AP 65 EB/1 vs TS 75

[SaleB]

Hello all,
I have read this forum many times in past and learned much. I need a circular saw that can be retrofitted into a homemade table saw. After seeing many videos and read many comments I opted for TS55/TS75 because of the riving knife, cut quality in melamine coated boards and speed control for occasional aluminum cuts. TS 55 gives not enough depth of cut, 55mm minus table thickness result in not enough for cutting a 50mm wooden board, so the TS 75 is a logical choice.

Now, I got an older model offered, AP 65 EB/1, which has sufficient depth of cut, smaller, probably cheaper blades. But, as there is no videos and reviews on web about the quality of cut for AP 65, my question is, can I expect the same cleanness of the cuts with both machines assuming all the other parameters are the same (mounted upside down under the table, at the same speed, using the same type of blade)?

I know the AP 65 is not a plunge saw, but in my case it does not matter. It may be a bit more difficult to mount the remote controls for depth of cut and angle. Other than that I do not foresee any difficulties. Am I missing something?

 

[Rip Van Winkle]

The AP65 is one of the older saws made by Festool back when the brand still used Festo as their name. The saws were solidly made, possibly more soldidly than the current saws.

i believe these saws are past the Festool guaranteed part availability period so if the saw breaks and needs certain parts that Festool no longer has in stock you may have issues.

The AP65 saws use 190mm saw blades with a 30mm arbor. Festool still supplies this blade size, and other manufacturers like Bosch, Makita, Dewalt, Freud, and Stehle do as well. If you are in Europe the blades shouldn't be hard to acquire. There are also less expensive options as well. There are some thin kerf blades available in the size that may be too narrow for the riving knife.

If the saw you're looking at is the AP65 The saw may be a single 4,800rpm speed saw, without variable speed. The AP65EB that Festool also manufactured was similar, but had variable speed, ans ran 1,800-3,800rpm. If you absolutely want variable speed you might want to check to verify which model saw it is.

 

[SaleB]

Thank you for the answer.

Yes, it is a AP 65 EB/1, variable between 1800 and 3800 rpm, built in 2004 and it has the Festool name on it.

Yes, I am in Europe. The parts do not concern me much, because for all there well liked tools there are people who have either inferior brand new replacement parts (for standard stuff like brushes, bearings) or used original parts from dismantled machines for the more machine specific parts, and if the problem rises about the motor or the arbor it may be too expensive to repair it either way. I look at it as a risk of buying a almost 15 years old tool, it can go either way, it can last another ten years or die in three months.

Here are CMT and Freud blades beloved by the woodworker community, so I'll probably go with a few CMT blades for the main use cases and with Bosch (as a cheaper option) for other scenarios.

 

[Rip Van Winkle]

That saw looks very clean and well taken care of for its age.

In case you're unaware of it, Freud is actually now owned by Bosch, and I presume the Bosch Precision? And Optiline? blades may simply be rebranded Freud made blades.

 

[SaleB]

I did not know that. That's a valuable information. Thanks.

 

[charley1968]

I got an AP85 EB recently and with a new blade there was no discernible difference in cut quality compared to the TS 55 off the rail.