HKC 55 EB review from downunder!

[Davesbuildtips]

Hi guys, I love this saw. Grab a beer and a pie, put your feet up and be prepared for 20 minutes of Festool bliss, lol.

 

[sancho57]

Very nice mate, well done. You almost convinced me to buy one.

 

[Kev]

Thanks Dave [unsure] [crying] for spending more of my money [embarassed] [sad]

 

[#Tee]

thanks dave again! do they make metal cutting blades for this?

 

[neeleman]

Metal (thin) cutting blades are only available for the new HK 85.
It's a flat tooth saw blade Ø230x2,5x30 F48 (500651) at €139,63 incl. VAT.

 

[dibnah]

Hi Dave,

Interesting reading the first two replies in this thread you have started. But as  I'm in the market for a new saw I thought I would ask..and I hope this does not come across as rude.
Your video demonstration is very well put together and I'm sure you must have a sales background. But I am particularly interested in your affiliation with Festool as its help me make more of an informed choice before I spend my money.
While I find video reviews of this nature very helpful I can't help but feel that there need to be more transparency on the part of the presenter. Don't get me wrong I am not trying to say that you are pulling the wool over my eyes I just want to be made aware of the reasons that have motivated you in to making the broadcast.(sales pitch)
This could well be the subject matter of a new thread  as I think the FOG in general is rather lacking in this. But in the interests of being open and honest I feel that all member of a public forum that is operated under a corporate banner should openly disclose that they have been rewarded or remunerated by the corporation before they contribute to the discussion.

Cheers Dibnah

 

[Davesbuildtips]

thanks dave again! do they make metal cutting blades for this?

Sure can. The TS 55 blades will work on this saw. The thin Kerf blade of 1.8 mm on the HKC is designed to improve battery life. At least that is what I was told when I asked.

 

[Davesbuildtips]

Hi Dave,

Interesting reading the first two replies in this thread you have started. But as  I'm in the market for a new saw I thought I would ask..and I hope this does not come across as rude.
Your video demonstration is very well put together and I'm sure you must have a sales background. But I am particularly interested in your affiliation with Festool as its help me make more of an informed choice before I spend my money.
While I find video reviews of this nature very helpful I can't help but feel that there need to be more transparency on the part of the presenter. Don't get me wrong I am not trying to say that you are pulling the wool over my eyes I just want to be made aware of the reasons that have motivated you in to making the broadcast.(sales pitch)
This could well be the subject matter of a new thread  as I think the FOG in general is rather lacking in this. But in the interests of being open and honest I feel that all member of a public forum that is operated under a corporate banner should openly disclose that they have been rewarded or remunerated by the corporation before they contribute to the discussion.

Cheers Dibnah

Dibnah.
I am a retired builder and now work part time in the industry but am not paid by anyone to make my videos. I make the videos in my shed at home on my own, no cameramen, no sound technician, no video editor, no script writer... Just Dave enjoying himself rather than sitting in front of a TV or video game. I dabbled in youtube for a while and one of my videos went viral and now it is an addiction. I make videos about my dog, Festool, my workshop, all of my other tools, my trailer... the list goes on. I love doing it. I have to ask you a question, In my video, is there any deception about the machine or what it is capable of? Is the video informative? Does the video offer more information about the tool (good or bad) than most other videos due to perceived knowledge? Surely these are the questions to focus on. I have always hated being ignorant about things. Once I nut something out I share the knowledge in the best way I know how.
I hope you picked up some useful information freely from my efforts.

 

[Jozsef Kozma]

Hi Dave
A beautiful video , it accurately describes the HKC , no over statements .
Dust collection compared to other circulars excellent
Accuracy with rail great
A very happy HKC 55 owner for four weeks
Hoping to get my hands on a corded 110 V soon
Jozsef

The only connection I have to festool is , they have their hands in my pocket

 

[Ajax]

Nice work.  Informative and fun at the same time.  I'm not in the market for this kind of saw, but I enjoyed watching and learning.

 

[Kev]

Dave,

Don't stop doing what you love (I know you won't) ... there'll always be challengers (maybe you simply came off too professional!!)

Kev.

 

[Brice Burrell]

I have a question about mechanism that releases the saw so that it works to make a plunge cut.  How does this mechanism reengage to fix the depth again?  It looks to me that the saw has to be set to full depth to reengage the fixed blade mode.  The real question I want to know, can the HKC stay in this spring loaded plunge cut mode, or does it always return to it's fixed position after every plunge?

The reason I ask is I have the Mafell corded version and you have to be really careful when using it on the regular guide rail.  When you finish a cut you need to carefully remove the saw off the rail as the saw spools down (or allow it to come to a stop) in a way that the exposed fixed blade doesn't inadvertently hit the splinterguard/rail.  If the HKC can be used as a plunge saw you could allow the saw blade to retract without worrying about damaging the rail.         

 

[dibnah]

Hi Dave,

Interesting reading the first two replies in this thread you have started. But as  I'm in the market for a new saw I thought I would ask..and I hope this does not come across as rude.
Your video demonstration is very well put together and I'm sure you must have a sales background. But I am particularly interested in your affiliation with Festool as its help me make more of an informed choice before I spend my money.
While I find video reviews of this nature very helpful I can't help but feel that there need to be more transparency on the part of the presenter. Don't get me wrong I am not trying to say that you are pulling the wool over my eyes I just want to be made aware of the reasons that have motivated you in to making the broadcast.(sales pitch)
This could well be the subject matter of a new thread  as I think the FOG in general is rather lacking in this. But in the interests of being open and honest I feel that all member of a public forum that is operated under a corporate banner should openly disclose that they have been rewarded or remunerated by the corporation before they contribute to the discussion.

Cheers Dibnah

Dibnah.
I am a retired builder and now work part time in the industry but am not paid by anyone to make my videos. I make the videos in my shed at home on my own, no cameramen, no sound technician, no video editor, no script writer... Just Dave enjoying himself rather than sitting in front of a TV or video game. I dabbled in youtube for a while and one of my videos went viral and now it is an addiction. I make videos about my dog, Festool, my workshop, all of my other tools, my trailer... the list goes on. I love doing it. I have to ask you a question, In my video, is there any deception about the machine or what it is capable of? Is the video informative? Does the video offer more information about the tool (good or bad) than most other videos due to perceived knowledge? Surely these are the questions to focus on. I have always hated being ignorant about things. Once I nut something out I share the knowledge in the best way I know how.
I hope you picked up some useful information freely from my efforts.

Hi Dave Thank you for your reply.
Thanks also for reinforcing my initial perception that you are just a genuine guy sharing his love of the tools in an enthusiastic way. I also take my hat of to you, your presentation was very informative and I have very much enjoyed your channel. Sorry if my post came across to the contrary, I was not trying to portray any deception on your part.
Moreover I find it particularly interesting how a manufacture of power tools motivates their consumers to freely promote their products.
When you think about it, its an incredibly powerful influence to get a person to do something for effectively nothing in return; in your case I admire your charitable spirit.

However I do feel that there are some "man in his shed' type broadcasters out there that do cross the line and go from open and honest review to motivated referral. "Word of mouth" referrals from the friendly "man in his shed" is such a strong positive sales notion, creative marketers are using it to target specific user groups and to the uninitiated potential tool purchaser what might come across as one thing can build false confidence. I also like you dislike being ignorant, and it can be a little demeaning having to question someone like your good self's motivation for doing something. I just feel that there is a responsibility of a broadcaster and manufacture alike to fully disclose when broadcast is and advertisement or not.

Anyhow thanks for listening Dave I hope I haven't lost you but futhermore I am also intrigued, and would value your opinion, on the perception that a relatively high end manufacture of seemingly superior quality tools manages to pull off such a poor effort in an attempt at an end user manual. This effectively forces their consumers to independently source further information hence my introduction to the FOG; which for my part has been very rewarding. However you have got to remember not every user of a tools is happy to whittle away hours of their time on a fan based website in order to obtain information that would make obvious sense to provide at the point of sale. Such is the extent of Festool fan based endorsement that its makes commercial sense to leave users wanting as they will unintentionally have to sift through a barrage of advertisement/ review type information to source better reference material.

Again I am really pleased to hear that your updates are not weighted in any way as I really do  enjoy and appreciate the entertainment that your are freely providing me. Keep up the great work and I apologies in advance if this has in anyway challenged your sincere nature.

I hope this encourages some positive debate

Cheers  Dibnah

 

[Brice Burrell]

...Your video demonstration is very well put together and I'm sure you must have a sales background. But I am particularly interested in your affiliation with Festool as its help me make more of an informed choice before I spend my money.....

I am a retired builder and now work part time in the industry but am not paid by anyone to make my videos. I make the videos in my shed at home on my own, no cameramen, no sound technician, no video editor, no script writer...

(I see Dibnah posted just before I did) When I saw Davesbuildtips mention a where to buy link I too thought there may be some affiliation with the retailer and/or Festool.  Not being paid doesn't mean there is no affiliation.  I'm not saying there is tiptoeing around affiliation going on here, it's just I understand why someone might ask about affiliation in this video.

Personally I judge the merit of any review/overview based on the usefulness of information presented, regardless of any affiliation or not.  I then run it through my own common sense filter and form my own opinions of the tool's possible value to me. 

 

[vteknical]

Great review Dave!
I can't wait to get my hands on this saw!  I am loving my TSC55, so this will be a pleasant surprise.

 

[aas]

The plunge release mechanism is independant of the depth setting, that is to say that you first set the depth of cut, then you release the plunge mechanism thereby lifting the saw up from the base. When you subsequently plunge the saw, it will be to the preset depth and it locks into place (unlike the TS saws). At the end of the plunge cut you need to then release the plunge mechansim.

I have a question about mechanism that releases the saw so that it works to make a plunge cut.  How does this mechanism reengage to fix the depth again?  It looks to me that the saw has to be set to full depth to reengage the fixed blade mode.  The real question I want to know, can the HKC stay in this spring loaded plunge cut mode, or does it always return to it's fixed position after every plunge?

The reason I ask is I have the Mafell corded version and you have to be really careful when using it on the regular guide rail.  When you finish a cut you need to carefully remove the saw off the rail as the saw spools down (or allow it to come to a stop) in a way that the exposed fixed blade doesn't inadvertently hit the splinterguard/rail.  If the HKC can be used as a plunge saw you could allow the saw blade to retract without worrying about damaging the rail.       

 

[Davesbuildtips]

As it has concerned a couple of people that I made comment about where you can purchase the saw, I have edited that bit out. It is part of my nature to give as much informational as possible, maybe too much this time? I have however, left the link to my Facebook page and my water tank web site.

 

[Throwback7r]

Have you tried the Mafell KSS 300 ? If so how does it compare?

 

[Davesbuildtips]

Sorry, I have not tried that other machine.

 

[Kritta]

I thought this review was excellent - it helped me to understand the saw much more than anything I've seen from Festool. I wasn't bothered at all by any lack of impartiality. Anyone who buys Festool makes a considerable financial and emotional investment in their tool, and it's understandable for them to enthuse about it and share their passion. Given that Festool offers a money-back policy, it's unlikely that anyone who is disappointed by their purchase would rant or complain about it - they'd just return it. I think Festool marketing is very clever, but at the end of the day it woudn't work if the tools were not making their owners very happy.

Thanks for a helpful and informative review.