TS55: Reducing Bottom-Side Chipping

[JFDR14]

This weekend I purchased my first Festool product, a TS55 REQ, for breaking down sheets of plywood for cabinet building.

I brought it home and tested on some 3/4" baltic birch. Crosscutting with the off-cut side chip guard in place, the top side of the wood looks almost perfect, however I'm getting some chipping on both sides of the bottom of the cut. This disappears when cutting parallel to the grain.

I tried changing the blade depth from 1/4" below the work piece to the max depth. That helped quite a bit. I also tried slowing down the feed rate and supporting the wood on some sacrificial OSB, however I'm still getting a little bit of chipping on the bottom side.

Anybody have some tips for dealing with this? I'm using the stock blade and running the saw speed at 6. I'm probably doing something wrong as I don't see many chipping complaints for this saw. This is my first endeavor into track saws and I've really only done rough cuts with circular saws in the past. I want nice clean edges for the cabinets I'm building.

 

[fshanno]

Have you tried the 48 tooth blade?  That's what I use when cutting plywood for cases.

 

[sw130p]

Osb isn't the best material to use as a sacrificial base its not perfectly flat. I would use something smoother like mdf or a better ply. A lot of people use foam insulation board. I get a clean cut without any thing underneath

 

[tjbnwi]

Use foam to cut on. Acts as a zero clearance support.

The blade that came with the saw should be the 48 tooth, the cuts should be perfect top and bottom.

Tom

 

[semenza]

This weekend I purchased my first Festool product, a TS55 REQ, for breaking down sheets of plywood for cabinet building.

I brought it home and tested on some 3/4" baltic birch. Crosscutting with the off-cut side chip guard in place, the top side of the wood looks almost perfect, however I'm getting some chipping on both sides of the bottom of the cut. This disappears when cutting parallel to the grain.

I tried changing the blade depth from 1/4" below the work piece to the max depth. That helped quite a bit. I also tried slowing down the feed rate and supporting the wood on some sacrificial OSB, however I'm still getting a little bit of chipping on the bottom side.

Anybody have some tips for dealing with this? I'm using the stock blade and running the saw speed at 6. I'm probably doing something wrong as I don't see many chipping complaints for this saw. This is my first endeavor into track saws and I've really only done rough cuts with circular saws in the past. I want nice clean edges for the cabinets I'm building.

Hi,

  Welcome to the forum!  [smile]

  What are you supporting the OSB on? If the OSB can flex beneath the sheet you are cutting, then there can be some gap between the sheet and OSB. Nullifying the zero clearance on the bottom side.

Seth

 

[Holmz]

The blade is traveling up at the front of the cut.
Is the chip out only on the part where the blade is headed downwards?

I could see one side chipping if the blade was at an angle to the body of the saws travel. For both sides to chip it seem perplexing.

 

[JFDR14]

Thanks for the replies.

First off, I'm using the blade that came with the saw, which I believe is a 48 tooth. I'll verify later.

The OSB I'm using as a sacrificial base is leftover scrap. It supports the wood the full length of the cut but probably isn't the best in terms of flattness. The platform that everything sits on is very rigid so I don't think the OSB is flexing much.. I'll pick up some foam insulation sometime this week and see how that works out.

The blade is traveling up at the front of the cut.
Is the chip out only on the part where the blade is headed downwards?

I could see one side chipping if the blade was at an angle to the body of the saws travel. For both sides to chip it seem perplexing.

If I plunge the saw into the plywood I will get a lot of chipping on the bottom side in that area. I assume this is due to the teeth cutting at a downward angle. As I push the saw down the track the chipping improves. I'm not sure if the chipping is on the downwards or upwards side of the blade. I'll take a look later tonight.

 

[JFDR14]

I checked the blade. It is the 48 tooth.

I re-did my set up and made a few more cuts. The results are a little better, but still not in my opinion the best. Maybe I'm just being nit picky. The OSB is definitely not flat so I will have to pick up some insulation this weekend to cut on.

Attached picture one is the first cut I did that resulted in massive amount of chipping. Picture two is a piece I cut tonight after revamping my setup. Picture three is of a small cut I did to test if the front or rear of the blade is the causing the chipping. From what I can tell, its pretty random and does not favor the front or back of the blade.

 

[SoonerFan]

I use foam insulation to break down sheet goods and then MDF scraps or my MFT/3 for other TS55 cuts.  I don't get chipping like you show in the photo.

 

[charley1968]

You could try taping the underside. Good luck.

 

[Tayler_mann]

I use MDF for my MFT tops I CNC for a sacrifice and I never have had an issue. I've cut down veneered panels, melamine, Baltic birch, hardwoods, and even some plastics and never have had an issue. It's always clean both sides. I feel OSB is not the proper backer for cutting.

 

[JFDR14]

I finally made a trip to Lowes and picked up a 1/2 sheet of mdf and 1" foam insulation. I laid the mdf down on my work table first and then put the foam on top. I tested cutting on a sheet of 3/4" birch (non baltic) and the results were very good. There are a few chips here and there, but overall I'm happy with it.

A strange thing happened though when I was cutting up that sheet. As I was cutting there were about 5 or 6 times where the motor on the saw momentarily stopped. The blade was still turning but there was no power being applied to it for that split second. I was cutting slow so I can't imagine that I tripped the thermal overload. The only thing I can think of is that I was breaking through hard spots and the speed control had to shut the motor off to keep cutting speed constant.

Anyone else experience this?

 

[Tayler_mann]

I finally made a trip to Lowes and picked up a 1/2 sheet of mdf and 1" foam insulation. I laid the mdf down on my work table first and then put the foam on top. I tested cutting on a sheet of 3/4" birch (non baltic) and the results were very good. There are a few chips here and there, but overall I'm happy with it.

A strange thing happened though when I was cutting up that sheet. As I was cutting there were about 5 or 6 times where the motor on the saw momentarily stopped. The blade was still turning but there was no power being applied to it for that split second. I was cutting slow so I can't imagine that I tripped the thermal overload. The only thing I can think of is that I was breaking through hard spots and the speed control had to shut the motor off to keep cutting speed constant.

Anyone else experience this?

Either your plug it chord isn't twisted fully or on the CT it tends to come unplugged since the plug is pointed upwards a bit. There is a spot on the latch to hook the chord but it doesn't work the greatest. I've had it happen once or twice.