Splinterguard woes

[Bill Waters]

Am new to this forum, so please forgive me if this has been covered excessively.  I have had my TS 55 EQ for a number of years and, while I have a good bit of experience with it, it is used in my hobby shop and is in as-new condition.  I have a number of guides of various lengths.  For the first time, I am having a curious problem.  When I start cuts, and occasionally throughout the cuts, the saw cuts very thin slices of the splinter guard .  In some areas, the splinter guards, which were as straight as a rule, are a bit erratic.  Seems to be biting into the splinter guards erratically.

There is no blade runout.  Blade is only modestly used and is the same blade which has worked fine previously.  Only difference between current situation and previous ones is that I am cutting on a 1 1/2 inch piece of firm insulation foam which is on a piece of plywood. I usually use a grid supporting the workpiece.  Also, I am not using clamps this time. Though guide remains solidly located on-target throughout and at the end of the cuts.  Even if it didn't, the saw is completely indexed to the guide - no slop in the adjustments whatever.

Has anyone encountered this?

Thanks, Bill

 

[Kev]

[welcome] Bill

I haven't experienced this. Maybe you could post a photo to give all here a more in depth understanding.

Kev.

 

[tjbnwi]

Make sure you're not side thrusting or twisting the saw. Other than that, I got nothing, you covered what I would have suggested.

Tom

 

[jbasen]

Welcome to the FOG [welcome]

You may need to readjust the guide rail jib cams on your saw.  If they aren't properly adjusted you can get slight side to side movement of the saw that would account for it cutting into the splinterguard.  The process for adjustment is in the TS 55 EQ supplemental manual that you can download from the Festool USA web site. 

Hope this helps

 

[DB10]

Check that the splinter guide hasn't moved on the rail, it doesn't take much for the splinter guides to come away from the rail they then get some saw dust between them and the rail and before you know it the guide has moved on the rail.
My advise would be, If you have tried everything else and are happy with all the adjustments, then might pay to buy a new splinter guide and start over.

 

[Bill Waters]

Thanks, all;  the adjustment cams are adjusted already to give zero slop or side play.

The splinter guards are all firmly adherent to the guide rails.

I have bought new splinter guards, but I'm afraid the problem may not be resolved, since they are being cut erratically now.

I'll keep plugging along; will post here if I sort it out.

Thanks

 

[Sparktrician]

Don't forget that you can reuse the splinterguards.  Peel them off gently, move them out by 3-4mm, then reapply them to the rails.  Set the depth of the saw to 10mm and run it along the full length of the rail to trim the reapplied splinterguard.

 

[semenza]

Hi Bill,

  Welcome to the forum!  [smile]

    Have you tried going back to cutting on the grid to see if the problem happens on the grid?

    Has the problem always occurred when cutting on the foam?

    Maybe your change in cutting set up causes you to move or push the saw in a different way?

Seth

 

[jbasen]

Thanks, all;  the adjustment cams are adjusted already to give zero slop or side play.

The splinter guards are all firmly adherent to the guide rails.

I have bought new splinter guards, but I'm afraid the problem may not be resolved, since they are being cut erratically now.

I'll keep plugging along; will post here if I sort it out.

Thanks

If none of the ideas that people come up with on the FOG work, I would give Festool service a call.  They should be able to help you get the issue resolved.

 

[Bill Waters]

Good idea, Sparktrician.

Will call Festool if can't get it sorted out soon, jbasen.

SRSemenza - plan to try that.  But a couple of comments:  since the saw and guide are fully registered to each other, you wouldn't think lack of clamps would affect anything.  Also, You Tube is full of instructional videos using the foam sheets and without clamps.  However, I must admit that user inconsistency is ranking high as a concern!!

Thanks, guys

 

[peter halle]

In reading this thread I am going to venture a guess that Tom is right when he asks about basically  change in body language while using the saw now.  Just out of curiousity, now that you are using foam, is there a major height difference of the workpiece from before on the grid?  And if you are cutting in a different area is the pathe you walk to make the cuts narrower or more cramped?

I know this sounds crazy, but if you have been used to cutting a certain way with success and then the angles and heights and being closer to the work all of a sudden come into play then all these might be reflected.

Trying to be helpful - not critical.

Peter

 

[Holmz]

How is the body language translated to the cut?
The rail flexing on the work piece would not affect the splinter guard.

Would it have to be the saw flexing, or the 'saw to rail' interface?

 

[Bill Waters]

Peter and Holmz:

As I confessed to SRSmenza, I am suspicious that change in circumstances and resultant user variability are more likely than anything else here. 

Am looking for criticism, Peter - thanks.

Really wouldn't take much variability at all for this to happen - many of the splinter guard fragments are extremely thin - maybe 1-3 thousandths on an inch.  I'll change circumstances and post results.

 

[Cheese]

[member=56453]Bill Waters[/member]
FWIW...here's a previous thread that may help.

http://festoolownersgroup.com/festool-how-to/ts-55-help/msg408737/#msg408737

 

[mastercabman]

It's possible that the splinter guard strip is moving side way
The sticky tape that Festool uses (the clear strip)does gets loose in hot weather
Not really heat resistant

 

[Bill Waters]

Just put my TS 55 on my MFT and experimented with different ways of manipulating the saw.  Though my base is flat and my guide track is brand new, there is a significant amount of rocking that can be induced by how one holds and moves the saw, as several above have suggested.  The cams are adjusted ideally, too.  Goes to show that, even with the technical sophistication Festool brings to the job, user finesse is still key.  I find that blade path consistency is assured by being sure that consistent pressure is placed downward on the left side of the saw (essentially between the two glide strips).

I'm going to change my splinter guards and see if this technique doesn't permanently fix the problem.  I'll post if otherwise.

Thanks, all

Bill

 

[Holmz]

You've piqued my interest.

I keep hearing all about technique, so I pulled out my track saw which fits on Bosch tracks.
Yes it is a different saw and tracks, but the principle is the same.
The only technique for failure that I have found, is not getting the saw indexed into guide rail. After that there is not a lot of technique... It is just pull the trigger and start pushing.

I found that the saw rides on the inch closest to the blade and last the inch on the opposite side.
There is no way I can rock it without braking my wrist trying.
There is ~0.020" of clearance everywhere else, so it sits low like an F1 car.

How does the TS55 work?

Either:
Your track is not flat (cupped or twisted).
Your TS base is not flat (cupped or twisted)
The TS is riding on something other than the 4 corners, like a high guide slot.
Or I don't understand it.

If it doesn't rock with one of the rails, then that is a clue.
If it rocks with all of them then check the saw on the flat surface for rocking...

 

[rst]

Keep in mind that the material you are cutting is also abrading the strip not just the saw blade.  I do not position off the strip except for general positioning.  My 75 and 55 both cut exactly 3mm off the aluminum edge and that is where I position if I need to dead on.

 

[JonSchuck]

I have had my ts55 for about five years.  I didn't use it much for the 1st year or two because I really didn't know what I was doing.  Then I discovered the FOG and started learning.  As I started using the 55 more it seemed dull, burned the wood and started chewing up the splinter guard.  Thanks to the FOG I checked the toe-in.  What should have been .006 toe-in was actually .029 toe-out. I fixed that, moved the splinter guards over, got the blade sharpened and lived happily ever after.

 

[Bill Waters]

Holmz - Fortunately, my guide track and saw base are both dead flat.

The Festool saw bases are made of cast aluminum or similar alloy and they sit completely on the guide track.  The saw base is cast such that it has a lengthwise, male groove in the base that fits over a female, lengthwise extrusion on the guide track.  Thus, the saw is guided by the interface of these two.  The saw base has cams which are part of adjusting dials (2) which bear against the extrusion and these provide the user with the ability to dial out all slop in the fitting of the saw base to the extrusion.  The saw base rides on two glide strips on the guide track.  The saw therefore glides easily but the distance between the two strips is a bit less than the width of the saw base.  Therefore, some rocking can be induced if there is no downward pressure on the saw against the base.  Consistent, downward pressure eliminates this tendency.

rst - so, do you just use a ruler or other measuring device to position the guide track to cut to a mark, rather than the splinter guard?

JonSchuck - are you setting the toe with the adjustment cams?  I adjust mine by pushing the base evenly away from the cams and then adjusting them for zero slop.  Didn't realize there is a recommendation other than dead-straight