TS55 struggling with 45 bevel

[fshanno]

The last two times I've tried to make bevel cuts with my TS55 it struggled.  45 degree cuts in 3/4 ply; 8' rips both times.  It burned badly and I mean smoke type burning.  The last time the saw over heated and shut down before I could finish.  Both times I was using the 48 tooth Festool blade with could be part of it.  I held the base to keep it on the guide with my left hand.  What am I doing wrong?

 

[VictorL]

If you can cut "normal" cut without burning, then most possible reason is that saw is falling on right. You must use your left hand for holding saw on the track. I it won't help try to call Festool service. They will help you.

Good luck!
VictorL

 

[John Stevens]

For what it's worth, I find that the saw is only good at cutting a line at 45 degrees after I've already cut the line at 90 degrees.  Hope this helps somewhat.

Regards,

John

 

[Sam Murdoch]

For what it's worth, I find that the saw is only good at cutting a line at 45 degrees after I've already cut the line at 90 degrees.  Hope this helps somewhat.

Regards,

John

Yeah, this is how I've seen it done in all the videos & I never questioned doing it that way. Cut the straight, tip the saw, cut the bevel - I've never had a problem that way. You may be doing that already - if so, sorry - I have nothing good to offer  [unsure].

 

[fshanno]

For what it's worth, I find that the saw is only good at cutting a line at 45 degrees after I've already cut the line at 90 degrees.  Hope this helps somewhat.

Regards,

John

Thanks, I'll give that at try next time. 

 

[BobKovacs]

Aee you plugged into a 20amp circuit?  I was havung similar problems, and thought it was the blade as well. I even tripped the 15a breaker a few times. I put a new 20a circuit in the garage and haven't had a problem since, even with the same blade.

 

[WarnerConstCo.]

Is the blade dull or dirty?

 

[ccarrolladams]

Festool designed the TS55 to make glue-ready cuts to full depth.

However, this does not mean a full-depth cut is performed the same way as a more shallow cut. At 90 degrees you are cutting less material than at 45 degree bevel. The OP mentioned applying left hand pressure to the base of the TS55 while having the bevel rips. That is excellent practice.

Like others have said the blade could need cleaning and/or sharpening. There could be a problem with support of the off-cut, such that the blade is being pinched. It also could be that the saw is being pushed too fast or that the dust extraction is not set for enough power to cool the blade.

In all the years I have used the TS55 I have made thousands of 45 degree bevel cuts, many 8' and 10' without problems. I have never started with a 90 degree cut and followed with the bevel.

In using tools each of us has a different experience.

 

[kfitzsimons]

I had a similar problem cutting poplar doors but it was at only 3 degrees. I also was using the 48 tooth blade. I purchased the rip blade and had much better results. Were you making rip cuts?

 

[Kevin D.]

What speed did you have the saw at?  I assume this would have an impact if set at a lower speed for the 90 cut, and trying to now do an angle cut which is a deeper cut.

 

[fshanno]

Festool designed the TS55 to make glue-ready cuts to full depth.

However, this does not mean a full-depth cut is performed the same way as a more shallow cut. At 90 degrees you are cutting less material than at 45 degree bevel. The OP mentioned applying left hand pressure to the base of the TS55 while having the bevel rips. That is excellent practice.

Like others have said the blade could need cleaning and/or sharpening. There could be a problem with support of the off-cut, such that the blade is being pinched. It also could be that the saw is being pushed too fast or that the dust extraction is not set for enough power to cool the blade.

In all the years I have used the TS55 I have made thousands of 45 degree bevel cuts, many 8' and 10' without problems. I have never started with a 90 degree cut and followed with the bevel.

In using tools each of us has a different experience.

Tell me about some of the materials you've cut.  Have you made long bevel cuts in sheet goods that weren't perfectly flat?  If so how did you handle that?

 

[ccarrolladams]

Tell me about some of the materials you've cut.  Have you made long bevel cuts in sheet goods that weren't perfectly flat?  If so how did you handle that?

Back in the late 1930's, when my grandfather Charles "Apa" Adams started me working with wood, he never used any sheet material. I did see plywood being used to repair airplanes and for building scenery. Compared to modern sheet material that 1930's plywood was crude. By 1946 I started to buy my own power tools. Eventually material shortages from WWII were forgotten. I noticed that plywood had become more sophisticated. Sheets 4' x 8' x 3/4" were available and sometimes nearly flat. I do not remember when particle board and MDF came along.

Long before I bought my first Festool TS55 I would snap a chalk line before making cuts on sheet goods. I took pride in following those lines without using any sort of straight edge. Often the material was less than flat, sometimes in both directions. My experience was that the results were better manually following the chalk line. Even when I intended to use a cabinet-size table saw to break down sheets, I still preferred to make the first long clean-up rip with a circular saw following the chalk line.

By the time I did buy my first Festool TS55 I was long past making-do with warped sheet material. There is some flexibility in 18mm thick plywood, but that is well within the ability of a Festool guide rail to follow, so long as the rail is appropriately clamped at both ends. Of course the design of pressure beam saws is like using 4 Festool guide rails top and bottom on both sides of the sheet. At least while the saw blade is making the cut the sheet is absolutely flat.

Prior to having my large shop I used two approaches to breaking down sheet goods.

When space and help was limited, I would work on a stack of sheets. I would lift the top sheet using wooden wedges so that I could slide pieces of 6mm Luan below it as a sacrificial surface. The Luan is far more supple than any cabinet-grade plywood. I would clamp that top sheet to several lower sheets, then use the long Festool screw clamps cat 489 571 to hold the rail in place. For practical purposes by the time I put my TS55 on the guide rail the sheet material was flat because of all those clamps.

I also had a sacrificial sheet of 18mm plywood supported by a frame on saw horses. If I was working with sheets I could lift easily I did the break down on the saw horses. With heavier material as the parts from the top sheet got lighter I would move them to the sacrificial surface. On that sacrificial surface if I needed a hole for a clamp, I simply drilled that using a hole saw. The supporting frame was inside the sacrificial sheet by a few inches all around. Again, if the sheet was not very flat, I would clamp its outside edges to the sacrificial sheet and then clamp the guide rail to both the sacrificial sheet and the goods being cut.

These days even if the bulk of the cuts will be made using a TS55 and guide rails, the clean-up long cut is usually made on the pressure beam saw. I still find that a Festool clamp at either end of a guide rail is a good investment in time.

 

[fshanno]

Tell me about some of the materials you've cut.  Have you made long bevel cuts in sheet goods that weren't perfectly flat?  If so how did you handle that?

Back in the late 1930's, when my grandfather Charles "Apa" Adams started me working with wood, he never used any sheet material. I did see plywood being used to repair airplanes and for building scenery. Compared to modern sheet material that 1930's plywood was crude. By 1946 I started to buy my own power tools. Eventually material shortages from WWII were forgotten. I noticed that plywood had become more sophisticated. Sheets 4' x 8' x 3/4" were available and sometimes nearly flat. I do not remember when particle board and MDF came along.

Long before I bought my first Festool TS55 I would snap a chalk line before making cuts on sheet goods. I took pride in following those lines without using any sort of straight edge. Often the material was less than flat, sometimes in both directions. My experience was that the results were better manually following the chalk line. Even when I intended to use a cabinet-size table saw to break down sheets, I still preferred to make the first long clean-up rip with a circular saw following the chalk line.

By the time I did buy my first Festool TS55 I was long past making-do with warped sheet material. There is some flexibility in 18mm thick plywood, but that is well within the ability of a Festool guide rail to follow, so long as the rail is appropriately clamped at both ends. Of course the design of pressure beam saws is like using 4 Festool guide rails top and bottom on both sides of the sheet. At least while the saw blade is making the cut the sheet is absolutely flat.

Prior to having my large shop I used two approaches to breaking down sheet goods.

When space and help was limited, I would work on a stack of sheets. I would lift the top sheet using wooden wedges so that I could slide pieces of 6mm Luan below it as a sacrificial surface. The Luan is far more supple than any cabinet-grade plywood. I would clamp that top sheet to several lower sheets, then use the long Festool screw clamps cat 489 571 to hold the rail in place. For practical purposes by the time I put my TS55 on the guide rail the sheet material was flat because of all those clamps.

I also had a sacrificial sheet of 18mm plywood supported by a frame on saw horses. If I was working with sheets I could lift easily I did the break down on the saw horses. With heavier material as the parts from the top sheet got lighter I would move them to the sacrificial surface. On that sacrificial surface if I needed a hole for a clamp, I simply drilled that using a hole saw. The supporting frame was inside the sacrificial sheet by a few inches all around. Again, if the sheet was not very flat, I would clamp its outside edges to the sacrificial sheet and then clamp the guide rail to both the sacrificial sheet and the goods being cut.

These days even if the bulk of the cuts will be made using a TS55 and guide rails, the clean-up long cut is usually made on the pressure beam saw. I still find that a Festool clamp at either end of a guide rail is a good investment in time.

I really like your idea about clamping the sheet to a stack.  I have those clamps and I'm going to give that a try.  The way my cutting platform is set up  I can sort of simulate clamping to a stack because it is very flat and has no deflection.  I bet that will solve it.  Thanks.

 

[Sam Murdoch]

To support the comment above - here is a copy of a post I wrote recently about connecting guide rails. I think the same answer is relative to this question. Flattitude is key!

Re: Guide Rails - Connection or one piece
« Reply #7 on: August 26, 2011, 08:49 AM »
Quote  Modify  Remove
The short answer is  - YES. Adjusting is easy enough, though I find that I never need to make such adjustments now. When I first started using my saw with rails I worked off stacks of plywood mounted on "saw horses" Every now and again I would find that my saw line wasn't very straight. Easy to put a 4' machined straight edge along the joint and ease up on the screws holding the connectors to pull things into proper position.

BUT - finally figured out that it wasn't the guide rails that weren't straight but rather my table wasn't all that flat. A little hollow in the table and aligning the rails can be problematic. You MFT users don't have this issue. My solution was to set up a permanent table with an 1-1/2" thick full sheet of MDF mounted on a rigid 2x6 frame as a base, with a sacrificial 1/2" sheet on top of that. On top of the 1/2" piece I also use a 1/2" foam board. That is the real sacrifice piece under the stock I am cutting. Anyway - if you work off a flat surface you should not have straight edge issues while connecting guide rails. So my experience leads me to believe.

 

[fshanno]

To support the comment above - here is a copy of a post I wrote recently about connecting guide rails. I think the same answer is relative to this question. Flattitude is key!

Re: Guide Rails - Connection or one piece
« Reply #7 on: August 26, 2011, 08:49 AM »
Quote  Modify  Remove
The short answer is  - YES. Adjusting is easy enough, though I find that I never need to make such adjustments now. When I first started using my saw with rails I worked off stacks of plywood mounted on "saw horses" Every now and again I would find that my saw line wasn't very straight. Easy to put a 4' machined straight edge along the joint and ease up on the screws holding the connectors to pull things into proper position.

BUT - finally figured out that it wasn't the guide rails that weren't straight but rather my table wasn't all that flat. A little hollow in the table and aligning the rails can be problematic. You MFT users don't have this issue. My solution was to set up a permanent table with an 1-1/2" thick full sheet of MDF mounted on a rigid 2x6 frame as a base, with a sacrificial 1/2" sheet on top of that. On top of the 1/2" piece I also use a 1/2" foam board. That is the real sacrifice piece under the stock I am cutting. Anyway - if you work off a flat surface you should not have straight edge issues while connecting guide rails. So my experience leads me to believe.

More and more I believe this is true.  The flatter the platform the better the results.  Maybe even to the point of getting less chipping on melamine.