Festool TS55 - will not cut square on some hard woods

[goldman8073]

I am having difficulty in getting my TS55 to cut square along the grain on some hardwoods.  As I am in Australia, most of the wood I am using is considered by Janka to be hard.  I have taken the saw to a Festool approved workshop and had them test it in my presence.  They agreed I was cutting it correctly and the saw and cutting tray were all in good condition.  They had no idea why this was happening.  I was cutting batu (eastern mahoganny) along the grain, and no matter which saw blade I used, the saw would not cut at 90 degrees.  In fact it is so bad that timber that is 20mm thick leaves a gap that is up to 1.5mm out of square.
If I cut mdf, pine, and some lighter hardwoods, no problem, but jarrah, Tasmanian Blackwood etc. same problem, well off 90 degrees.
I think the saw is excellent, and often use just the TS55 to cut along timber that I can then join together without any further work.
Has anyone else experienced this please, and if so, did you find a solution?

 

[Mario Turcot]

How old is the saw? Any major kickback that may have damaged the bearing? Do the blade gets very hot?

Mario

 

[lwoirhaye]

It's deflection, that's all.  I've used a Mafell PPS to cut thick hardwoods.  I just did it in multiple passes setting the depth deeper with each pass.  I didn't try to make a glue joint from the edge but it was acceptably square though not free of saw marks.  A jig like hawk Joint-ability could bring such a cut made in several passes to a condition acceptable for edge jointing.

Festool and other makers oversell what these tools can do well. There's a reason heavy machines exist.

 

[tjbnwi]

How many miles are on the blade? I believe the blade is causing the issue.

Tom

 

[Birdhunter]

Is it possible the blade is following the wood grain patterns? In thick hard wood, the grain has to have some influence on the blade. If the blade is the least bit dull or the bearings the least bit worn, the grain effect will be enhanced.

I rip a length of hard wood with a SawStop Industrial saw (big , heavy, powerful) and still run it through my 8” jointer before gluing it up.

 

[Michael Kellough]

Which blade? I agree with the comments addressing the blade.

The saw is generally setup for cutting plywood. It has a slight toe-in so the back of the blade doesn’t scrape the nice clean cut the front of the blade produces (on the inboard side). In very hard wood the blade will defect to the inboard side. If there is any pitch buildup on the blade deflection will be worse and progressively worse with greater depth.

The harder and thicker wood requires a blade with fewer teeth.

 

[TXFIVEO]

I’ve used my TS75 for all types of hardwoods with zero issues.  Here are two 5/4 White Oak doors I’m working on and the TS75 performed flawlessly!

 

[Michael Kellough]

I’ve used my TS75 for all types of hardwoods with zero issues.  Here are two 5/4 White Oak doors I’m working on and the TS75 performed flawlessly!

The blade the TS 75 ships with is suitable for thicker harder wood. The TS 55 ships with a blade for plywood.

 

[goldman8073]

Thank you for the replies.  The saw is about 3 years old, but I am only a hobbyist, so it's in very good condition.  I had it checked at a Festool approved workshop.  All my saw blades have been sharpened and I have just bought 8 new blades from Axminster in the UK, 3 of which are designed for Festool saws, and they are as good or better than the Festool saw blades.
I have tried the 12 tooth, 24 tooth and the 52 tooth saw blades from Festool and also Axminster.  All with the same result on hard woods.  I suspect the blades are not up to the hard wood that I am cutting.  Jarrah and Tasmanian Blackwood is pretty tough stuff.
On softer woods, no problem at all.  Works perfectly especially with the 12 tooth blade.
I have not tried doing several passes with a shallow cut each time.  Will try that and see if it works.
Thanks once again for your advice.  Much appreciated.

 

[Birdhunter]

When I am cutting miters on really hard wood, I’ll make the first cut a little proud. The second cut, essentially, shaves the wood for the final dimension. If I make the first cut the final cut, I find evidence of blade deflection. I have to do this even using my really heavy SawStop with a new blade.

 

[Cheese]

When I am cutting miters on really hard wood, I’ll make the first cut a little proud. The second cut, essentially, shaves the wood for the final dimension. If I make the first cut the final cut, I find evidence of blade deflection. I have to do this even using my really heavy SawStop with a new blade.

Is that using a thin kerf blade or a regular kerf blade?

 

[Birdhunter]

I use a Forrest combination blade in a SawStop Industrial table saw. That’s the heaviest saw SawStop makes. The trunion is massive and the blade is sharp and I still have to accommodate flexing in the hard exotics I use.

 

[Naildrivingman]

Just for clarity, are you experiencing a beveled result?  If so, is the long point of the bevel on the top of the cut?

 

[sancho57]

are you clamping the wood down before cross cutting? It sometimes move during the clamping process.

If your using a MFT is it squared? Have you cleaned/dusted all the wood dust between the wood and the fence?

As Ive been spending a lot of time in the shop these passed 2 weeks, I just noticed that sometimes when I put the wood on the MFT I triple check to see if its butted up against the fence and when I grabbed the TS just prior to cutting I found myself bumping the wood a tad, just enough to move it away from te MFT fence.

You issue could be a number of things.....

 

[Gregor]

When I am cutting miters on really hard wood, I’ll make the first cut a little proud. The second cut, essentially, shaves the wood for the final dimension.

This. On the second pass the TS is basically used as a planer, not as a saw.

 

[goldman8073]

Thank you for your replies.  I have tried all the suggestions without success.  I have come to the conclusion that the TS55 saw blades are not that good at cutting seriously hard timber.  I shall just have to revert to using a table saw and jointer when using hard woods over 1700 lbf on the Janka scale.

 

[Cheese]

I shall just have to revert to using a table saw and jointer when using hard woods over 1700 lbf on the Janka scale.

I've ripped a lot of 3/4" thick Jatoba (2690 lbf) flooring using the TS 55 and TSC 55 with the 12 tooth Panther blade.

 

[Tinker]

I have  not been in my shop at all this past winter. A couple of years ago, I made a trestle table using Ash, Walnut, Hard maple, White oak and cherry.  The top was Hard maple and cherry 6/4.  All the rest was 8/4.  I used my TS 55 for all the cuts using the blade that came with my saw. Actually, the second blade, but i was brand new for the project.  The 6/4 was done in a single pass for the Ash.  Maple, Walnut and Cherry,  I used two passes.  The Oak 8/4 I did in three passes where ripping.  Two passes for cross cuts.

All the cuts came out "purfic" as my old shop teacher would say. I only used sand paper on a hand sanding block to touch up lightly on the joints.  I had no problems come glue up time.

Most of my projects, before and since, have been working with 2/4 and 3/4 hardwoods. The saw has been TS 55.
Tinker