Finding it hard to cut accurate bevels

[russ_1380]

Hi all,

I've bought a MFT

Seems quite good but one or two questions for you guys:

The rail clamp (non hinged one) has a tab to fit the groove in the rail, my one fits quite loosely allowing the rail be moved slightly.  I have temporarily fixed it by wrapping some tape around the tab.  Does everyones do this?  or have i got a dud?

When cutting bevels in 3/4 mdf  I'm finding it hard with my 48 tooth blade.  With the speed on 6 its way too fast and starts to burn, on slower speeds its really hard going.  I think i'm using too much force as either the rail or the workpiece is moving resulting in a dud cut (not straight).

Is a coarser blade recommend for bevels on 3/4 stock?

Cheers

Russ

 

[Roseland]

I've had an MFT for almost exactly a year and am delighted with it.  I've just gone out and checked and there can't be more than about 0.005" lateral play between the rail and the front bracket; just enough to feel but not really see.

It's strange you commented about burning when cutting at a bevel.  Today I was cutting the long way along a piece of 8' x 4' ply (3/4" thick) at a 45 degree bevel and I too suffered some burning.  In the end I did it in two passes.  I may have 'cooked' the (standard OEM) blade a month or so ago when ripping some 6" x 2" at a 10 degree bevel; the saw was clearly struggling.  Perhaps I need a new blade...

But it never burns or struggles when cutting at 90 degrees.

Andrew

 

[nickao]

Are these TS 75's?

A 75 should not bog down at all for bevels(mine doesn't), the TS 55 does bog down and the reason I upgraded, especially if you are not using a nice new blade.

 

[russ_1380]

Ah sorry yes its a 55

I was thinking of trying a blade with fewer teeth?

The teeth look and feel pretty sharp, cutting 90 degrees is no problem at all.  Its just when doing 45 degree bevel I'm struggling, takes quite a bit of muscle to push the saw along, surely this is a sign something is going wrong? ???

Its also quite trickey to hold the saw base flat as due to the nature of how it cuts a 45 degree bevel, the saw wants to tip over.  Perhaps the base of the saw is rocking slightly causing the wobbly cut?

 

[windmill man]

Hi Russ,

Think it could be a dull blade.

I use the 48 tooth for faced products and the 28 tooth for general sheets goods. you should be able to do a bevel cut in 18mm MDF with a sharp 48t with out a problem.

There is some slack on the MFT tab.Set your rail up with the tab touching the lefthand side of the guide rail (as viewed from the front )then as you cut you automatically take up the slack. If you are right handed and you cut with the rail to your right.

Best John

 

[russ_1380]

Good tips.

Taking your advice i found this online:

There are lots of ways to know when a saw blade is dull. Here?s a few telltale signs:

If you use your tools all the time, you can feel it cutting slower. But you need to use your tools a lot to be that in tune.
When you suddenly get tear-out (chips) in nice pieces where the saw exits the work.
Check the blade (off the saw) to see if it still has all the teeth.
If there is a lot of goop (called pitch) on the blade plate ? that?s a good sign the blade has seen some wear and tear, and if it?s not dull, it will be soon.
The most sure sign a blade is dull is when the saw doesn?t want to cut in a straight line. It is most noticeable with circular-saw blades. Missing or rounded-over teeth will make the saw want to cut in a curve.

I did also notice when exiting the work piece it tends nip off the corner of the workpiece surface when viewed from above.  Also there is lots of muck around the bottom of the teeth as mentioned above.

Seems strange though as all I have cut is mdf and and little bit of ply.  I've not done much cutting, do these saw blades have a relatively short life?

 

[windmill man]

Hi Russ,

MDF and ply play hell with your blades and can soon take the edge off. If you mostly cut man made boards , its a bit strange that you have pitch build up in the gullets. Give the  blade a clean up and have another go with it.

I can tell by the pitch of the blade noise if my blade is going off.

John

 

[russ_1380]

Hi Guys

I took the blade off for a closer look.

The teeth are burnt on one side of the blade but not the other.

Does this mean my toe in/out setting is wrong?  Maybe this is why I am finding it difficult to cut?

 

[jonny round boy]

Russ,

Just bring the saw with you on Friday to the Festool Surgery & have the rep look at it for you. They should be able to sort it for you, that's partly what the surgery days are for, I think.

 

[richk]

I'm new to Festools and am now content, thanks to great support from my dealer and the Southern California Festool rep.

That said, it hasn't been as easy as I had expected. On the issues raised in this thread:

1. my saw's toe in/out was mis-adjusted. there was lots of burn on one side of the cut surface, which disappeared once the toe in was corrected. It also slides when cutting a lot easier too.

2. the MFT front guide support definitely has spare room for side to side wiggle of the guide rail, and a replacement piece was identical. By adjusting the position of the stop and support so that the guide support pin aligns on the left side of the guide rail track, as described earlier in this thread, the guide rail wiggle and alignment can be corrected. FOG has been really helpful in identifying this issue.

My point, simply, is that the 'out of the box experience' wasn't great and apparent deficiencies shouldn't be just accepted. Happily, the Festool "family" has been really helpful.

Rich

 

[russ_1380]

Thank you for the tips everyone.

I'm hopefully joining Johnny Boy and Windmill man this Friday for a Festool Surgery.  I will bring the saw and rail to see if the rep can offer any advice.

As I'm still relatively new to woodworking, its sounds daft but I'm unsure as to how to tell if a blade is sharp or not (circular saw ) it certainly feels sharp to me and seems to cut 90 degree cuts fine.

In the mean time I've just bought a cheap blade with fewer teeth, I will try this on a bevel cut to see if it makes a difference.

I'm looking forward to getting this MFT system up and running as I'd like as it should make my life so much easier!

All the best

Russ

 

[russ_1380]

Sorry, forgot to add:

Regarding the toe in setting, I think I will save this for the surgery as although it looks a simple task I can imagine it being one of those jobs that looks easy but somehow eats up your shop time and money.

R

 

[greg mann]

You are on the right track having the experts troubleshoot for you. It could surely be a toe-in issue and they can help with that. Another thing that can help is to first make a 90 degree cut to remove the bulk of your material and then make the bevel cut without moving anything but the saw setting for the bevel. This leaves a thin piece behind that can easily fall away from the blade. A saw that is toed-in properly should, by definition, rub on the outside of a cut by the amount of the toe-in. Pre-cutting at 90 degrees mitigates this.

By checking which side of your blade has the burn you can determine if you have toe-in or toe-out.