brand new member / festool virgin!

pdinapoli

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Aug 14, 2023
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just posting my first message to say hello - and share a photo of my first festool purchase.
(ok - technically 2nd purchase)

I picked up the used MFT off craigslist a couple months ago - and finally got the ts60 yesterday.

still working on squaring it up.  surprised how quiet it is even running through 20mm plywood...really quiet!

pd
 

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[member=80471]pdinapoli[/member] welcome to FOG!  Lots of good people and good information around here. MFT and track saw are great first Festool purchases.  Enjoy!!

pdinapoli said:
just posting my first message to say hello - and share a photo of my first festool purchase.
(ok - technically 2nd purchase)

I picked up the used MFT off craigslist a couple months ago - and finally got the ts60 yesterday.

still working on squaring it up.  surprised how quiet it is even running through 20mm plywood...really quiet!

pd
 
Hi,

  Welcome to the forum!  [smile]

    Please post your thoughts on the TS60 after using it a bit more.

Seth
 
so - initial thoughts:

1 - I cant believe how quiet this tool is.  i've been using various circular saws my whole life. I never use my skil worm drive without earplugs...ever!  This ts60 is incredibly quiet.

2 - the dust exhaust port - sure blows the dust all over the place (if you think you're gonna make a quick cut without suction....be prepared for a dust shower).  not a big deal - just an observation.  I bought a nice long hose and adapter to connect the saw to my cheap rigid shopvac...the work area sure stays cleaner with dust extraction connected - love it!
(dust extraction is a new thing to me too - I've never owned any tool with any dust extraction so this feels like a major step up)

3 - I went corded version - and I don't love the cord.  it's pretty stiff.  maybe it'll soften up over time with use....but it does feel like where the tool might fail at some point will the plastic strain relief bushing goes into the handle.  feels stiff.  i'm not a professional by any stretch so this tracksaw will only get occasional use so maybe this is not something i'll have to think about for many years.

4 - i'm struggling to square up the MFT / not exactly loving the back fence / protractor right now.  I followed  festool live video and did my best - squared it up and made 4 test cuts.  I'm 1mm out of square over 620mm length on a test piece of scrap ply.

Granted - that's not an assessment of the saw...but I've followed this sedge video and I'm not getting precision square cuts:

i just placed an order for the woodpeckers MFT Layout & Assembly Square - since i recognize that I don't have the most precision square to get the mft calibrated.

 
I have the MFT3, the Woodpeckers MFT square, and the giant Woodpecker Red square. I cannot for the life of me get my material square off of it.

My recommendation is to not bother trying to square it up with the MFT square using the dog holes (the one made of black phenolic). I have 4 MFT's, and i couldn't get it to be accurate using that method on any of them. I found 3 of my mft's the dogs were "wiggly" just a touch, and one of them they were ungodly tight.

The MFT square, just  using it as a square, is a good tool though

One thing i was doing, i had two MFT's connected, i'd put my 8ft long sheet stock piece on it, that was already cut to width with the 3000mm track and woodpecker parallel guide (Which btw, is amazing, constantly accurate end to end, unlike when connecting to tracks). When i would roll up on the fence with the 8ft long piece of material, i finally noticed that the length of the piece and weight of it was acting like a "jack" against the mft fence, throwing it out. So what I started doing now is i will "rough" break down the long piece, then put those much short pieces against the track and cut.

Doing it with smaller pieces, vs the long heavy sheet piece bending the fence out of square, gets me much closer to square, but not always perfect like my table saw would give me.

One thing i haven't done is to see if it may be because of my driveway not being perfectly flat; I'd figure though if only 1 mft table is involved and other surfaces aren't being introduced it should be that big of an issue though.
 
Welcome!  I hope you are enjoying your MFT and TS60!

You mentioned wrestling with the MFT to square it up.  Just a couple words of advice:

1)  There should be factory stops to adjust the track.  You are not supposed to loosen those, so if you have not, they should be good.

2)  To square the fence I highly recommend this square:
https://www.woodpeck.com/mft-layout-assembly-square-19.html

Your track saw cuts will be exact 90, and your 45 miters will be absolutely perfect.

Good luck!

Dune
 
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