How do you determine the start and stop points with a TS55 at non-full depth?

[zzzzdoc]

The best I can figure this out from the manual, the starting and stopping points of a plunge cut with the TS55 on the guide are marked by the vertical lines on the saw (or the vertical line on the splinter guard).  But that only appears to be the case with full depth cuts.

I'm now cutting 3/4" plywood, and the cut starts and stops far short of those lines.  Is there an easy way to determine the start and stop points of a plunge cut at non maximum depth?

 

[Ken Nagrod]

From my experience with the saw, no.  Test it on a scrap piece is the most accurate thing to do.  Mark the back of the baseplate at the start and the front of the baseplate at the arbitrary finish or front of your plunge, then measure to your cut line from the baseplate's lines to come up with the offset distances.

 

[FEStastic]

I had the same problem Yesterday in the end I put blue tape on the saw and marked the position for the depth I was using.
I wish Festool made a similar attachment that Mafel makes for their MT55.
See on You Tube at 5:11 on "Mafell MT55 Demonstration."

There are some other good features that I wish the TS55 had that are on the MT55.

 

[Roseland]

When the TS55 is set to 55mm depth cut (50mm actual on a rail) on 3/4" sheet, the cut length on the top surface is 148mm long, and the cut on the bottom surface is 128mm.  In other words there is only a difference of 10mm each end to clean up by hand.

When set to 'just' cut 3/4" material (say set to 25mm for a true cut of 20mm), the difference between the top and bottom cuts is 70mm, which makes for a lot of clean-up.

I think you're better off trying to hold the material in such a way that you can use full depth.

Andrew

 

[Rick Christopherson]

On a plunge cut, the scribe marks on the face of the blade cover (I show these in the manual, as you noticed) are intended to represent the start and stop locations with a full blade depth. Generally speaking, you do want your depth set to maximum. If there are times when you do not want the depth set to maximum, then yes, you will need to create your own Start and Stop scribe marks. The other poster’s suggestion of putting tape on the face of the saw for these marks is excellent. The position of these marks will vary with blade depths, so that is why the permanent marks are only for maximum blade depth.

One thing to note about a plunging cut that is different from a non-plunging cut, is that you will have tearout at the underside-rear of the cut. This is because this is the only time the rear of the blade (downward traveling teeth) are cutting virgin material. In a normal cut, the upward traveling teeth are the ones cutting virgin material, and tearout is mitigated by the splinterguard(s).

To reduce this particular underside tearout, you will have to employ one of the many alternatives, such as a backer-board under the cut, tape, or even flipping the saw around with a deeper depth to trim the beginning of the previously shallow cut (i.e. plunge at shallow depth, then finish at full depth, then spin the saw around and trim the beginning at full depth). The best method depends on the conditions and setup for the task.