Jesse Cloud
Member
- Joined
- Jan 23, 2007
- Messages
- 1,746
The TS55 vs TS75 choice is a frequent issue here. Here's one more story to add to the fire...
I build furniture. Usually 8Q (2 inch/50 mm) is the thickest wood I work. So the TS55 works fine. Ocassionally I use thicker wood, but I prefer using the bandsaw for that. Not to say I haven't been lusting after the TS75.
Well, today I had a very nice piece of 12 Q (3 1/8 inch/ 80 mm rough) black walnut that was 99 inches/ 251cm long and 10 inches/ 25 cm wide. I'm an old guy in a one man shop and that board was just too heavy and bulky to wrangle safely on the bandsaw. I couldn't cut it shorter yet, because I needed first to split it down the middle to see what the grain did in the middle. I'm trying to match the shape of some chair legs.
Well, I wouldn't do this everyday, but I thought why not give the TS55 a try. I joined two FS1400/2 's together and clamped them to the board. Made two passes with the TS55 to get the first 55mm. I tried 55 at the beginning of the first pass, but the TS55 seemed to be struggling. Then I flipped the board over, positioned the rail and cut off the remaining 25mm.
Turns out I misaligned to two cuts by about half a sawblade. But the board was cut and I could clearly see the grain patterns. Turns out the decision to rip it paid off, I found 4 legs that way. The rip cut cleaned up with 5 minutes of hand plane work and the boards went to the chop saw for rough length cuts. From here on, the pieces are nice manageable sizes.
I know I was pushing the TS55 to do more than it was designed to do, but it came through. Overheated once, but was ready for more in a few seconds.
Looking back, I should have at least bought a Panther blade for the rip, but the original blade came through (though it badly needs a cleaning now).
Kudos to Festool. I've got the big board broken down and still have all my fingers.
Maybe Santa will bring me a 75 next Christmas....
I build furniture. Usually 8Q (2 inch/50 mm) is the thickest wood I work. So the TS55 works fine. Ocassionally I use thicker wood, but I prefer using the bandsaw for that. Not to say I haven't been lusting after the TS75.
Well, today I had a very nice piece of 12 Q (3 1/8 inch/ 80 mm rough) black walnut that was 99 inches/ 251cm long and 10 inches/ 25 cm wide. I'm an old guy in a one man shop and that board was just too heavy and bulky to wrangle safely on the bandsaw. I couldn't cut it shorter yet, because I needed first to split it down the middle to see what the grain did in the middle. I'm trying to match the shape of some chair legs.
Well, I wouldn't do this everyday, but I thought why not give the TS55 a try. I joined two FS1400/2 's together and clamped them to the board. Made two passes with the TS55 to get the first 55mm. I tried 55 at the beginning of the first pass, but the TS55 seemed to be struggling. Then I flipped the board over, positioned the rail and cut off the remaining 25mm.
Turns out I misaligned to two cuts by about half a sawblade. But the board was cut and I could clearly see the grain patterns. Turns out the decision to rip it paid off, I found 4 legs that way. The rip cut cleaned up with 5 minutes of hand plane work and the boards went to the chop saw for rough length cuts. From here on, the pieces are nice manageable sizes.
I know I was pushing the TS55 to do more than it was designed to do, but it came through. Overheated once, but was ready for more in a few seconds.
Looking back, I should have at least bought a Panther blade for the rip, but the original blade came through (though it badly needs a cleaning now).
Kudos to Festool. I've got the big board broken down and still have all my fingers.
Maybe Santa will bring me a 75 next Christmas....
