find out if there is a bad batch or user error.

Please provide info as it develops. Thanks.

Originally Posted by shanesmith80

I will definitely be investigating this further. It seems I bought mine direct from Festool last year in July. I will contact them to see what they have to say, but will also try a fresh sharpened blade and a different track. Ive seen a few videos of it in use with excellent results so want to find out if there is a bad batch or user error.

Everything in this kit is brand new and previously unused.

I am 100 % certain that the problem is the FS90. If your FS90 is square to the track, you almost certainly do not have a problem.

I was lucky enough to purchase the FS90 from the first batch that arrived in June 2020. Square cuts is all I can say.

Originally Posted by markharrison

The problem is that once you get the blade set at the correct angle, you can't (or I have not found a way) to set the index slot washer thingy against the stop because there are parts of the mechanism in the way preventing you from adequately snugging down the fasteners to prevent movement. So you end up just jiggling it around and testing until you eventually get it right by accident. That last part is a guess. I've not got it right so far so I've just bypassed the whole angle setting mechanism and checked against the actual cut until I got it right.

I've read this paragraph about ten times now and I'm still none the wiser what you're getting at. I used my TS55 today to make some bevel cuts at 15 degrees and 3 degrees. It worked flawlessly. And the angle setting mechanism is more than robust enough for the work I do.

Do you have the TS55 supplementary manual? Perhaps that addresses your problem?