TS 55 Armature...

[Peter Kelly]

I appear to have smoked the armature of my TS 55 while using it to straighten a piece of rough sawn eastern white pine. I'm wondering if anyone has been through the repair process with Festool for this particular issue and what the average cost to repair might be.

Just trying to assess whether I should put any money into either fixing the saw which I'd purchased in 2012 or bite the bullet and fork over for a new TS 60. 

 

[squall_line]

Or buy the parts, sell it as used/fixed, and put that towards the TS 60?

I'm great at spending other people's time and money!  [big grin]

 

[Peter Kelly]

I've watched a few of the repair videos on YT and I'm not real confident in my skills in this area. I've also asked Festool US if they could give me a cost range but they didn't seem to interested in discussing cost ranges over the phone.

 

[squall_line]

I've watched a few of the repair videos on YT and I'm not real confident in my skills in this area. I've also asked Festool US if they could give me a cost range but they didn't seem to interested in discussing cost ranges over the phone.

That's SOP for FUSA, since they can't really know what else is wrong with the tool, or if the diagnosis is correct.

You should be able to get a general idea for the cost by looking up the parts on EKAT and at least seeing what the price of the armature assembly is, then double it for labor and add shipping.  Not an exact science, but should get ballparkish.

Keep in mind two things if shipping it for repair:

1. Festool will repair it to close to "as new" condition, meaning if there are other worn items like a bad bushing or a missing screw or something else out of order, they will also be fixed, increasing the repair cost.  This is not quite the same as taking a car in to a shop and being told "well, your tie rods are worn, your brake pads are low, your tires are balding..."; it's more a matter of returning the tool to you in a condition where it is least likely to require future repairs for a long time.

2. If you decline repairs after getting the price quote, it will be shipped back disassembled.

 

[Coen]

Well, official repair might exceed used value. Maybe sell it as broken with a nice description of what needs replacing? A lot of stuff gets sold that way. There are people that buy broken tools, fix it, then re-sell as whole. The profit they make that way is usually completely untaxed, something Festool' labour can't compete with.

 

[mino]

I'm with Coen on this.

Just put it up as broken, it should still fetch $100 or possibly more. I would try selling it along with the blades collection, that way you should be able to get some return on the blades as well.

The TS 60 will be a worlds-apart upgrade from the original TS 55.

If you want to keep a riving knife, then a TS 55 KF is still a huge upgrade to the original TS 55 series both on power and smoothness - the newer slides introduced on the TS 55 R do make a difference.

 

[rdaily]

I had the same thing happen a year or so ago. Looked up the part for the armature online and tore down the machine. Realized it would be a pain to remove the armature from the housing and ended up selling the whole thing as broken/parts fairly quickly on marketplace.

I’ve had just about every tool I own torn apart just to see how they function and to maintain or  clean the internals and this repair didn’t seem worth it.

 

[Coen]

If you want to keep a riving knife, then a TS 55 K is still a huge upgrade to the original TS 55 series both on power and smoothness - the newer slides introduced on the TS 55 R do make a difference.

That would be TS 55 F, not K

 

[Frank-Jan]

I'm glad the 220v versions have thermal protection. (In my experience especially the one on the ts 55r works well)

On the older saws it would just stop working and you had to wait usually untill the next day; with the ts 55r it stops, and then turns slowly, if you then let it run with no load to cool it, it can be used again pretty quickly. (Came across the problem when cutting up wood flooring glued to concrete for removal, the sawblade hit a few nails and wasn't super sharp anymore near the end)