ccarrolladams
Member
- Joined
- Apr 14, 2010
- Messages
- 1,451
When I purchased my first TS55 in January 2006, I not only bought a second 1400mm guide rail, I bought guide rail accessory kit, since I needed the connectors. Very soon I found the included angle unit very helpful. Back then I did not have room for any kind of table saw. What I did was buy a full MFT Set. That includes another kind of angle unit. If the part I needed to make was small enough to fit on the MFT, I used that angle unit. If the part was larger I worked on a table made with a sacrificial top.
For my shop I purchased a large slider saw. Typical of slider saws it has a very sophisticated miter fence. Correctly used that approach can be super accurate. Personally with near full sheets I prefer to move the saw on a guide rail rather than push a sheet through the saw.
Given that my large slider saw is devoted to making precise parts from solid wood such a large portion of the day, I have returned to using the TS55 and guide rails to make angles on sheet goods. I did consider fastening a bunch of MFT together to support a full sheet of 4x8 material. That seemed to be difficult and not entirely accurate.
Instead I paid a friend with a large CNC nested router to drill 20mm through holes on 96mm centers covering a 4x10 sheet of 30mm thick plywood. On that large surface I set a fence at the angle I need in such a way the guide rail is parallel to either the short or long side of the top. The angle unit from the MFT set works well. However I also use a fence with a 20mm round peg that will fit in any hole. I use an electronic angle measuring device to set the fence and I hold it in place with a standard Festool clamp. To preserve the original top I placed a sacrificial sheet under the material I was cutting.
As soon as my own CNC nested router arrived I made a program to drill 20mm holes on 96mm centers. Now days when I reject a particular sheet of plywood I save it until time opens on the nested router. It does not take long to drill a 4x10 foot sheet.
I must say I enjoy making those angle cuts on the bench with my TS55 more than on the big slider saw.
For my shop I purchased a large slider saw. Typical of slider saws it has a very sophisticated miter fence. Correctly used that approach can be super accurate. Personally with near full sheets I prefer to move the saw on a guide rail rather than push a sheet through the saw.
Given that my large slider saw is devoted to making precise parts from solid wood such a large portion of the day, I have returned to using the TS55 and guide rails to make angles on sheet goods. I did consider fastening a bunch of MFT together to support a full sheet of 4x8 material. That seemed to be difficult and not entirely accurate.
Instead I paid a friend with a large CNC nested router to drill 20mm through holes on 96mm centers covering a 4x10 sheet of 30mm thick plywood. On that large surface I set a fence at the angle I need in such a way the guide rail is parallel to either the short or long side of the top. The angle unit from the MFT set works well. However I also use a fence with a 20mm round peg that will fit in any hole. I use an electronic angle measuring device to set the fence and I hold it in place with a standard Festool clamp. To preserve the original top I placed a sacrificial sheet under the material I was cutting.
As soon as my own CNC nested router arrived I made a program to drill 20mm holes on 96mm centers. Now days when I reject a particular sheet of plywood I save it until time opens on the nested router. It does not take long to drill a 4x10 foot sheet.
I must say I enjoy making those angle cuts on the bench with my TS55 more than on the big slider saw.
