I have 2 ts55 a ts75 and a tsc55. Last week I dropped one of them and it became unaligned to the guide rail. I found adjustments difficult with the set screws being under the saw. I made this little jig to help fine tune all the saws to the same tracks. It allows you to access the screws while the saw is properly adjusted. If something similar has been posted I apologize. Just thought it may help someone.
Jig for aligning multiple saws to same rail or resetting a saw to current rail
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Crazyraceguy
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That's a great idea.
grobkuschelig
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Great jig!
I only have two saws but found the measurements already quite time consuming and cumbersome.
Will definitely make one of these in some downtime!
I only have two saws but found the measurements already quite time consuming and cumbersome.
Will definitely make one of these in some downtime!
Tom did that with a short piece of track attached to thick wood, then plunged saw "A" in so all others would be set to the same. Having a groove cut deep into solid wood would give one a go, no go situation. Combine the two ways and we might be onto a great design. Now I just need to buy another rail to cut up.tjskinny said:
dawatson833
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I have an mft and need align my HKC 55 to the track. Not sure how you're using this jig. Does the saw and jig go on the track.
Not sure how it is used.
Not sure how it is used.
squall_line
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mino said:
What popped into my head was a 3D printed plate such as this jig that could be secured to a sufficient piece of material to be cut into and used by a person in their shop.
Or laser-cut it from phenolic or something similar and put the extra piece on to simulate the rail.
FestitaMakool
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mino said:
Make that Festool Germany HQ as well with honor to [member=73357]Sci[/member] for a clever idea.
I’ll definitely make one, thanks for sharing!
dawatson833 said:
The saw rides on the plywood just like it's a track. The 1/4" plywood is what the saw rides on. You then cut the plywood with the saw. The holes are cut into the bottom of the 3/4" plywood so you can access the adjustment screws. The HK will also fit on the jig, but the screws are on top so it's not as necessary. The nice thing about the plywood jig is there is no play like there is when using a track.
tjbnwi
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Peter_C said:
This is what Peter is refering to.
I have 5 TS saws, I needed them all to match. I've also have set others saws to match mine.
To make this work the best, if you have R and E model saws, use the R model for your baseline saw. The E has a little more adjustment than the R.
Having rail to cut is not an issue for me. 2 weeks ago I had to cut one of the 16' rails to 13'.
The base material I used is HDPE. I choose this over wood for the stability of the material.
Secured the rail to the HDPE, made sure the slop was out of the gibbs. Locked the saw to the rail using the anti-kickback devices, plunged full depth while cutting the HDPE.
Any subsequent saws are set on the rail unplugged or batteries removed, slowly plunge into the existing cut. If the blade does not freely enter the cut, loosen the base screws, plunge into the cut, once the blade is in the kerf pull the FastFix up, tighten the screws, remove saw from jig, flip thighted balance of screws.
This fixture sets the saws aligned to each other and sets the saws toe.
Tom
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Tom, as many of us have TS55's, HK's and TS75's my question to you would be how you would address the 2.2mm vs 2.4mm (vs 2.6mm) kerf? Are you using the TS75 as saw "A" meaning the one that makes the original cut? Or maybe you just have 5 saws that are 160mm blades? Even still the HK blades are an even thinner kerf, so it must become more about setting the saw against the rail side of the cut for all but the largest kerf, (Which can register off both sides).
Brilliant on the HDPE!
Someday I will have to make a permanent jig, but it is easy to do a temporary jig by screwing the rail down to some scrap wood like a 2"x12", plunging in using the stop as Tom does, then setup the other saws. Should a saw get dropped or come out of adjustment, one could just screw the rail down to scrap again and make another cut. No rails are sacrificed in doing so. The OP's version from scrap works well too, and I really like the adjustment access cutouts.
Brilliant on the HDPE!
Someday I will have to make a permanent jig, but it is easy to do a temporary jig by screwing the rail down to some scrap wood like a 2"x12", plunging in using the stop as Tom does, then setup the other saws. Should a saw get dropped or come out of adjustment, one could just screw the rail down to scrap again and make another cut. No rails are sacrificed in doing so. The OP's version from scrap works well too, and I really like the adjustment access cutouts.
Timely discussion as I just got a new TSC 55 this weekend and was thinking about aligning to my existing rails. That said, I have a pretty old TS 75 (think I bought it used 10-12 years ago?!)...am I wrong in remembering that the older models have limited adjustment? I got a HKC 55 two years ago and couldn’t seem to get that to match my 75. I didn’t worry about it too much, since I’m usually rough cutting when I’m using that saw and it cuts wide of the guide.
I would LOVE to get my new TSC 55 and old TS 75 aligned. If I could also get my HKC 55 aligned that would be an added bonus!
Thanks,
Guy
I would LOVE to get my new TSC 55 and old TS 75 aligned. If I could also get my HKC 55 aligned that would be an added bonus!
Thanks,
Guy
chrisrosenb
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mino said:
The service department at Festool USA has been using this type of jig to adjust saws for more than 12 years. I saw the jig when the training class I was part of got a tour of the service department. I have a short piece of guide rail that I use.
mino
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Great, what is the part # so we can order ?JD2720 said:
/joke
This is good, so just needs proper commercialization.
A customer should not need to dig FOG to be able to align his tool. And, frankly, while the concept of a jig or a small rail off-cut mated with some plastic part is not complex, it is not that easy to get it right even when you know what you want. For a start, the rail is normally "suspended" in the air on the splinter guard and the central ribs. Not so easy to just "take a raile and screw it to something ... that will most likely bend the rail if some special shim or rail trimming is not done.
I would like to see this in the Accessories list when I go browse for a TSC 55 etc.
Were it under $100, I would have likely got it when getting my TSC ..
squall_line
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tjbnwi said:
I got my TS55 from Recon recently. I looked it over for completeness, and it appears that the base plate isn't toed correctly, although I didn't extend the blade to compare it at the time.
With a plate like this, it might help to reduce returns and complaints, especially for toe or camber issues (using automotive terms).
Would a thick enough piece of HDPE be a reasonable substitute for using a square to verify 0% bevel is set correctly on the saw?
Michael Kellough
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A thick plate would require the blade to be perfectly turned to 90 degrees prior to setting on the jig. I think it would be too difficult to set 90* and distance to guide rib simultaneously. Even with a 1/2” thick plate you need to be very close to square to start.
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