TS75 Blade issue

[ear3]

I was ripping some 8/4 oak the other day, and my TS75 started behaving strangely -- it was almost like the blade (the universal 36 tooth blade) was tracking at an angle away from the rail, and before too long the saw would start chewing up the splinterguard, bog down and start burning the wood, and I'm sure, if I had continued the cut, it would have gotten stuck.  I tried a few more cuts with the rail repositioned, but it kept happening.  The blade was cleaned prior to use, and the teeth were still sharp to the touch, so it was a mystery why this was occurring.  Fortunately, I was able to continue with my TSC55, and so I put the saw to the side to investigate more fully when I had the time.

I finally had time today.  I took the blade out and this is what I found on the back side:

View attachment 1

I've never seen that on any of my blades.  I cleaned off the gunk, and took the saw cover off as well to clean and inspect.  There were no obvious issues inside the cover, so I put the blade on again and tried some test cuts in more 8/4 oak.

The blade made it all the way through a 36" rip, but the cut still did not feel as smooth as it should.  After 3 cuts I took the blade out and again inspected the backside:

View attachment 2

There should not be that wear pattern after only 3 cuts, and you can also see that there's the beginnings of a build up of material on the blade.  Note as well that the material is clear, suggesting that it's coming from the saw rather than the wood.

So I put my spare and clean 36 tooth blade on to see if the issue persisted.  With the new blade, the saw is back to cutting smoothly.

So I'm hoping the problem is confined to that one blade.  Is it perhaps that the saw plate got bent?  I put a starrett straightedge to the blade but couldn't tell with the naked eye whether it was tacoed or not.  I just don't know how this could of happened, as the saw was cutting just fine with the same blade the day prior. 

My main concern is that the saw goes out of warranty in a couple of weeks, so I want to figure out pretty quickly if there's an issue with the saw that is messing up the blades.  I guess I'll just try to work with it as much as possible over the next week to test it out.

Finally, I don't think my sharpening service does any blade truing, and as far as I know Forrest doesn't work anymore with Festool blades.  Can anyone recommend a place to send out my blade to be trued, if this is indeed the problem?

 

[peter halle]

I don't think at it is your saw.  I say that because when you put in another blade it worked ok.  Cutting that thickness of oak (my guess would be red oak) without a ripping blade I good see a good possibility for buildup.

Many people here have used Leitz (the manufacturer of the blades) for sharpening.  you might want to look up their closest branch to you on their website and contact to see if they can test your blade for trueness.

Peter

 

[Naildrivingman]

Did you have either or both of these blades sharpened by Forrest?  I ask, because I trust Forrest implicitly.  I had three $100+ blades ruined by a company who assured me they could sharpen any blade. They are a local reputable company and so I took them at their word.  Two of the blades were Forrest and when I had trouble, I shipped them to Forrest for inspection. I can't remember now what their assessment was, but suffice to say company A did not sharpen the blades correctly.  Luckily Forrest was able to fix them.  From now on, my Forrest blades will go to Forrest and my FT blades will go to Leitz.

As to the burning issue, I have to say that the fault lies with the blade and not the saw.

Good luck,
Chris

 

[ear3]

I use a service that has contracted with my local dealer for the Festool blades.  Never had a problem with how he's sharpened my blades, and, as already mentioned, this blade (which has been resharpened once) had been performing fine before this incident.

The only thing I can think of is that maybe I hit something gnarly in the reclaimed oak I was working with.  I didn't notice any spark showers or other indicators that I had gone through something, but who knows?

Did you have either or both of these blades sharpened by Forrest?  I ask, because I trust Forrest implicitly.  I had three $100+ blades ruined by a company who assured me they could sharpen any blade. They are a local reputable company and so I took them at their word.  Two of the blades were Forrest and when I had trouble, I shipped them to Forrest for inspection. I can't remember now what their assessment was, but suffice to say company A did not sharpen the blades correctly.  Luckily Forrest was able to fix them.  From now on, my Forrest blades will go to Forrest and my FT blades will go to Leitz.

As to the burning issue, I have to say that the fault lies with the blade and not the saw.

Good luck,
Chris

 

[Cheese]

Edward, that white/clear material in the 2nd photo, looks like some of the splinter guard.

 

[ear3]

You're right. 

Edward, that white/clear material in the 2nd photo, looks like some of the splinter guard.

 

[antss]

FWIW -  Forrest has bad days too.  I got tired of dealing with them on one of my WWII and finally had to have AmEx put the hammer down on them.  Won't use them again for sharpening or blades.  they are nothing special on either account.  Fusion and Ridge Carbide cut just as well. 

Seems pretty obvious to me that the blade is messed up.  Exhibit : your experience with a different but same type of blade !  I agree with Peter that the 18t blade would be the better choice for that operation though.

Trusting your sharpener is fine, but he'll make a mistake eventually, I don't care who he is or what equipment they use.  How they handle the issue is what makes the difference.

 

[Frogtownww]

I am having the exact same issue cutting. I tilted my saw to cut a bevel on a long table top and then put it back to 90 when done. I then tried to cut a 1" thick board but the saw pulls away from the track and will eventually get so far out it starts to hit the track on the back of the blade. I thought my blade may be dull so I went to woodcraft and purchased a new blade and sent my other out to be sharpened. Put the new blade on and it is still doing the same thing. I loosened the knobs to tilt the blade and tightened the rear one first as stated on another thread and i took the blade off and cleaned everything and put it back on and made sure i tightened it up till it stopped. Still no luck. I used a gauge to measure the blade and it is off by 5 thousandth from one side to the other. This is maddening, i pulled out my old DeWalt and used a board as a straight edge to finish what i needed. I have a $750 saw that does not work nearly as good as my 20 year old skill saw....WTF. I cant express enough my disappointment in the saw. How do you align the blade or do I need to take it back for repair? Tilting the saw and moving it back to 90 should not cause this problem! The saw has never been dropped or abused.

 

[peter halle]

I am having the exact same issue cutting. I tilted my saw to cut a bevel on a long table top and then put it back to 90 when done. I then tried to cut a 1" thick board but the saw pulls away from the track and will eventually get so far out it starts to hit the track on the back of the blade. I thought my blade may be dull so I went to woodcraft and purchased a new blade and sent my other out to be sharpened. Put the new blade on and it is still doing the same thing. I loosened the knobs to tilt the blade and tightened the rear one first as stated on another thread and i took the blade off and cleaned everything and put it back on and made sure i tightened it up till it stopped. Still no luck. I used a gauge to measure the blade and it is off by 5 thousandth from one side to the other. This is maddening, i pulled out my old DeWalt and used a board as a straight edge to finish what i needed. I have a $750 saw that does not work nearly as good as my 20 year old skill saw..... I cant express enough my disappointment in the saw. How do you align the blade or do I need to take it back for repair? Tilting the saw and moving it back to 90 should not cause this problem! The saw has never been dropped or abused.

How old is your saw?

Peter

 

[ear3]

[member=65533]Frogtownww[/member] Hmmm.  Thanks for reporting.  This is curious, because the TS75 is not one of the tools you hear problem reports about on the FOG.  Is your saw still within the 3 year purchase period wherein you might have it serviced?

I haven't had a chance to use the saw since I did the tests with a fresh blade (which seemed to come out okay, as I mentioned), though I do have a commission coming shortly where I will have a bunch of 8/4 rips to do, so I'm hoping I will get a chance to test it fully before the warranty date is up in two weeks.

edward

I am having the exact same issue cutting. I tilted my saw to cut a bevel on a long table top and then put it back to 90 when done. I then tried to cut a 1" thick board but the saw pulls away from the track and will eventually get so far out it starts to hit the track on the back of the blade. I thought my blade may be dull so I went to woodcraft and purchased a new blade and sent my other out to be sharpened. Put the new blade on and it is still doing the same thing. I loosened the knobs to tilt the blade and tightened the rear one first as stated on another thread and i took the blade off and cleaned everything and put it back on and made sure i tightened it up till it stopped. Still no luck. I used a gauge to measure the blade and it is off by 5 thousandth from one side to the other. This is maddening, i pulled out my old DeWalt and used a board as a straight edge to finish what i needed. I have a $750 saw that does not work nearly as good as my 20 year old skill saw..... I cant express enough my disappointment in the saw. How do you align the blade or do I need to take it back for repair? Tilting the saw and moving it back to 90 should not cause this problem! The saw has never been dropped or abused.

 

[Frogtownww]

Ok, I followed the instructions on how to set your saw to a guide rail at the followinghttp://www.waterfront-woods.com/festool/TS55REQ.pdf and it is back working fine. Not sure how my blade got out of alignment but setting it up per the instructions on page 22 of the pdf fixed it and i was able to rip a 2" slab with no problems.

 

[antss]

Edward, are you going to get the purpose built Panther blade for that ripping commission or are you going to do it with the good 36t blade?

 

[ear3]

I have the panther blade.  I've been using my freshly sharpened 36T one, however, for this project, since I was cutting glue joints.  I've generally found the panther blade only necessary in woods above 2", or when cutting really hard woods at 8/4, like hard maple.

In any case, the wood I had been cutting was more like 1.75.

Edward, are you going to get the purpose built Panther blade for that ripping commission or are you going to do it with the good 36t blade?

 

[ear3]

I've done a few more cuts with it, and something doesn't feel right about the saw.  It's hard to tell if it's showing up in the cut yet (all cuts have been in thick wood, which are a bit more prone to registering blade marks), but after 3 years of using the machine I know how it is supposed to feel, and I am not getting that feeling from the saw.  So to be on the safe side -- especially since my warranty is up in 2 days(!) -- I've sent it in for service.

 

[ear3]

Got back my ts75 today. That's only a week and a half turnaround time on service, which is pretty darn good. They replaced the whole base plate. Hopefully that does it. I couldn't have been luckier on the timing. It turns out I sent the tool in the day before my warranty expired.