TS55 Not Cutting Straight
- Thread starter RonJ103
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Jan, welcome to the forum.
Are you standing behind the saw or beside it while making your cut? I ask because if you're beside it, you could be introducing lateral movement during the cut.
Are you standing behind the saw or beside it while making your cut? I ask because if you're beside it, you could be introducing lateral movement during the cut.
Shane, my apologies, but actually you can check the straightness of the guide channel indirectly. When I bought my 55 during the recon sale I joined my new rail with another that I owned. where the two joined i would get a bump when cutting and the cut line was not straight. Because of this I checked the new rail against a piece of 8020 extrusion and feeler gauges and discovered that the new rail ran off the last 18" by about 3MM. Bob Marino had me call Festool direct and they sent me a new one immediately. If you suspect that the guide bump itself is off then you would first check the outside edge for straight and then check the outside edge and the guide edge with a micrometer. The likelihood of them not being parallel is slim but stranger things have happened in manufacturing.
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I asked what I did because it seems there is a bow in the middle of the cut.
While it could be the guide rail, which is easy enough to check, the more common reason is movement introduced by the user.
To check the straightness of the rail, put it on a flat surface and draw a line against the side of the rail opposite the splinterguard. Then flip it 180 degrees, align it to the original line and draw a line again. The two lines should be right on top of each other. If they're not, there's a bend in the rail. While extremely uncommon, it can happen. I don't know the processes during manufacturing, but I'm confident the straightness is checked. But rails can get bent or damaged, mostly likely in transit.
While it could be the guide rail, which is easy enough to check, the more common reason is movement introduced by the user.
To check the straightness of the rail, put it on a flat surface and draw a line against the side of the rail opposite the splinterguard. Then flip it 180 degrees, align it to the original line and draw a line again. The two lines should be right on top of each other. If they're not, there's a bend in the rail. While extremely uncommon, it can happen. I don't know the processes during manufacturing, but I'm confident the straightness is checked. But rails can get bent or damaged, mostly likely in transit.
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A string pulled taught against, first one side, and then the other side of the guide channel will tell you if it's straight.
Tom
Tom
Hi Shane and Tom,
Thank you for your response.
The problem I am getting is not that my guide is making the saw to go in a curve. It is that the saw when cutting straight down (and also when going over a guide rail). The depth of the cut like 18mm mdf for example is curved. In my example it looks like the first 4mm are cut at -1° or -2°. The other 14mm are straight down.
Kind regards,
Jan
Thank you for your response.
The problem I am getting is not that my guide is making the saw to go in a curve. It is that the saw when cutting straight down (and also when going over a guide rail). The depth of the cut like 18mm mdf for example is curved. In my example it looks like the first 4mm are cut at -1° or -2°. The other 14mm are straight down.
Kind regards,
Jan
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Jan,
Make sure that the cams are tightened to the rail. There should be no play from the saw on the rail. See the 0:25 mark in this video:
Make sure that the cams are tightened to the rail. There should be no play from the saw on the rail. See the 0:25 mark in this video:
Bigchasbroon
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Could it be that the base of the saw is slightly skewed to the blade? My TS55EBQ had this issue. There's 4 bolts that hold the body of the saw to the base and if they move the cut ends up all over the place. The ts55r is a little different though.
Ok, the problem seems to be fixed for now.
I think it might indeed be my fault. I didn't support the guide rail enough and was cutting small pieces.
I also have a smallish problem with the clamps that hold the guide rail at a certain height. The handles don't fold as fluently as I would like. When pushing down they get blocked and I have to pull them up while pushing down so they can be closed completely. Maybe this had something to do with it. Because I need to use a lot of force, they might have been a bit crooked in relation to the table. I tried unscrewing the adjustment screws, but then they don't clamp at all.
Thank you for your help,
Jan
I think it might indeed be my fault. I didn't support the guide rail enough and was cutting small pieces.
I also have a smallish problem with the clamps that hold the guide rail at a certain height. The handles don't fold as fluently as I would like. When pushing down they get blocked and I have to pull them up while pushing down so they can be closed completely. Maybe this had something to do with it. Because I need to use a lot of force, they might have been a bit crooked in relation to the table. I tried unscrewing the adjustment screws, but then they don't clamp at all.
Thank you for your help,
Jan
I am getting in on this party a bit late. Just finished going thru the entire discussion. When i got to the final entry
I was having some of the same problem a while back. I discovered the start end off the rail was a little sloppy. One of the aftermarket sellers had a little plastic insert to install in the end of the channel where the clamping tab goes up into the underside of the rail. Once i put that into the channel, the problem ended. At the same time as i installed the tab, i tightened the (up & down) sliding tabs at both ends of the rail.
As Jan has discovered, tightness seems to be an answer,
Tinker
janr1982 said:
I was having some of the same problem a while back. I discovered the start end off the rail was a little sloppy. One of the aftermarket sellers had a little plastic insert to install in the end of the channel where the clamping tab goes up into the underside of the rail. Once i put that into the channel, the problem ended. At the same time as i installed the tab, i tightened the (up & down) sliding tabs at both ends of the rail.
As Jan has discovered, tightness seems to be an answer,
Tinker
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