Ts-55 plunge

[Rushdewalt]

  I just received my new TS-55 saw. This is my first Festool and it appears to well built tool with some nice features. For years I having been breaking down sheet goods with a metal guide and my trusty old Milwaukee saw. The Festool  looks to be a much more efficient system (no more measuring the blade set back).
 
    But the thing that sold me on the saw the most was the ability to easily plunge cut into the middle of your work, which leads me to a question. In order to make use of the plunge cut indicator marks on the base plate seems to require a full plunge of the blade. When making plunge cuts  in 3/4" material should I make a full plunge and use the marks on the saw base for the beginning and end of the cut? Or, should I keep the blade at the depth I would normally use to cut the material and make my own beginning and ending marks  using tape, pencil mark,etc?

                                                            Thanks, Pat

 

[brandon.nickel]

Using the marks and a full plunge will do three things for you:  The end of the cut will be more square to the work, it will make the splinter guard at the front more effective, and there's less wasted wood at the ends.  The downside is that you do more damage to your cutting table.  I use a sheet of 1" pink foam on the floor as my cutting surface, so I try to plunge just far enough to engage the full tooth on the splinter guard.  It makes the foam last longer.  If you built a torsion-box table and don't mind the kerfs in it, it would probably be better to use the full plunge method.

 

[ccmviking]

Since you are wanting to plunge cut, i can only assume that you will be cutting out a square or some orher shape in the wood.  It's really up to you, but I do full depth plunge cuts and then use a Tajima jap saw to cut the remaining bits in the corners.  The saw will leave the amount the equals the curve of the blade from your top of stock stopping point, to the bottom of whatever you are cutting.  Some advice...  Always use guide stops on your rail when plunging.  Start at the back of the cut against a stop and then proceed forward to your next stop.  This not only helps accuracy, but safety as well (you should also clamp the rail and work piece together whenever possible). 

Chris...

 

[semenza]

Hi,

   Since you will be plunge cutting , you won't have a cut off to worry about dropping on the floor. As long as the potential splintering on the bottom (which shouldn't be too bad anyway) doesn't matter you could also hang the piece over the dge of your table.

  BTW- With a user name like yours are you even allowed to use Festool products?

Seth

 

[Steve Jones]

Further thought on plunge cutting - it's been mentioned before but... Make sure to let the saw get up to full speed before cutting, I've never had a problem when I did that, but plunging to soon will launch the saw towards you VERY strongly (and fast). the stop in place will add safety of course.

A thought comes to mind, since Brandon mentioned the splinter guard, once I actually read the manual (about a week after starting to use the saw) I read you're supposed to fit a new guard and then plunge to full depth, silly me I'd been fitting a new one, plunging to the depth for my cut (EG 26mm for 3/4 stock) and then marking the tab on the splinter guard for the depth, then when changing materials I change guards (fit it, place the saw on the rail and press down on the tab before tightening the knob) so i keep a set of marked guards on the shelf by the cutting table.

I mention this because it seems to work better. Each guard seems to hold up fine until I forget to change guards and turn a 15 into a 26 (no biggie)