new ts55 struggled with European walunt

[navypaul]

I recently bought my first festool tool the ts55. when i first used it it sounded rough as a badgers bum but it didnt seem to affect the performance of the saw, which was amazing. i have used it to chop mainly 18mm ply and some laminate worktops, i mainly bought it to fit my new kitchen worktops which are european walnut and was massively surprised when it struggled to cut it, i had to do it in many passes (rip and cross) and the wood was burning like crazy. was i doing something wrong or is my saw playing up?

regards
paul

 

[Theshipstore]

Paul.  It's possible cutting the laminate tops dulled the blade quite a lot. The only other thing is maybe you were attempting to get thru the walnut to quickly and not givining the saw a chance.
For ripping you should try the Panther blade
I am still leaning towards dull blade from laminates
Festool does make a blade for laminates
Just a guess on my part

Sal

 

[semenza]

Hi Paul,

Welcome to the forum!  [smile]

How thick is the walnut?

I will echo what Sal said and the blade that comes on the saw (Fine) is definitely not designed for ripping.  

The saw makes  noises due to the electronics adjusting blade speed with varying loads.

Seth

 

[navypaul]

hi seth

the walnut is 40mm (sorry im english so i work in metric)

paul

 

[wrightwoodwork]

Sounds like a dulled blade I would advise have a selection of blades a general purpose blade, a rip blade and blade for laminates.

 

[navypaul]

dull blade seems to be the census but a 2 week old blade one 600mm laminate and a few lengths of 18mm soft ply dull a blade?

paul

 

[Tom the Remodeler]

The stock blade that comes with the TS-55 is meant primarily for processing finished panels and is not well suited to general carpentry. I suggest viewing the Universal blade as your go-to blade for most tasks, and possibly a Panther or Standard blade for ripping or thicker cuts.

Regardless of the brand (Festool, Mafell, Makita, etc....), track saws tend to be a bit more sensitive than stationary table saws or rough carpentry saws, regarding the cutting task, feed rate, and use of appropriate blade.

Use a SHARP blade appropriate to the material (depth, material hardness, ripping vs. crosscutting, etc....) and an appropriate feed rate and you should get great results. If one of these variables isn't accounted for you will be unhappy with the results.

 

[navypaul]

cheers tom

a selection of blades it is then

paul

 

[Administrator_JSVN]

Paul,

If you need further assistance on this, let me know and I can put you in touch with a colleague at Festool UK who can offer assistance.

Shane

 

[ajones]

dull blade seems to be the census but a 2 week old blade one 600mm laminate and a few lengths of 18mm soft ply dull a blade?

paul

Easily dull a blade in just a few cuts in laminate nasty stuff,  also there is glue in the ply...

 

[amt]

As others have said, either dull blade can be a problem, and a lower tooth blade can help.  However, I will state that one should not expect the power that comes with a healthy table saw.  I used my TS75 to rip almost 3" thick white oak, and I had to move the saw at an incredibly slow pace to get it to not bog down.  I did use the standard blade, and a panther blade would have helped, but I really did want a smooth surface after cutting.  In contrast, when I use the TS75 on MDF, it's effortless and very fast.

 

[Wuffles]

Definitely Universal blade and grab some clamps, either Festool or the Axminster ones that fit the rails and cut in depths of no more than 10mm per pass. With the clamps on you can do it in as many passes as you like as the rail's not going anywhere.

I did loads of worktops of varying flavours with a TS55 and a Universal blade. I also used it for ply, mdf and it never once let me down. I only got it wrong when I bought the wrong blade for the TS75 when I upgraded - wrongly thinking it came with the fine blade...whereas it comes with the universal - oops.

Anyway, if you need help finding anything in the UK, PM me.

 

[Davej]

dull blade seems to be the census but a 2 week old blade one 600mm laminate and a few lengths of 18mm soft ply dull a blade?

paul

Easily dull a blade in just a few cuts in laminate nasty stuff,  also there is glue in the ply...

The stock blade is not the best for laminate as it is  an alternate bevel blade and the tips loose their edge really quickly , you should get a proper blade for laminate . I might be considered blasphemous but I have always found Trend pro blades to be excellent value and long lasting and I cut a lot of laminate .
Dave

 

[sancho57]

I just built a table out of recycled english oak, though the timbers were 25mil I had no issues crosscutting and ripping it. I used the 28 tooth blade. My TS 55 is roughly 3 years old ad been dropped a couple of times and still does a good job.

That being said, change the blade and maybe slow the saw down to a 3-4

That should do it

 

[tbellemare]

The ATB blades (Fine Tooth, Universal, Panther) will dull real quickly in laminate. The blades that Festool sells for solid surface or laminates are either triple chip grind or modified ATB blades. The MATB blades have alternating teeth from side-to-side of the kerf but then are ground, sort of like a triple chip blade.

Tom

 

[navypaul]

Paul,

If you need further assistance on this, let me know and I can put you in touch with a colleague at Festool UK who can offer assistance.

Shane

thanks shane

phil from festool uk emailed to shed some light on the matter, and helped no end.

the fine blade has a positive 5 degree rake whereas most of the other blades have about 15 or more, giving the blade a finer finish on the wood but making timber cutting arduous and can burn the wood, (read that in a blade review on fesool website) which it did. i bought a trend pro blade just to try and it went through the timber offcuts really easily.

paul