Cutting melamine laminated chipboard with the Festool TS-55

[festoolfan1000]

Thanks Iain for clarifying that.

I based my observation on a photo another member had posted. Thanks for posting the pdf and confirming the rake angle, would it be possible to share the remaing blade tooth geometry figures?

M

 

[arso_bg]

Festool blades are very high quality. Unforetunately their Fine Tooth blade is not the best design for cutting melamine particle board. The Tenryu follows current design convention with a HATB and a negative rake they also have a tapered tooth design (something I theorize might limit splinterguard wear; as it would lessen the amount  tooth rubbing against the guard as it spins.)

A.G.: If I may ask. Would it be possible to try a cut without scoring, and a new splinterguard on the rail?...  :-\

Hi Michael

Thank you for your participation in this discussion and valuable comments.

You and some other FOG members here asked me to do some additional tests. Unfortunately I am not able to make them at the moment.

Nevertheless I can answer most of your questions without making further tests since I have made a lot of them in the past.  I hope you will find this satisfactory

1. Cutting melamine laminated chipboard with the Festool TS 55 without a scoring cut. Normally this leads to a worse quality of the cut.  How much worse? This depends on the combination - saw blade used/ chipboard quality. It is not a bad idea to make some test cuts before you start to break down a large sheet.
2. A new splinterguard on the rail. This normally prevents 100% the chipping on the top left side of the cut.
3. The green splinter guard on the right side of the saw. It greatly reduces the chipping on the top right side of the cut
4. Fighting the chippings at the bottom.  I always have some sheets of 8 mm MDF in the shop. Working on a project I put it on the top of my MFT. This allows me to set properly the dept of the saw blade. For the most important cuts I just use it as a sacrificial material which always helps to avoid the chipping at the bottom side.

Regards

A.G.

 

[arso_bg]

Hi everybody,

There is maybe still one point that I should clarify. The saw blade alignment of my TS 55 is strictly parallel to the cutting line. This is actually the original setup of my saw which I did not change. Everything posted above is valid for this setup.

There are a lot of recommendations here to make a "toe-in" adjustment of the TS 55 saw blade.  I am curious if someone has some observations and could comment what is the effect of such  "toe-in" adjustment of the saw blade alignment in regard to the chipping when cutting melamine laminated particleboard.

Regards

A.G.

 

[festoolfan1000]

Thanks for the information A.G.

Regarding the scoring cut first I generally don't do it, if I can maintain the splinter guard and keep my blades on rotation I can get pretty good results (the Festool blades dull rather quickly, so I keep 4 in rotation.) I have done the scoring cut where it was absolutely necessary to have a perfect cut but for the sake of productivity I generally do not do this. I do this for a living and even without scoring I am producing better quality melamine cabinets then I generally see installed. Now if the Tenryu blades last longer and produce an even better cut without scoring I'm all over it.

For the price I may as well just bite the bullet and buy a couple.

Regarding saw blade alignment, the toe in has made a dramatic difference in the quality of my cuts with the TS55 (your results may vary.)  See the photo below:

Cheers,

Michael

 

[arso_bg]

Hi Michael,

WOW!  This looks very convincing. I'll definitely have to change my setup and try it out.

I'm really sorry that I cannot make the test for you at the moment. I plan to change my splinter guards somewhere at the end of this month when I will start a new project. (I'm actually not a professional and do some woodworking when I have time for this)

Thanks for the information

Regards

A.G.

 

[Sammy J]

Hi,

I did allot of research into cutting solutions for melamine which lead me to the festool setup, here is a interesting link that made me bite the bullet... http://www.woodshopdemos.com/fes-60.htm

ATM I get a good result with the following setup for those interested...

• TS-55, MFT3 & ABSA (dust cover)
• Making sure the saw is tight on the guide rails (no side thrust)
• Saw set to maximum speed, CT-33 maximum value
• 1mm scoring cut then full pass with 12mm over cut
• 6 - 8 second stroke rate accross MFT (600mm cut length)

Material used is laminex handyman panels, chipboard inner, 16mm thick.

I get chips very, very occasionally (3rd and 4th curf) due to side thrust on the saw, from eithier saw moving on the guide rails and/or the rail moving in the MFT mount. Has anyone made a zero tolerance fit between the guide rail and the MFT table? I've also been looking at designs for using both the chip guard and ABSA dust cover together... I'll start another thread for that one.

I'm also interested in the new blade and look forward to some more feedback, as it would be nice to do a good cut in one pass and potentially a faster feed rate....

Cheers Sam