Tsc 55 KEB tracksaw not cutting as it should

[DavidNS]

Hi all,

I am having issues with my tsc 55 keb saw. Whenever I make a cut, more material is removed the first few centimeters. It's not much but enough to cause problems.

I changed to a new splinter guard but it did not solve the problem and there is no side to side play of the saw on the track. However I think I may have found the problem. I looked in the festool supplementary manual on page 22 where there is a picture showing that a feeler gauge of 0.15 mm should fit between a rear tooth and the workpiece. So I clamped the rail down and made a cut. But there is no way that I can fit a feeler gauge of 0.15 (or 0.1 mm) like seen in the picture. Was my saw not properly set up from the factory? Or is it different for newer models which use blades with a thinner kerf?

I believe I've seen a video on YouTube showing how to adjust several saws to one rail, where the adjustment process is shown.

However I'm a little confused about how I should move on. Should I just clamp the rail down, make a cut and then make the adjustment according to the video, or did I already mess up the splinter guard because the saw wasn't setup the right way?

Cheers
David

 

[Crazyraceguy]

This is a case of "it depends". If you are just making square cuts on sheet goods, clamping is not required. The padded strip will keep it in control. Beveled cuts are a completely different matter, clamping is essentially necessary at that point.
A saw that digs into the splinter-strip, burns the edges, or pulls the track off-line, is out of adjustment.
I have seen mis-calibrated saws work fine with shallow cuts, then act completely different at full depth of cut. The toe-in or out can steer the whole unit.

 

[DavidNS]

I am only doing 90 degree cuts. The reason for clamping was just so nothing moved when checking with a feeler gauge.

When I first cut the splinter guard I did so at 6 mm depth with a sheet of mdf underneath. Then when I cut again at a deeper setting it did sound as if some more of the strip was removed, but I'm not certain.

Back to the question: how do I go about fixing the issue with the toe in/out as my splinter guard might now be a bit altered?

One idea would maybe be to slightly move the splinter guard and cut it again with a shallow cut. Then align the strip with the edge of a workpiece and then do the adjustment? Any thoughts on this?
Thanks for the quick reply!

 

[squall_line]

The strip on the rail itself is supposed to be trimmed with the blade at full depth.

Be careful what is under the rail when you're doing this, lest you cut one of the cross-rails on an STM-1800 like I did...

 

[sancho57]

do you let the saw get up to speed before you start your cut?

 

[woodferret]

Worthwhile to ask whether you're plunging into the material at the start, or are you already at full depth before hitting it.  While technically it shouldn't matter, I've had times where the saw/rail lifts ever so slightly enough to matter, depending on the ply - not enough for kickback as it's subtle enough for the teeth set to take it. 

 

[DavidNS]

I'm pretty sure the saw is up to speed before making a cut, but I'll keep that in mind.

I use a homemade mft top and typically place some support pieces under the rail before/after the workpiece being cut. I start the saw and plunge well before the workpiece. So it is completely plunged before making the cut. I set the depth to 2 mm deeper than the material I'm cutting.

 

[DavidNS]

Ok so I set the saw up to have a toe in according to the supplementary instructions but that still didn't solve the problem.

Now I'm wondering if it's as simple as the blade needing sharpening. I did use it quite a lot. I was getting a lot of tearout at the exit of the cut. I cleaned the blade thoroughly and will see if it made any difference.

I'm mostly cutting 18 mm pine boards nowadays, both rip cuts and cross cuts. The fine tooth blade did seem to work fine even for ripping. But would a combination blade be a better option? I don't want to have to change blade when going from ripping to cross-cutting.