TSC 55 KEBI-F-Set-FS, never able to fix 45 degree

[liyuanayu]

Almighty FOG,

I'm a new owner of TSC 55 KEB and so far its been quite frustrating cutting 45 degree w/ the saw.

The saw came out of square at 90 so I did some adjustment using the small black screw in pic 1, also I set the scale to point to 0 (Thanks forum this post).
I need to do a series of 45 degree cuts -- now the natural stop position when tilted (adjusted for 0) is off by a tick (pic 2), and is no where near 45..

For my 45 degree cut I had to lose the nob (pic 3) and do manual adjustment (at this point neither 45 mark nor the stop is correct), I had to measure on the blade angle, which need to be slightly beyond the stop but hard to repeat each time due to the thick scale mark.

Is there an easy fix on my situation? Is that something I should contact festool directly and get helps/replacement? Any pointer is welcome and GREATLY APPRECIATED. I want to love and use this saw.

Thanks in advance for education. I'm all ears.

Thank you

 

[mino]

Precise 45-degree cuts are nothing easy with a tracksaw.

But the scale is not the critical piece. Way more critical is that the track is (and has to be) slightly elastic. While desirable for clamp-free vertical cuts. The flex from the rubber strips affects angle repeatability and means that while one definitely needs to clamp, clamping too much is bad as the rail bends and is not 100% co-planar with the material where the clamp is.

Based on your out-of-square comment at 90° from factory /did not hear of that for Festool/, I suspect you apply sufficient pressure to change the rail position. This can affect 90° but even more so the 45° cuts "position" on the scale.

I would advise to try below:

- place the rail and clamp it, but only so much the rubber strips touch the material and only slight pressure is applied, the metal ribs around them must not touch the material where clamped - i.e., the rail must not be bent at the clamp
- when riding the saw, use your left hand placed on the saw base, ensuring it does not flip BUT putting only minimal pressure by the saw on the rail, the rail must be absolutely flat on the surface, but must not be pushed "into" the material with your right hand either. Any vertical pressure applied causes angle change as it forces the rail to flex. You have to use screw clamps for this, fast clamps don't work here as they are too "rough".

Do a couple cuts like this - testing repeatability and, when you check the angle:
- make sure you have a precision 45° square, not just estimating it
- check the angle on multiple points of the cut to ensure consistency
- if you are checking using 2 pieces against a 90° square, just a reminder, the material is slightly mushy, so 45° may not look like 45° ...

It is very very easy to "align/tune" the saw to the "beginning part" of an angle cut which can be skewed from a too-tight clamped rail and mess the rest of the cut by it. And it is even easier to push the saw too much, causing the angle to change sufficiently to be an issue during the cut.

Secondarily, for 45°, the scale is really only orientational. That is not about the accuracy of the scale though.

The mechanics of the rail-saw combo during an angle cut heavily depend on how the rail is attached/fixed AND even more so on the pressure (and the angle of the pressure) applied. This means that the same saw in two different hands can make slightly different angle cuts. All the way +/- 1° difference.

How would I know ?
Well, I managed even a 2° difference when first using my TSC 55 ...  [embarassed]

Eventually, I ended up dedicating one Makita 1500 rail with the anti-slip strips removed for angle cuts. That makes that rail useless for vertical cuts but being "hard" it does not flex on the angle cuts. Also the Makita anti-splinter is soft, this makes it crappy for its official fucntion, but it is very good at "giving way" at low saw pressure and not compressing afterwards.

It's never easy. As Dylan Hunt once said.​

 

[liyuanayu]

Thank you for the reply! I appreciate all the tips and suggestions!

I did follow all the suggestions super flat surface, press down when on 45 degree, calibrated with Machinist Square 45 steel gauge etc.

The issue remains -- I have perfect 90 but for 45.. I have to do a lot try and fail now before doing a 45 cut because the stop position is way off (tiny blade is hard to measure w/o removing the cover to double check the angle on the fly).

I'm trying to figure out if the set stop for 45 is adjustable (I don't care about the scale anymore at this point) or I'm stuck with what I have (wife yelling in the background -- you said this is the best lol)

Thanks for education!

 

[usernumber1]

if i bought a new festool tracksaw and 90 was not perfect out of the factory i would exchange it immediately and not be doing any calibrations to begin with

also chat with the people at the store. since you're new with the saw it's also possible you are doing something non-obvious while using it

 

[Crazyraceguy]

I have never had a physical issue with the saw itself, but did experience a technique problem early on. I was getting a slight curve away from the splinter guard at the trailing end of the cut. It turned out to be me and the way I was (not) following through. I little more concentration on the task at hand solved it. Part of this may just have been left-handed user problems, but that's just life at this point.