New-To-Me TS 55 EQ - growling noise and arbor grease

[calgaryguy]

I'm a first time Festool saw owner. I already owned a CT26e vac, but yesterday I picked up a used TS55EQ.

On doing some test cuts today in some 3/4" shop birch (cheap asian veneer), I noticed that the saw 'growls' on startup and slowly diminishes as the saw warms up. I took this as a bad bearing, and did a disassemble of the saw to try and identify the bad bearing. On disassembly, none of the 4 bearings (3 sealed bearings and one needle bearing) seemed to be all that bad. On doing some google searching (which I should have done first), I found that 'growling' on startup is deemed normal for these saws. Sigh.

I'm quite adept at working on small tools; my family used to own a rental business that was the regional delta/rockwell warranty depot. The trigger mechanism and lock looks like it will be a slight pain to put back together however.

I have two questions:

1) Can anyone confirm for me if the 'growling' on startup and during runtime is normal?
2) Some of the grease leaked out when I removed the blade arbor cover+ arbor gear. How much grease should be in the arbor housing, and what type of grease does it use?

TIA!

 

[copcarcollector]

The track saws do have a unique growl during use, from your description I would say your saw is normal

 

[ear3]

Welcome, and congratulations.

Growl is normal -- that's the MMC electronics balancing the speed.  As for grease, don't have an answer, unfortunately.

 

[Brice Burrell]

Welcome to the FOG.  I say give Festool service a call and talk to them.  They are very professional and should answer any questions you have.  You can find the phone number on the saw.

 

[calgaryguy]

I ended up using 1/2-3/4 of a teaspoon of Castrol bearing grease I had on hand.

After reassembly, the 'growling' is alot less, but it still present, especially at speed settings 1-2. I can live with it.

I also used the opportunity to square the blade to the base and other basic tuning as outlined in the supplementary TS 55 EQ manual, and purchased a new 48T blade. Cuts like butter now.