I use my Festool TS 55 track saw just about every day. It came with a general purpose 48-tooth blade that makes fantastically clean cuts and lasts a reasonable amount of...
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- Thread starter Ryan
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I use my Festool TS 55 track saw just about every day. It came with a general purpose 48-tooth blade that makes fantastically clean cuts and lasts a reasonable amount of...
To read the rest of this blog entry from The Garage Journal, click here.
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LegacyIndustrial
ALLIANCE MEMBER
Ryan & EZ, which tool would you recommend someone trying to see if the Festool system is a good fit?
General wood-working projects, nothing too fancy.
Appreciate your feedback!
General wood-working projects, nothing too fancy.
Appreciate your feedback!
I'll send you a PM in a sec (don't want to litter Ryan's blade thread).
LegacyIndustrial
ALLIANCE MEMBER
PelicanPines
ALLIANCE MEMBER
I have an Oshlun dado set that I love... for ripping... I also have a Forrest blade.
That's really difficult to answer without more info. I love Festool tools and you would be able to find a lot of green in my shop. With that being said, there are a lot of other brands that have products priced lower, that will perform on par with Festool.
For me it all started with the Domino as it is tool unique to Festool until the patents expire. Once you're in, then they get you hooked on the "system". In a shop with a large cyclone dust collector for stationary tools, I think that there line of dust extractors (I own the MIDI and CT33) are great for portable tools like the Domino and sanders. I have several different sanders from Festool and they all perform well but again there is a lot of competition in that space. This thread is about tracksaws and although I have owned the Festool in the past, my current tracksaw is the Dewalt.
If it was me and I wanted to get my feet wet with Festool, I would probably start with the Domino and a dust extractor. Again without knowing the type of work you do it is hard to answer. A tracksaw is a great tool but there are several choices in the market like Festool, Dewalt, and Makita. Festool sanders are great but again there is a lot of competition... for instance, I think the high end Bosch sanders probably provides more bang for your buck.
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Ryan, have you tried making a scoring cut 1mm deep first, then going back for the through cut? I know my other track saw has this scoring feature for delicate surfaces. Unfortunately on the Festool you have to keep changing the depths with each pass. Maybe that will allow you to extend the life of each blade? Sadly, I haven’t used laminates much, so I can’t give you advice from my own experience.
Mecha
Well-known member
Laminate specific blades can help. I've had a lot of good luck with combination blades from Diablo as well.
OP
I'd be really careful. You can get locked into their ecosystem very quickly and, in my opinion, the only reasonable reason to do that is if you are VERY concerned about dust collection.
That said, if you are... I'd get a midi dust collector, a ts 55 track saw, a track or two, and one of these: https://tsoproducts.com/tso-products-guide-rail-squares/
Vinny
Well-known member
It's been a while since I looked into it, but isn't that just a biscuit joiner?
neophyte
Well-known member
The Domino is a loose mortise and tenon joiner.
In function, it’s used similar to a Biscuit Joiner, but instead of making semi circular slots that need to have premade biscuits glued in place, it makes slot mortises, that can have free floating solid wood tenons glued in place.
Structurally, the free floating tenons are significantly stronger than biscuits.
The free floating tenons also available in Sipo Wood, which is way more weather resistant than the regular beech wood tenons, and way way more weather resistant than beech wood plywood biscuits, which as far as I’m aware, aren’t even available in a more weather resistant wood.
Since the biscuits are basically just rectangular pieces of wood with a specific thickness and two sides that are rounded, it’s possible to make your own dominoes in shop if you want a different wood species, or are in a pinch and need dominoes when your Festool dealer is closed.
There are now knockdown joints available to be used with the Domino joiner as well.
OP
The domino is probably my favorite Festool offering... I love the damned thing.
Here's what I'm working on now. The shelves are old, but I ripped out my old built-in desk and built a new one out of Wilson art sandwiched baltic birch. The top is close to 15' long and was done by **** jointing ply using dominos and offsetting the joints (it's two pieces of 3/4" ply thick).
Using my new BF/MFT, it came together incredibly quickly. In fact, all of the machine work was done in just a few hours. If I didn't have to add finish to anything, it would have been done in under a day.
Super happy with it thus far, but still plenty to do.
Here's what I'm working on now. The shelves are old, but I ripped out my old built-in desk and built a new one out of Wilson art sandwiched baltic birch. The top is close to 15' long and was done by **** jointing ply using dominos and offsetting the joints (it's two pieces of 3/4" ply thick).
Using my new BF/MFT, it came together incredibly quickly. In fact, all of the machine work was done in just a few hours. If I didn't have to add finish to anything, it would have been done in under a day.
Super happy with it thus far, but still plenty to do.
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Dang it Ryan! I just picked up a replacement Festool blade last weekend. I saw the lower cost alternatives but without any real knowledge of them, I went with Festool. I don't like the cost but the original got me this far so I figured the /ft cost isn't so bad. I'll be keeping an eye out for updates on longevity.
And thanks for pointing out the TSO stuff. I'm gearing up to work on projects that need more precision (home furniture, rather than garage cabinets) and these look like a reasonable alternative to the big F.
And thanks for pointing out the TSO stuff. I'm gearing up to work on projects that need more precision (home furniture, rather than garage cabinets) and these look like a reasonable alternative to the big F.
LegacyIndustrial
ALLIANCE MEMBER
Thanks. I have a rolling work-bench that I built a few years ago. Has a nice void underneath that would work well with Systainers. Like most addictions you start small and then...
ALinCarolina
Well-known member
I have quite a few Festools. The Domino is definitely the most unique. It will change the way you build things.
One of the most surprising Festool though are their random orbit sanders mated to the vacuum dust extractor. It is really amazing how little dust gets loose into the air with this setup.
One of the most surprising Festool though are their random orbit sanders mated to the vacuum dust extractor. It is really amazing how little dust gets loose into the air with this setup.
OP
Agreed... I have the Rotex 150... If you only have one sander, this is the one to have... But I found it to be a little too heavy for finish sanding, so I got a ETS 150 off eBay and it does a great job between coats of stuff...
Whatever you do, don’t sign up for reconditioned tool notifications... I buy every damned thing that comes up. There are sustainers one my garage that have never been opened, but I’m sure that trim router and planex will come in handy one of these days...
Don’t tell my wife.
Don’t tell my wife.
mdr
Active member
Ryan,
Looks very nice. A couple of q's:
It looks like you went for 2 layers of plywood for the desktop. What did you use for glue between the layers? Did you scuff sand?
Are the drawer fronts prefinished?
Did you edgeband them?
Looks very nice. A couple of q's:
It looks like you went for 2 layers of plywood for the desktop. What did you use for glue between the layers? Did you scuff sand?
Are the drawer fronts prefinished?
Did you edgeband them?
OP
Yeah... I'm gonna do a video on the build, but:
Yes, two layers of 3/4" baltic birch laminated with Titebond III. I sanded the glue surfaces quickly to 160.
The drawers fronts are not edge banded. I'm going for the exposed plywood edge look throughout the whole studio. The fronts are actually laminated with the same WilsonArt laminate that I used for the top and all around the studio...
dnschmidt
Well-known member
I've been very happy with Oshlun blades of all varieties. I use them on my miter saw and table saw to cut aluminum and on my Milwaukee metal cutting saws both battery and 110V powered. For the money they are simply unbeatable. I also have Forrest and Ridge Carbide which are outstanding but the Oshlun hold their own against these and against Freud/Diablo.
Firebrick43
Well-known member
https://ridgecarbidetool.com/160mm-ts2000-12-tooth-rip-saw-for-festool-ts55-track-saw.html
While oshlun is a good value blade if you toss them, the ridge has massive size carbide that can be resharpened more times than anything except maybe a Forrest which would be equal to the ridge. Their resharpening service is cheaper and better quality than Forrest as well. 18$ for a resharpening for the above blade.
While oshlun is a good value blade if you toss them, the ridge has massive size carbide that can be resharpened more times than anything except maybe a Forrest which would be equal to the ridge. Their resharpening service is cheaper and better quality than Forrest as well. 18$ for a resharpening for the above blade.
jar944
Well-known member
Tenryu.
kennylauer
New member
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