Accurate 0 degree cuts with TS55 req -

[xankudo]

Hi - I am looking for advice on how to properly set up the TS 55 REQ to obtain 0 degree cuts.  I am trying to build a table top gluing several 3/4 in thick walnut planks but the cuts I get are slightly angled and the sides to join do not match perfectly flat when the planks are resting on a flat surface.  I do get really smooth surfaces for gluing but no matter how much I try to adjust the angle to 0 degrees I still get slightly angled cuts.  I am using and MT3 Table and track saw guide rail.    Is it possible at all to obtain a glue ready side (0 degree) with the T55? or I definitely need to take the planks through a Jointer.    Thanks
By the way, I am need to woodworking and this is my first project with the T55 track saw.

 

[Rip Van Winkle]

I don't own the TS55Req so I don't know about adjusting it.

One method you could try to get the boards "straight" for gluing, is to clamp the two boards next to each other with at most only a slight gap between them that is less than the thickness of the saw blade. You then use the saw track and with a single cut, slice a bit of both boards. Even if the cut isn't exactly perpendicular, the two sides should match up. 

A router with a straight bit and one of the tracks would also work for this.

 

[xankudo]

Thanks a lot, will try that.

 

[TheTrooper]

One method you could try to get the boards "straight" for gluing, is to clamp the two boards next to each other with at most only a slight gap between them that is less than the thickness of the saw blade. You then use the saw track and with a single cut, slice a bit of both boards. Even if the cut isn't exactly perpendicular, the two sides should match up.

That will work

 

[Bohdan]

Cutting one face up and the other face down will correct any fault when you flip one.

 

[Eden1415]

Good advice.  Here's another though.  I think you may be having a problem with your base plate, or in how you are driving the cut. If you have ever done an angled cut, you could be having  torque problem that is causing the front and the back to be out of alignment. after you moved it back to 90.    Or you could be using different down and side pressures during the cut itself.

Test it out.  Cut some 3 - 4 "  (77 - 102mm) strips  and stack them up as you cut them  Turn them on their side and clamp them  to a known right angle such as a router fence.  Verify that you have not distorted the stack of boards by clamping at a non 90 angel.  Now, put a light at the far end and place your engineering square cross the top.    If you see light coming from the same point on all boards on their sides, as you move the square up and down the stack, you most likely have an alignment problem.  If it comes from different spots, it's most likely how you handled the saw during the cut.  I cut some 3/4" (18mm) Birch plywood recently, and I was surprised at how sloppy my first couple of cuts were.  They were visibly off, and worse they were wavy.   

Once I aligned myself for the cut, made sure the track and saw were zeroed in, and used the same downward angle for moving the saw through the cut,  the consistence returned. 

 

[live4ever]

Rick Cristopherson's supplemental manual for the TS55 EQ outlines the procedure for adjusting the 90 degree setting of the saw.  It basically entails ripping a board, flipping end for end, and then turning an adjustment screw based on the measured gap between the ripped and flipped halves. 

I don't know if the adjustment is the same for the REQ, but have a look at the supplemental TS55 EQ manual and see if the adjustment screw is similar.

 

[sancho57]

They do need readj every now and then. I noticed the same with my Kapex.

Took my min woodpeckers square black was out about a degree or 2 readj. Life is good

 

[grbmds]

Rick Cristopherson's supplemental manual for the TS55 EQ outlines the procedure for adjusting the 90 degree setting of the saw.  It basically entails ripping a board, flipping end for end, and then turning an adjustment screw based on the measured gap between the ripped and flipped halves. 

I don't know if the adjustment is the same for the REQ, but have a look at the supplemental TS55 EQ manual and see if the adjustment screw is similar.

The REQ has no adjustment screw as it was removed in the design. There are threads showing how to install one, but I have success tighten down the rear first (where there is a bracket) and then tightening down the front bevel adjustment knob. There are also threads on the FOG describing the method of adjusting the stop. It's not difficult to adjust, but it has always seemed to me that the original design was better.

 

[DzordanoBruno]

Read this:http://festoolownersgroup.com/index.php?topic=36561.0

 

[Mr Heavy]

Cutting one face up and the other face down will correct any fault when you flip one.

You've saved me the trouble of writing, "Cutting one face up and the other face down will correct any fault when you flip one."

As there's no need for me to post anything on this thread now, I won't and I'll spend the time making a cup of tea instead.

 

[Birdhunter]

A friend with a jointer would make prefect track saw setup unnecessary.

 

[AlexThePalex]

Despite all the good advice for work-arounds, a saw should do a 0 degree cut all by itself. Contact Festool, they know best how to fix it.

 

[Holmz]

A friend with a jointer would make prefect track saw setup unnecessary.

A friend with a perfect track saw would make a joiner unnecessary.

 

[grbmds]

Three things -

1. While Festool will now tell you what many have already figured out is that the  only way to ensure the TS55REQ is 0 degrees to the surface is to make test cuts, adjust the stop on the backside bracket, and then tighten the back bevel adjustment knob and then the front adjustment knob. In addition, you cannot put any even very light stress on the saw's frame or the front will not tighten down to match the back and the cut will not turn out to be 0 degrees.
2. I generally don't use the TS55REQ to joint two boards as suggested above. I have a jointer on which the fence is square to the table and almost always joint the edges for gluing. However, the advice above is also correct. If you joint the boards using the single cut method, splitting the kerf width between the 2 boards, the boards ought to be able to be glued together square regardless of whether the bevel cut is exactly 0 degrees or not.
3. The setting of the bevel on the TS55REQ is a cumbersome process. Since Festool is know not to make changes needessly, there must be some reason why the mechanism to set the stop for 0 degrees was changed. I just can't imagine what it is since the previous TS55 had a set screw which was extremely easy to adjust (I'm told since I didn't have that model).

 

[Birdhunter]

I think my MFT/TS55 is a fantastic tool. However, I buy a lot of rough lumber.  I rely on a wide bed jointer to flatten one side of a board, flip the flattened side against the fence, and joint the thin side. Now I have two perfectly flat straight sides at right angles to each other. A trip through a planer now gives me a trued board ready to be dimensioned. I usually run the board through the table saw with the jointed thin side against the fence. The board is now completely straight and completely tried.

Often, with a straight board, I get glue ready edges just running the boards through my Sawstop Professional table saw either at 90 or 45 degrees.

A genius with hand planes and a perfectly trued TS55 could do the same, but I could do a dozen by the time he could do one.

I'm not a professional and I am retired, but my time in the shop is limited and I like to get optimal production, with optimal quality, in an optimal time. that means, to me, use the right tool and keep those tools in excellent condition.

 

[rst]

I've been butchering wood and metal since 1971, and I'm rather neurotic about precision.  When I received my TS55 refurbed, It was not set square or parallel to the base.  Parallel was an easy fix and square was solved my gluing shims in the recess' in the base.  I do not need negative angles and I want no ambiguity when I need to square the saw and now have absolutely none.  There is no worrying about clamping which end or putting too much angular pressure when tightening.  I flip the saw too vertical and tighten the clamps.

 

[grbmds]

I've been butchering wood and metal since 1971, and I'm rather neurotic about precision.  When I received my TS55 refurbed, It was not set square or parallel to the base.  Parallel was an easy fix and square was solved my gluing shims in the recess' in the base.  I do not need negative angles and I want no ambiguity when I need to square the saw and now have absolutely none.  There is no worrying about clamping which end or putting too much angular pressure when tightening.  I flip the saw too vertical and tighten the clamps.

\
I appreciate your ingenuity, but you really should not have to do that to get the base accurately and easily square to the blade. It seems that, instead of improving the TS55 in at least this one thing, Festool didn't move forward. The stop is harder to adjust and the bevel angle harder to get exact. The TS55 is supposed to be the most accurate saw available according to Festool, so why isn't it. This 0 degree bevel angle stop setting seems to be one of the two or three most often mentioned problems.

 

[Holmz]

...The TS55 is supposed to be the most accurate saw available according to Festool, so why isn't it. This 0 degree bevel angle stop setting seems to be one of the two or three most often mentioned problems.
...

[eek] - Marketing department need to talk to Engineering department.

If I need to buy a joiner anyhow then I do not need the most accurate track saw made by man, as any track saw will get a 'clean up' from the joiner.

Same story breaking sheets down so I can cut it on table saw.
I can break then down with a jig saw if can going to recut them on a tale saw.

 

[rst]

What should be and what is in the world is often at odds.  I own very few tools that I have not modified in some manner or another.  I just bought another LS130 pad so I could bandsaw the two sides narrower in order to sand the slats on my adirondack chairs.  Rather than wailing at and about the wind and rain, I built a house.