ts55r Not cutting square.-SOLVED SOLVED SOLVED.

I am a door

Member
Joined
Jun 25, 2012
Messages
5
Hi everybody. My first post-Shame it has to be in the problem section.
I've been lurking for a while and picked up some excellent info. Thanks to all.

I teetered on the edge of the green slippery slope for ages and finally flung myself down-I just got a Domino 500,ts55r, mft3 and ct26 as well as some clamps ,qwas dogs etc. I feel the need for a router and sander now also-mmmm. ;D

Anyhoo-the issue.

My new Ts55r Zero Degree bevel stop is not accurately set.
It actually stops at about - 0.5 degrees.

When I pull out the little green knob to defeat the stop it barely allows a hair more movement.(towards -1 degree)

It says in the manual (if you could call it a manual ::)) that it is factory set and to return saw to festool service if it needs adjustment. I will do this if I have to but I would be grateful if anyone knows a way to correct which I can do myself.

Atm I have marked actual zero (determined with reference square and numerous test cuts-pita) on the scale and everything works fine if I lock it there by eye.

Any ideas??

Adhmadoir.
 
hi there and cead meala failti
what part the country you from.
how is it at 45 degrees.
someone posted recently something similar. not sure the outcome.
i remember the festool demo guy  showing me that there are some adjustment screws to adjust eh overall angle of the tilt mechanism so that both the 90 and 45 dgrees are calibrated. if you look down from above  i think it is down rear where you pull ou the knob to tilt farther than 45 degrees but on the inside of the tilt mechanism
 
First  [welcome] Adhmadoir to the FOG!

Other than another Peter here (Stone Message) there are very few of us who have that model saw.  I can virtually guarantee that there is an adjustment that is relatively easy to perform, but I and the others on this side of the ocean haven't seen that model saw.  Maybe that other guy by the name of Peter will offer advice, but if not I would advise that you contact your local Festool office and see if they can give guidance. 

Sure wise that I could offer more.  Once you get it adjusted you will love it I am sure!

All the best.

Peter
 
Alan m said:
hi there and cead meala failti
what part the country you from.
how is it at 45 degrees.
someone posted recently something similar. not sure the outcome.
i remember the festool demo guy  showing me that there are some adjustment screws to adjust eh overall angle of the tilt mechanism so that both the 90 and 45 dgrees are calibrated. if you look down from above  i think it is down rear where you pull ou the knob to tilt farther than 45 degrees but on the inside of the tilt mechanism

Hi Alan,
I am in Cork.
45 is a hair off also.
There is a 2mm allen head grub screw at the front which looks like it might be the adjuster for zero. I tried to give it a turn earlier but its pretty stuck. The fact that the manual said it wasn't user adjustable kind of put me off trying too hard until after I talk to the rep tomorrow.
There is as you say almost certainly something at the back end for 45.I will look again in the a.m.

@Peter Hallle
I love the stuff despite this little glitch. Good engineering and design really floats my boat.Saw works amazingly well atm when set by eye.
MFT with QWAS is pure poetry.

Adhmadoir.

 
I took delivery of my TS55R yesterday and observed exactly the same thing. I will contact my dealer today and will post later with the outcome.
 
I am a door said:
Hi everybody. My first post-Shame it has to be in the problem section.
I've been lurking for a while and picked up some excellent info. Thanks to all.

I teetered on the edge of the green slippery slope for ages and finally flung myself down-I just got a Domino 500,ts55r, mft3 and ct26 as well as some clamps ,qwas dogs etc. I feel the need for a router and sander now also-mmmm. ;D

Anyhoo-the issue.

My new Ts55r Zero Degree bevel stop is not accurately set.
It actually stops at about - 0.5 degrees.

When I pull out the little green knob to defeat the stop it barely allows a hair more movement.(towards -1 degree)

It says in the manual (if you could call it a manual ::)) that it is factory set and to return saw to festool service if it needs adjustment. I will do this if I have to but I would be grateful if anyone knows a way to correct which I can do myself.

Atm I have marked actual zero (determined with reference square and numerous test cuts-pita) on the scale and everything works fine if I lock it there by eye.

Any ideas??

Adhmadoir.

Yes I can help. I dropped my saw onto the concrete floor - no damage (typical Festool high quality) but I knocked it out of square. Take a look at the photograph below...

Loosen the angle clamping knobs at the front and back of the saw. There are two screws, A and B, that hold the angle plate (my name for it) in place. If you lossen these the plate can be moved a little either way. Obviously you want to end up with the stop, C, in the right place.

With the clamping screws loose, adjust the saw so that the blade is at 90 degrees to the base and tighten the clamping knobs. Now move the clamping plate so that the stop, C, is against the pin (with the green knob). Then tighten up the crews A and B.

Please let me know how you get on.

Peter
 
Great stuff Peter. Thanks.

I will be back in the workshop in a couple of hours. I'll post when I have had a look.

Love your vids btw.

Adhmadoir
 
I had another look at my TS55R and the actual situation is that the green knob that allows the saw to be set to -1 deg or up to 47 deg is allowing -1 deg even when it hasn't been pulled out. It sounds as though my saw also needs the adjustment Peter has described. Thank you very much Peter!
 
cliffp said:
I had another look at my TS55R and the actual situation is that the green knob that allows the saw to be set to -1 deg or up to 47 deg is allowing -1 deg even when it hasn't been pulled out. It sounds as though my saw also needs the adjustment Peter has described. Thank you very much Peter!

That was exactly the way mine was after it dropped - I was in the middle of filming the review and tripped over the tripod!

Peter
 
I have had another look at the saw and I wonder whether it has been deliberately set up to allow an angle of -0.5 to be set without pulling out the green knob. To me this makes sense - if the factory sets the calibration of the green knob to precisely set zero they are effectively taking responsibility for the user achieving zero when they set the saw up against the stop. I can imagine that they want the user to precisely set zero or 45 degs and the purpose of the green knob is to prevent us from going too far from zero or 45. In the case of the zero setting the stop is only reducing the error by half a deg (from -1 to -0.5) so one might argue that it isn't much use, but at the 45 deg end, the stop is performing a greater error reduction role because the angle extension is that much greater.
 
I understand what you mean Cliff but I am certain that Festool would want a (busy) user to be able to set an angle and then easily go back to 0 degrees without having to take out a square.

I made my adjustment and it cuts perfectly every time and the angle gauge is accurate too.

Peter
 
I think this is a 'flaw' in the TS55R design.  The original TS55 has two screws (back and front) of the tilting mechanism, these are used to true the 90 degree setting.  With two screws the setting and return to a 90 degree angle is always achieved irrespective of external forces.  In order to achieve the negative angle on the TS55R these screws have been removed and the true 90 degree angle is only now locked at the back of the tilting mechanism by knob at the rear.  This means that, 1) the unavoidable 'play' in the hinge mechanism, 2) any weight applied to the saw by pressing down on it, can mean that the saw doesn't always achieve a return to a true 90 degree angle.  My saw has the same 'problem' as reported by others.  I don't think there's anyway around it as, checking my saw, I can see how you can deflect the saw from its true 90 degree setting by even moderate force.

Troll
 
Troll is correct. Positive stops front and back would give a better zeroing stop.
I have adjusted the plate marked C in Peters picture and I now have a good zero if I let the weight of the saw only find it.
Any pressure at all deflects from this zero until you lock the knobs.Locked up everything is peachy.
    While there is a design comprimise I am happy enough for now I think.

For those who want to attempt the adjustment I offer some observations.

Only loosen bolts A and B a tiny fraction or they snag on the blue plastic cover.Easier to adjust if you have some friction on plate also.

There is a little slot on the base side of plate C which can be used to gently prise the plate. Its visible in the picture with the shaft of the red arrow going through it.

I had alredy marked the correct zero point on the scale and I just set the plate to zero to this.I think this may be the best way to proceed as othewise you will be setting the plate numerous times and checking for square each time.(Unless you are lucky.)

Thanks to all posters.
Admadoir.
 
Dear Admadoir and Troll

Again I understand what Troll has observed but I do not think that having the one 'detent' stop at the front is an issue. When I swing the saw back to vertical I hold it gently in place and tighten both front and back tightening knobs - it always goes back to the exact spot.

I have recently used the TS55R to do all the angle cuts for a shed that I was making. I was constantly switching from 30 degrees back to 0 degrees with no problem - as the saw was new I did check the 0 degree angle a few times and it was always spot on. It would be quite awkward to have 2 little green knobs (one front and one back) for allowing the extra angles to be cut. You would have to pull both out at the same time and then apply some preessure to the saw. Making fine adjustments would almost certainly be a job for Festool as well.

Peter
 
Stone Message said:
Dear Admadoir and Troll

Again I understand what Troll has observed but I do not think that having the one 'detent' stop at the front is an issue. When I swing the saw back to vertical I hold it gently in place and tighten both front and back tightening knobs - it always goes back to the exact spot.

Peter

I agree that its not an issue as long as one is aware of it and returns gently to the zero position as you say.

Admadoir.
 
I very happy with my TS55R and I don't have a problem with setting it to a true 90 degree angle.  The point is that re-engineering the negative angle function into an older design has resulted in a 'compromise' in the function of the saw.  It's no big deal for me.  However, I will stress that even very moderate pressure on the saw handle (and the play in the hinge mechanism) can result in the likelihood of the TS55R saw being locked inadvertently in a negative angle.  Whether than 0.5 of a degree is an issue depends on the work you're doing.  The truth is Peter I (and many others) don't always treat tools with kid gloves.  It was far better when there was two stops (I can test the two versions back-to-back) BUT I realise that, as you said it, wouldn't be functional to have two green knobs back and front.  And the benefit of the negative cut out-weights the loss of accurately returning to a true 90 degree cut. Pity they couldn't achieve a little bit more negative angle....negative 3 degrees would be ideal.  No doubt at some point an all new design will have one negative angle knob release button that acts on two stops (back and front).

Troll
 
It's a shame that Festool has done such a bad solution. It was better on the former model.

And they have placed the angle pointer some distance from the scale, this gives a parallax error when setting the angle.

But to solve both problems, you can put tape on the grade scale and on the tape mark the 0 degrees position after measuring the blade angle with a true square.

Shame on festool!!!!!!
 
SIMA said:
It's a shame that Festool has done such a bad solution. It was better on the former model.

And they have placed the angle pointer some distance from the scale, this gives a parallax error when setting the angle.

But to solve both problems, you can put tape on the grade scale and on the tape mark the 0 degrees position after measuring the blade angle with a true square.

Shame on festool!!!!!!
Rubbish - mine is perfect.

Peter
 
Stone Message said:
SIMA said:
It's a shame that Festool has done such a bad solution. It was better on the former model.

And they have placed the angle pointer some distance from the scale, this gives a parallax error when setting the angle.

But to solve both problems, you can put tape on the grade scale and on the tape mark the 0 degrees position after measuring the blade angle with a true square.

Shame on festool!!!!!!
Rubbish - mine is perfect.

Peter

But if I send you my saw and you send me your saw then my saw is perfect and yours isn't.  [big grin]
 
SIMA said:
But if I send you my saw and you send me your saw then my saw is perfect and yours isn't.  [big grin]
No. You sort it out - if you are really unhappy why waste time writing about it when you could send it back or get it repaired.

Mine is still perfect.

Peter
 
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