I do not have the TS 75. I do have the ATF 55. I had used Milwaukee 8-1/4 and 7-1/2 circular saws for nearly 40 years when i bought my ATF 55. I was a mason contractor and had used my saws in many uncomfortable, and, yes, probably dangerous, conditions. I had made many plunges with each of those Milwaukees into cement and nail impregnated lumber. I was careful and never had a kickback in doing so. As soon as i got my ATF home, i set it up on the MFT (purchased at the same time) and with the saw unplugged, i made several mock cuts to be sure i had the proceedure down pat. When I was satisfied my procedure was faultless, i plugged the tool in and, with some considerable anticipation (translated>>> Excitement) I lifted the back end of the saw into the air as i had always done with my Milwaukees, squeezed the trigger and lowered the saw into the wood. Now, i am sure that anybody with any degree of experience operating and track saw is cringing and thinking unkind thoughts as to my qualifications. Well, i still have that original rail with a notch cut across the top of several inches. That scar is from no fault of the saw or Festool. i figured out what had gone wrong as soon as sparks had started flying. Never made that mistook again.
Later on, i realized the snugging tabs that secured the saw plate to the rail were not evenly snugged. The cut was poor, but correcting those tabs straightened that problem. With the universal blade, i now get glue ready cuts whether ripping or crosscutting. I do not have a panther blade so some of my rips into white oak and/or hard maple sometimes get burned a little. i am sure the burning would be solved with a panthr blade meant for the purpose of ripping.
i have watched Dave Reinhold and Builder Bob operate the the two Dominos enough times to have picked up a few pointers for using each of those toys safely. One point that seems to be very important (Dave points this out with every demo) is to hold down the fence knob very securely while pushing lightly on the back of the tool. Be sure to just push at the back end. The holding down comes at the fence knob.
I have had my share of problems with the parallel guides, but most all of my problems are related to lack of space for proper set up. I am no going to throw the set out. There are situations where they work fine. One prblem for me is that i am not comfortable using a circular saw left handed. Even tho i am naturally left handed, i have, many, many moons ago, learned to use tools right handed. I do use my ATF left handed upon occasion. i think when I am comfortable using the saw left handed, i will have less problem using the P-guides.
When i first applied my RO 150 to wood, i was somewhat surprised at the way it wanted to scoot across the board. I was very experienced with operating concrete trowel machines for finishing concrete floors. The size trowelers i had used were prone to doing the same thing. I had learned years ago how to guide such machinery. I knew to relate the action of a trowel machine to what was happening with my RO sander.
All of the above problems were easily solved by learning how to handle the tools in question. In some cases, the problems were a big surprise, but easily solved/corrected by learning the differences between the Festools and the tools i had used for nearly 70 years in some cases. I am sure that once sli becomes familiar with some of the many idiosyncrasies of how to use(adapt to) Festools, he will be more satisfied.
Tinker
Knowing if the tools just didn't match the owners needs or were in fact damaged or badly setup, will be of great interest.
