TS 55 Reliability/Quality Problem

[Steven Owen]

I recently rehabbed 2 antique barn doors. 2” thick. Plenty of rip cuts. 48 tooth blade. No problem in southern yellow pine for Makita. Paid $399 with charger 4 batteries 2 Systainers and a rail. Only need the 48 tooth blade.

You can only get those deals as a US citizen. Most of the vendors offering that package won’t ship out of the US lower 48.  Everywhere else you get royally screwed over on the price of the Makita 36 V Track Saw.

 

[Brice Burrell]

To change blades on an existing TS-55 is cheaper than buying a Makita 36 v.

If you already own the TS55.  If you are in the market for a track saw then you're way ahead with the Makita (on price, value I can't say).  I'll be looking for a new track in the not so distance future.  A few years ago I wouldn't have even bothered looking at any other brand.  Now, I'll be looking at Festool last.  I'm not saying the Festool saws are bad, its just the other guys are really stepping up their game. 

 

[peter halle]

[member=1146]Brice Burrell[/member] , my answer was based on the post about having trouble ripping the 2x material with an already existing TS-55.  I wasn’t knocking Makita (I haven’t even looked at it).

The tracksaw market will continue to expand and models will come out from all sorts of manufacturers.  Each will bring their strengths and lesser strengths.  I certainly hope the Festool has improvements in the hopper for the TS-55 because they aren’t the only horse in the barn anymore.  Now that tracksaws are more common place Festool will have to come out with some pretty cool features to compete better with the newer models from other manufacturers.  I was told that 2019 was going to be a big year but who knows.

Hope you are surviving the hot, muggy, wet weather!

Peter

 

[Steven Owen]

[member=1146]Brice Burrell[/member] , my answer was based on the post about having trouble ripping the 2x material with an already existing TS-55.  I wasn’t knocking Makita (I haven’t even looked at it).

The tracksaw market will continue to expand and models will come out from all sorts of manufacturers.  Each will bring their strengths and lesser strengths.  I certainly hope the Festool has improvements in the hopper for the TS-55 because they aren’t the only horse in the barn anymore.  Now that tracksaws are more common place Festool will have to come out with some pretty cool features to compete better with the newer models from other manufacturers.  I was told that 2019 was going to be a big year but who knows.

Hope you are surviving the hot, muggy, wet weather!

Peter

Festool designs it’s product line around choosing the right tool for the job.  A lot of American and Canadian users have unrealistic expectations that tool should be a jack-of-all trades.

In this case, it’s not a TS-55 reliability issue; it’s actually a case of user error.  The TS-55 is a dedicated lightweight plywood cutting saw.  The TS55 was never intened for cutting high resin softwood lumber.  That’s the job of a TS75. 

 

[glass1]

That’s right, one could spend $1500 on festool to do 90% of your cuts or $500 on Makita. Hell even the $1000 for the mafell mt55 is a better buy. So why give it 2” cutting capacity but not 2” cutting ability. You my son define “festool apologist”.  Instead of defending a festool miss push the company to do better by pointing how and it what ways the competition is better. So why can the tsc55 make cuts that the ts55 cannot ?

 

[Jmacpherson]

Devil's advocate.  Why spend the time and extra expense on another blade(s) to do the what the Makita 36V can do with stock blade?

I no longer own my TS55 because I feel the Makita 36v has more power and can do more for less. Festool accessories are just getting way too expensive here.
In my country if I bought the 48t, 28t, 12t Festool blades their cost together = 60% of the cost of the Makita 36v saw and I already own Makita batteries. Makita blades are cheaper and I can run the Bosch blades (made by Freud) on the saw if I choose.

I have made 4x 500-600mm long rip cuts in 20mm Ironwood and 16mm solid Walnut with the Makita 36v like the wood wasn't even there. Effortless and this was with the 56t blade. This was with a dust bag attached, no vac.
My TS55 (with vac) struggled in 25mm Oak and 22mm Iroko with 350mm long rips, did the cuts but left burn marks and I could feel the struggle. 28tooth was better for the saw.

Was a no brainer in the end for me, sold the TS55 basically covered the cost of the Makita.

 

[Steven Owen]

Devil's advocate.  Why spend the time and extra expense on another blade(s) to do the what the Makita 36V can do with stock blade?

I no longer own my TS55 because I feel the Makita 36v has more power and can do more for less. Festool accessories are just getting way too expensive here.
In my country if I bought the 48t, 28t, 12t Festool blades their cost together = 60% of the cost of the Makita 36v saw and I already own Makita batteries. Makita blades are cheaper and I can run the Bosch blades (made by Freud) on the saw if I choose.

I have made 4x 500-600mm long rip cuts in 20mm Ironwood and 16mm solid Walnut with the Makita 36v like the wood wasn't even there. Effortless and this was with the 56t blade. This was with a dust bag attached, no vac.
My TS55 (with vac) struggled in 25mm Oak and 22mm Iroko with 350mm long rips, did the cuts but left burn marks and I could feel the struggle. 28tooth was better for the saw.

Was a no brainer in the end for me, sold the TS55 basically covered the cost of the Makita.

Makita has a very good saw without a doubt.  The rails are insanely cheap compared to Festool.  I haven’t really seen anything in the overall design of the Festool rail that justifies the exorbitant prices.  The Festool tool rail is nearly exactly the same as a Makita rail just painted green.   

 

[Motor]

I work side by side with a subcontractor of mine who occasionally uses his TS 55 saw. We both own the same saw and know how to properly use it. He just had his armature replaced for the second time for a cost of $150 plus shipping. This time it was not under warranty.

This is what happened:  The saw began "burning up" while cutting 1.5" deep through yellow pine with a fresh blade. We were cutting at a slow pace for a total of 12 LF. We had a total of 4 cuts to make. We pulled out the makita circular saw to finish the project and it breezed the cuts.

This saw was not abused and had 2 repairs of the same nature. Festool charges a premium for their tools. I own several Festool tools. I strongly question the reliability of the festool track saw and may look to other manufactures for future tools. Has anyone else had this kind of trouble?

I was using my 55 to trim doors lengthwise and found it wasn't up to the job. I called the dealer and he suggested purchasing a 75 so I did. He explained the 55 has a clutch and the 75 doesn't. Since then I use the 75 for ripping 1.5" stock like doors, and the 55 for sheet goods.

 

[MrToolJunkie]

For clarification, the TS75 has the slip-clutch and the 55 does not. The 75 also has 400 watts more power than the 55, FWIW.

 

[Sanderxpander]

My TS55 bogged down cutting a door of 4cm (I guess about 1.5 inches). I just put in the ripping blade and it worked fine. The next time I did it I had the combination blade in and that worked fine too.