Eiji F said:
Is there anyone out there experiencing this?
I have had this saw for 13 months and use it nearly every working day. I can truly say that I have cut miles and miles of wood with it. I love this saw and it has become my workshop and onsite workhorse. Recently I have noticed wear on the base plate.
The proud sections in the chanel of the base plate have completely worn away and I can no longer take out the slop with the little green adjusters. :-[
A week or so ago I posted a follow-up to a discussion we had in the summer about a revised baseplate for the TS55. Festool introduced a revised baseplate on that saw which had replaceable plastic wear pads to replace the metal nibs on the old baseplate which could wear out when cutting abrasive materials. Your photographs nicely illustrate the sort of wear that Festool is talking about when they describe the revised baseplate in their
FAQ article:
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Question:
Is there a new improved base plate for for TS 55 EQ?
Answer:
In the next few months any new production of the TS 55 saw will have a slightly different version of the base plate installed. This new base plate will have replaceable inserts at the slide surfaces, so that if these areas wear, the slide surfaces can be renewed without changing out the entire base plate. Wear is not an issue under normal use.
The improvement was made for specific customers that are cutting hundreds of feet of solid surface and granite composite countertop material on a weekly basis. The abrasive dust created by solid surface materials wears out the base plate along the slide surfaces prematurely.
This has never been an issue when the saw is being used to cut wood. Again, let me emphasize that premature base plate wear is not an issue under normal, daily use.
If the base plate of the current model saw wears out prematurely and the saw is sent in, it will be replaced with the new base plate at no extra charge under warranty. Please consult our service department prior to sending your saw in, as Festool will not automatically replace the current base plate with the new version of the base plate at no charge unless it does wear out prematurely.
There has been lot of hubbub over the new version of the base plate. Again, it is only when the saw is being used for cutting solid surface materials under extreme conditions that this has ever been an issue.
Premature wear resulted from shops using the saw to cut hundreds of feet of solid surface material every week. There is no benefit to the new base plate other than this simple modification. On the newly designed base plate, if the small black plastic parts wear out, you simply exchange them rather than the entire base plate.
I trust this clears this matter up. This change is for the TS55 only. Nothing has changed with the base plate of the TS75. The saw with the new base plate will begin shipping soon.
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If your TS75 is in warranty, then I'd imagine that Festool would replace the baseplate for a new one, as they promise they'd do for the TS55 in the above article. I don't know if Festool have plans to produce similar revised baseplates with plastic wear pads for the TS75, but sales of the larger saw must be much smaller than the TS55, and they may not consider it economical.
It is interesting to note that Festool says "This [wear] has never been an issue when the saw is being used to cut wood". If that's all you've been cutting with your TS75, then they may have to re-consider that statement (although admittedly they are talking about the TS55)!
Forrest
