Has anybody used the Festool Track Saw to cut stacked up veneer pieces? I saw a demo at a shop where a guy used a negative rake blade made for cutting aluminum on his saw to cut a 10 pc stack of veneer pieces. He removed the riving knife and ran the saw backwards on the rail while compressing the veneered stack down. The finished cut on all the pieces was beautiful with zero chips or tear out. He said Festool doesn't sell these blades anymore because folks that cut aluminum with them as Festool had originally designed was generating sparks that ended up in their dust collector. They didn't think ahead and remove their dust collector hose. I was thinking of buying a fireplace ash dust collector and hooking it up to the saw whenever needed for cutting aluminum. There is a built in spark arrestor that solves he spark problem. But my primary question... does anybody have experience running the track saw backwards on the rail with a negative rake blade?
Negative Rake blade for cutting veneer stacks
- Thread starter White
- Start date
Yes. I did it several years back after attending a Paul Schurch class at Marc Adams school.
Sorry to hear about blade being discontinued. Disconnect the hose to the vacuum on anything that could throw a spark into a vacuum bag. A furniture factory near here burned to the ground when an employee hooked the grinder to the dust collector
Search for Paul on YouTube
Is there another blade source?
Sorry to hear about blade being discontinued. Disconnect the hose to the vacuum on anything that could throw a spark into a vacuum bag. A furniture factory near here burned to the ground when an employee hooked the grinder to the dust collector
Search for Paul on YouTube
Is there another blade source?
Hello Harry_
Your comment about the difference between cutting forward and backward can be realized if you have ever seen the benefit of cutting with or against a spinning bit on a router table. Tear out can occur when a router bit exits a cut (with or against grain) and can possibly burn the wood. By doing a short reverse incut with the router bit on the out feed side then doing the normal feed cut you will eliminate tear out and burns on the exit because the last inch has already been precut. Sort of like a scoring blade on a table saw that precuts a tiny bottom kerf on melamine before the normal blade makes the through cut.
A track saw normally up cuts through the grain pulling up fibers as it cuts along the track rail... but the zero clearance strip usually keeps those fibers down on a solid board. Because veneer is so thin and it is much easier for the grain to chip up as the blade exits the cut. By sliding the track saw backwards into the cut, the blade is spinning downward into the veneer. The negative rake really aids in a clean entry and by using a sacrificial backer there is no tear out when the blade exits the cut.
Your comment about the difference between cutting forward and backward can be realized if you have ever seen the benefit of cutting with or against a spinning bit on a router table. Tear out can occur when a router bit exits a cut (with or against grain) and can possibly burn the wood. By doing a short reverse incut with the router bit on the out feed side then doing the normal feed cut you will eliminate tear out and burns on the exit because the last inch has already been precut. Sort of like a scoring blade on a table saw that precuts a tiny bottom kerf on melamine before the normal blade makes the through cut.
A track saw normally up cuts through the grain pulling up fibers as it cuts along the track rail... but the zero clearance strip usually keeps those fibers down on a solid board. Because veneer is so thin and it is much easier for the grain to chip up as the blade exits the cut. By sliding the track saw backwards into the cut, the blade is spinning downward into the veneer. The negative rake really aids in a clean entry and by using a sacrificial backer there is no tear out when the blade exits the cut.
Cheese
Member
Gregor said:
Unfortunately, they've been withdrawn from the US market.
Cheese
Member
White said:
Cutting aluminum will not produce sparks because of the softness of the material and the oxide coating.
I've cut a lot of aluminum plate using the 496306 blade on a TSC 55 with the standard cloth dust bag.
Aluminum does not spark, it is nonferrous. I've cut enough aluminum storefront material in the last 38 years to fill a commercial dumpster. Sparking is NON issue. Aluminum/plastic cutting blades that fit the Festools are available from Tooolstoday. I run this type blades in all my saws including my tablesaws and mitersaws.
White said:
I understand the negative rake part and also I follow your router example. But on stile work for example, don't we use a sacrificial block to prevent blowout when coping with the router? So again what is the difference between raking up into the guide strip or raking down into your sacrificial surface? Either way the grains are 'captured' reducing tear out.
Sorry if I am being think in the head on this.
Michael Kellough
Member
The benefit of the technique White describes is real. Veneer on both sides of the kerf is compressed and sheared so there is no tearout and with a solid sacrificial support underneath there should be no tearout below either.
Tenryu also makes a negative hook blade for cutting aluminum with the TS 75.
Tenryu also makes a negative hook blade for cutting aluminum with the TS 75.
