TS 55R

[galwaydude18@gmail.com]

Hi guys I bought a brand new TS 55R just before Christmas and last week I was fitting a shop and the saw isn't at 90 degrees but is at the minus 1 degree. Also when I tilted it to 45 degrees it goes straight to 47 degrees. I had to hold it at 45 degrees to make a 45 degree cut.

I'm supposed to pull the little green knob at the back to allow the saw to tilt to either minus 1 degree or 47 degrees.

Does anyone know how to adjust the settings so it works like it should?

 

[Administrator_JSVN]

I'd recommend that you contact Festool service in your area for assistance. It sounds like there may be an issue with the detent override.

 

[Rick Christopherson]

I would first look for the simple problems before sending it in for service. This is part of an end-user adjustment, so it is fair to examine before service. (refer to the picture below).

• Look to see if the limit pin is down and inside the limit slot. The tip of the limit pin is smaller diameter than the body of the pin, and this rides in the slot. (If the smaller diameter tip is broken, then it should be returned for warranty.)
  
• If the limit pin is all the way down, but the saw is not being limited to 0-45, then check to make sure that the limit plate is not loose. There are 2 clamping screws (1 is visible in the picture), and these are accessible when the saw is at 0 (90) degrees. (If they are loose, you will have to re-calibrate the saw for 0 (90) degrees.)
  
• If the limit pin is not engaging in the slot, look to see if it is centered over the slot. If it is not centered over the slot, it can't drop into the slot, and you will have to re-calibrate the saw for 0 (90) degrees. During that calibration, make sure the pin is fully depressed and in the slot before tightening the 2 screws.

I have not completed the calibration process myself, but here is a quick guess on how to do it. Even though the actual adjustment is different, refer to the older TS55EQ manual (page 11) for how to determine if your cut is perpendicular to the workpiece. Supplemental TS55EQ Manual

1) With the saw at 0 degrees, loosen both clamping screws that secure the limit plate. (There is a small hole in the plastic cover to access the upper/front screw at 0 degrees.) Cycle the saw between 0 and 45 degrees to ensure the limit pin is in the slot.

2) Using the procedure in the old manual, tweak the saw until you get a perfect 90 degree cut. Once you have a perfect 90 degree cut, do not loosen the bevel adjustment knobs.

3) Notice on the front of the saw there is a small rectangular hole right in front of the limit pin. It's a little blurry, but you can see this hole (notch) in the picture below. With a small screw driver, gently press against the tab of the limit plate (don't press too hard). This will bias the limit plate against the limit pin. While pressing against the tab, carefully tighten the 2 screws (leave the bottom/rear screw just a little bit loose, but the upper/front screw firmly tightened).

4) Carefully bevel the saw to 45 degrees and make sure the limit pin slides freely in the slot. Cycle the limit pin up and down to make sure it falls into the slot without hitting the slides of the slot.

5) If the limit pin is not centered in the slot at 45 degrees, return the saw to 0 degrees and loosen the lower/rear clamping screw (do not loosen the front screw). There is a screwdriver slot on the side of the limit plate next to the rear clamping screw. Use this to tweak the limit plate to center it on the limit pin.

6) Slightly tighten the lower/rear screw, and check your results. Repeat the step until the limit pin is centered in the slot at 45 degrees.

7) firmly tighten both screws.

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[galwaydude18@gmail.com]

Thank for that rick. I will check go through all that when I'm back in the workshop this Thursday or Friday! I would rather be able to try fix it myself than send it to the service department which takes something like 7 - 10 working days

 

[Timtool]

I sort of had the same problem, and i read about it on other forums as well.
Set the sawblade with a square, square to the bottom plate and tighten both knobs. Undo the two screws in the rear end that makes the saw stop at zero and 45 deg, slide it against the positive stop and re tighten the screws.

With mine at least it now stops at zero, but the 45 stop is then at 46... i just think theres a 1 degree error in the system, not very Festool like.
I would just like to know if there are any TS55R's out there that do stop at 0 and 45 deg??

 

[Rick Christopherson]

Timtool,
As I mentioned above, I haven't performed the adjustment myself yet, but it is possible that what I described in Step 6 above might actually be how you adjust the 45 degree position. It would depend on whether the limit pin is very close in size to the slot. If there was enough play between the limit pin and the slot, then you would use step 6 to adjust the 45 degree position. It effectively changes the radius of the slot, and that would affect the location of the 45 degree stop.

I won't know this until I actually take my saw apart to have a closer look. I don't want to do that at this time, though.

By the way, using a square against the blade is not a very accurate way of setting your blade perpendicular to the sole plate. Take a look at the manual I linked to above.

 

[Timtool]

Hi Rick,
what i don't understand is that the 0 and 45 stop is done by the same limit plate, when you set the zero correctly then you just have to hope apparently that the 45 will be spot on because there is no individual adjustment possible.

When i got mine the 45 stop was right, but the 0 stop was on -1, so i shifted the limit plate 1 degree, which also shifts the 45, making it 46.
I will give your suggestions a try tomorrow and see if i can push the limit plate higher to limit the radius.

 

[Rick Christopherson]

Hi Rick,
what i don't understand is that the 0 and 45 stop is done by the same limit plate, when you set the zero correctly then you just have to hope apparently that the 45 will be spot on because there is no individual adjustment possible.

Timtool,
It's not immediately intuitive, but the same principle applies to calibrating the Kapex for both 0 degrees and 45 degrees by shifting the angle gauge in and out relative to the fixed (unmoveable) pivot point of the saw itself. It is rather hard to explain, but maybe this CAD drawing will make more sense instead of using a lot of words.

Both the black and red slots in the drawing are exactly the same length, and they are both pinned down at the 0-degree axis. The red one was rotated slightly around the 0-degree reference point. Notice how it now makes an angle back to the origin of 45.58 degrees instead of 45.0 degrees. So even though the length of the arc has not changed, its angle back to the origin (the pivot point of the saw) has changed slightly.

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[Timtool]

I took some pics of the problem this week and tried to recalibrate again with no luck.

below is the limit plate that sets the positive angle stops, as you can see it fits tight and can only be moved around the axis of the pivot point, there is no way of moving it up or down to reduce the travel.
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Here is the saw calibrated to zero, actually on mine the limit plate has to be pushed all the way to one side, by chance it is then set exactly to 0,02 degrees, if it was 0,2 then you would have needed grind away apart of the plate.
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With the zero set right, this is where the saw stops on the 45 limit, the actual cut is 45,7. Which shows that the printed graduation is correct and pretty accurate. Only the stop is offset by 0,7 degrees. Which is not very acceptable.

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Ans here where it stops when pressing the 47 detent
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this make me think theres a mistake in the limit plate, or am i missing something?
I would have preferred a system where you could adjust each stop individually.

 

[green fever]

my saw ts55r came out the box out of calibration as described by others on the fog, one call to tts UK and it was sorted by the service department , i read how peter parfit dropped his while doing the demo video and he later posted a set up which was simple to repeat ( to re adjust not drop ) thanks peter.