TS55 Comes Through for a "Miracle Save"

[Stevec717]

First, I'm a hobbyist so what seems complicated or challenging to me may be just everyday stuff to a professional cabinetmaker.

But, I've spent weekends for the past month or so building a floor to ceiling cabinet/drawer unit for a Boy Scout closed trailer. We got a new trailer a couple years ago and we built full length shelves, etc that first year. There was a space on the front wall where we said we'd build some cabinets down the road. Well that was this winter.

So it's basically 3' wide, 3/4" prefinished maple ply case, maple face frame, 2 big drawers on the bottom. 2 smaller drawers near waist height and then double (stacked) cabinets on top. It's been a challenging project for me as I've been trying to customize it for certain equipment we carry, a confined space, etc.

Well we finally went to install it and we had a problem not with fit in the final position , but trying to get it in and tipped up. I mean 1/4" too high! And no way around it short of just jamming it and damaging the edges or top severely.

As I looked at the problem and then need to trim 1/4" off a fully complete cabinet, I thought "I wonder if I could..." So I got out the TS55 attached the rails and proceeded to make a cut around 3 sides of the base (open in back at the bottom).

This couldn't be done on a tabelsaw, would have been a hack job with a freehand saw (at least by me) and even with a clamped rail would have been rough cut with a circ saw.

So I clamped down my FT rail and made the cut with the TS 55. It blew me away! Perfect cut all the way around with a 1/8" remnant falling away. The cut itself is as clean (maybe better) than the tabelsaw cut the panels were originally made with- and I had used a Forrest WWII blade for that.

I couldn't believe how clean, how perfect, the modification to a completed cabinet could be. Anyway, my confidence in this system has just gone up a full notch.

Steve

 

[semenza]

  I too , have used the TS55 to cut a completed cabinet.

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  I also used it for a similar "save" situation when installing a special  shelf unit (preassembled) into a closet of mine. Same type of thing  I couldn't get it into place due to interference with door frame and another unit already installed. I cut the top section , about 12", off the top. Added Domino mortises. Put the lower cut section in. Then reassembled the top cut section inside the closet with dominos. If you don't know where to look you can't even see the reassembled parts.

Seth

 

[Scorpion]

It is a sweet thing.  I recently built a built in for the master bath and managed to make a mistake during the measurement/design phase by measuring the opening before tile and underlay had been installed.  By not accounting for it the cabinet ended up being built almost 1-inch too tall.  In my pre-TS and domino days I would have wanted to try to run the whole cabinet through the table saw accepting a "best I could get it" fix.  Instead I was able to perfectly cut the top off of the cabinet like a surgeon and face frame with near perfection without hesitation.  During the unveiling with the wife I may have been more pleased with the fix than with the cabinet itself.

 

[Mike B]

During the unveiling with the wife I may have been more pleased with the fix than with the cabinet itself.

Ha! Been there before. Sometimes I find it hard not to point these fixes out to clients, I'm so pleased with how they worked out....

 

[Staniam]

I'm also a hobbyist and only months into my TS55 REQ experience. Hasn't ceased to amaze me yet. I just finished a plant low profile bed and for whatever reason, the first 6 boards I cut individually. Once I cut them I screwed them to the lower frame and that proved time consuming. For whatever reason I realized "hey, I have a track saw and two tracks... Why haven't I screwed all the boards on the frame and then cut them all at once??" Took me about 15 minutes to finished the phase of the project and again I was amazed.... At the efficiency and my airheadness.

 

[dltflt]

Just had to do the same thing while installing cabinets at my daughters house. I had forgot to check level on the sofit in both directions and of coarse I started on the wrong side so i needed trim the top of cabinet at an angle to account for the slope to n the sofit, worked beautiful. My first thought when I realized what I had done was I need to take down all of the cabinets and start over. Thank to Festool I did not have to do that.

 

[fshanno]

Ditto.  The customer decided NOT to buy the fridge that I had planned and built a new cabinet around.  The sides were okay but the gap between the top of the existing fridge and the bottom of the cabinet above was just too large.  TS55 to the rescue!

 

[wilde737]

I just bought a TS55 as well, what an amazing tool!  I can't believe how much easier it is to break down sheet goods.  Thanks again Festool!

 

[#Tee]

nice! this is where the ts shines over any table saw. every tool has its place