Im kind of surprised TSO hasent released some type of rail hinge and fence system and perhaps even a TSO style MFT bench. there is obviously a market for these items since dashboard and benchdogs cant keep them in stock. seems like with the popularity and quality items tso is known for if they got into this market they could take a sizable bite if they could keep items in stock.
TSO Whats up?
- Thread starter afish
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[member=59331]TSO Products[/member] [member=61691]TSO_Products[/member] ?
Sparktrician
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[popcorn]
TSO appears to be married to CNC machining on aluminum (mostly extrusions) and laser engraving, much like Woodpeckers is.
Those products would fall outside their standard manufacturing capabilities. That might be the reason they have not strayed into that area. It would require either a sizable investment in machinery (and perhaps a larger factory). That might not be sensible in these economic times.
On the other hand TSO tests and refines their equipment regularly and provides meaningful support.
I would not fault them for choosing not to stray from their product line and expand into others.
Those products would fall outside their standard manufacturing capabilities. That might be the reason they have not strayed into that area. It would require either a sizable investment in machinery (and perhaps a larger factory). That might not be sensible in these economic times.
On the other hand TSO tests and refines their equipment regularly and provides meaningful support.
I would not fault them for choosing not to stray from their product line and expand into others.
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afish said:
[member=73094]afish[/member] - we really appreciate that you opened this topic and giving us a reason total about the thinking behind our plans and strengthen the relationship between our customer base and ourselves.
We will respond in some specific detail here on this thread after taking care of some time sensitive matters on our to-do lists at TSO.
more to follow. . .
Hans
FestitaMakool
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I’m gonna watch this space..
I sent TSO an email a while back, regarding a suggestion for a totally different product as I see TSO Products making new innovative products, stand-alone as well as complementary product improving performance and ease of use of such as Festool products. Therefore it was naturally to me to send the suggestion directly to TSO. As of now and eventually if or if not TSO like it, it’s only me and TSO who knows.. [wink]
I sent TSO an email a while back, regarding a suggestion for a totally different product as I see TSO Products making new innovative products, stand-alone as well as complementary product improving performance and ease of use of such as Festool products. Therefore it was naturally to me to send the suggestion directly to TSO. As of now and eventually if or if not TSO like it, it’s only me and TSO who knows.. [wink]
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As someone who has been involved with a product being developed and brought to market by TSO it is a cool process if it can happen. Great bunch of people.
FestitaMakool
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That’s my belief of TSO too, Peter.
And that’s why my idea was directed in their direction too.
And that’s why my idea was directed in their direction too.
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Hello friends on Monday May 30th – Memorial Day holiday here in the United States.
As promised a week ago, here is specific detail regarding “TSO What’s up?”
[member=73094]afish[/member] – you may be surprised to learn that “some type of rail hinge and fence system” was actually the very first track-saw oriented accessory we focused on, - well before the Guide Rail Square back in 2015 – Eight years ago.
We shifted our attention to the GRS-16 because we concluded there are many more guide rail users than there are MFT/3 users. Going after the bigger and more easily visually demonstrated market proved to be the right decision along with enormous support from our base of early-adopter customers.
Back then we listened to customer complaints who had missed the ONE-TIME-TOOL opportunity to buy an 18” precision Triangle. We decided to create one that would be available when our customers needed it – not when it’s convenient for our factory to produce and stock it. But we would not bring out a “me-too” product. It had to be more useful in meaningful ways. Listening to customers far and wide led us to surpass the OTT 18” Triangle’s capability with our MTR-18 Multi-purpose Triangle along with a basic PTR-18 Precision Triangle.
TSO’s MTR-18 Precision Triangle went beyond “squaring and 45 degrees” by offering a practical solution for precise angle cuts in sheet goods with or without an MFT/# style worktop among its many other capabilities.
Because there was no line of suitable bench dogs on the market, we were forced to develop our line of TSO Double-Groove™ Dogs. This became a much bigger engineering task than we expected for the following reasons:
MFT and similar 20mm holes in a 96mm pattern presented a very big design and manufacturing challenge for the realization of our Triangle line benefits because of the inconsistencies in the worktops is use by customers. Bothe worktop hole diameters were not consistent. As a result, the 96mm hole center distance had its own sets of variability. So if we made a very precise TSO Triangle hole diameter and hole distance pattern it would not work with many customer worktops.
The solution we settled on was the creation of a family of two different body diameters in our new DoubleGroove™ Dog family:
TSO Standard Dogs
TSO Close Fit “CF-Dogs”
All the while the MFT/3 still needed help.
So, we added a pair of 25mm tall Stainless Pins threaded into the face of our Precision Triangles enabling very quick and accurate squaring up the guide rail on the MFT/3 and elevated heights for most common material thicknesses being cut.
We also listened to a customer suggestion and added a standard mounting provision to our GRS-16 PE Square which enables connection of the MFT/3 Guide Rail to the updated GRS-16 PE mounted directly to the FESTOOL hinge bracket on the MFT/3.
Do we consider the MFT/3 hinge and fence needs completely met? - absolutely not!
On the surface it might appear that we only build products involving CNC machining of aluminum. But remember that from day ONE we also fabricated a stamped and TIG welded Draw Latch with a custom PVC coating of the handle and Latch hook. Later on, we tooled up progressive stamping tooling for a Latch assembly just in time for FESTOOL to begin producing the licensed version of our GRS-16 PE for which we have been supplying the US produced Stainless Steel latches we continue to assemble and ship from our Minnesota base for worldwide use.
Remember we still need to pay our bills and strengthen the “back-end” of our business such as customer service, engineering document control, Quality Management Systems and more. And did I forget to mention supply chain challenges beyond COVID impacts . . .?
So that is just some of “What’s Up at TSO”
Thanks for asking and for being our appreciative worldwide customer family!
Stay well and stay in touch
Hans and the TSO Team
Email us at info@tsoproducts.com
As promised a week ago, here is specific detail regarding “TSO What’s up?”
[member=73094]afish[/member] – you may be surprised to learn that “some type of rail hinge and fence system” was actually the very first track-saw oriented accessory we focused on, - well before the Guide Rail Square back in 2015 – Eight years ago.
We shifted our attention to the GRS-16 because we concluded there are many more guide rail users than there are MFT/3 users. Going after the bigger and more easily visually demonstrated market proved to be the right decision along with enormous support from our base of early-adopter customers.
Back then we listened to customer complaints who had missed the ONE-TIME-TOOL opportunity to buy an 18” precision Triangle. We decided to create one that would be available when our customers needed it – not when it’s convenient for our factory to produce and stock it. But we would not bring out a “me-too” product. It had to be more useful in meaningful ways. Listening to customers far and wide led us to surpass the OTT 18” Triangle’s capability with our MTR-18 Multi-purpose Triangle along with a basic PTR-18 Precision Triangle.
TSO’s MTR-18 Precision Triangle went beyond “squaring and 45 degrees” by offering a practical solution for precise angle cuts in sheet goods with or without an MFT/# style worktop among its many other capabilities.
Because there was no line of suitable bench dogs on the market, we were forced to develop our line of TSO Double-Groove™ Dogs. This became a much bigger engineering task than we expected for the following reasons:
MFT and similar 20mm holes in a 96mm pattern presented a very big design and manufacturing challenge for the realization of our Triangle line benefits because of the inconsistencies in the worktops is use by customers. Bothe worktop hole diameters were not consistent. As a result, the 96mm hole center distance had its own sets of variability. So if we made a very precise TSO Triangle hole diameter and hole distance pattern it would not work with many customer worktops.
The solution we settled on was the creation of a family of two different body diameters in our new DoubleGroove™ Dog family:
TSO Standard Dogs
TSO Close Fit “CF-Dogs”
All the while the MFT/3 still needed help.
So, we added a pair of 25mm tall Stainless Pins threaded into the face of our Precision Triangles enabling very quick and accurate squaring up the guide rail on the MFT/3 and elevated heights for most common material thicknesses being cut.
We also listened to a customer suggestion and added a standard mounting provision to our GRS-16 PE Square which enables connection of the MFT/3 Guide Rail to the updated GRS-16 PE mounted directly to the FESTOOL hinge bracket on the MFT/3.
Do we consider the MFT/3 hinge and fence needs completely met? - absolutely not!
On the surface it might appear that we only build products involving CNC machining of aluminum. But remember that from day ONE we also fabricated a stamped and TIG welded Draw Latch with a custom PVC coating of the handle and Latch hook. Later on, we tooled up progressive stamping tooling for a Latch assembly just in time for FESTOOL to begin producing the licensed version of our GRS-16 PE for which we have been supplying the US produced Stainless Steel latches we continue to assemble and ship from our Minnesota base for worldwide use.
Remember we still need to pay our bills and strengthen the “back-end” of our business such as customer service, engineering document control, Quality Management Systems and more. And did I forget to mention supply chain challenges beyond COVID impacts . . .?
So that is just some of “What’s Up at TSO”
Thanks for asking and for being our appreciative worldwide customer family!
Stay well and stay in touch
Hans and the TSO Team
Email us at info@tsoproducts.com
DynaGlide
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Hans, as always, just gets it and runs a fantastic company with above and beyond customer service. Can't tell you how many times I've had revised parts show up unannounced because he improved on some aspect of a tool I purchased. And at no charge to me. They keep an up to date list of their user base for this purpose.
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Hello Matt,
I will pass along your kind comment to the absolutely extraordinary Team that makes up TSO Products!
When I came home Sunday evening from finishing up a last-minute video shoot revision I commented to my wife over dinner how it really "does not seem like working at TSO" - because of the agreeable disposition of our Team at work every day.
And comments like yours go a long way to keep up the momentum!
We are so fortunate
thank you Matt!
Hans
I will pass along your kind comment to the absolutely extraordinary Team that makes up TSO Products!
When I came home Sunday evening from finishing up a last-minute video shoot revision I commented to my wife over dinner how it really "does not seem like working at TSO" - because of the agreeable disposition of our Team at work every day.
And comments like yours go a long way to keep up the momentum!
We are so fortunate
thank you Matt!
Hans
Rick Herrick
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DynaGlide said:
Really? Does this happen to others? I have quite a few dollars in blue tools and the only thing I ever got, unsolicited, was a couple of screws. I can't even remember what they were for.
I like that they monitor this site and contacted me when I had problems setting up their squaring arm. I cannot remember a manufacturer actively reaching out to a customer to offer assistance. Typically, it requires that the customer reaches out to the manufacturer.
DynaGlide
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Rick Herrick said:
vkumar said:
Didn't mean to get anyone riled up. The parts I received were small, like screws that were changed slightly. Or in the case of the MTR-18 I think I bought one of the first ones and they sent me a revised hardware kit for it to correct some pre-production pieces that were inadvertently sent out. I didn't get things like the revised flip stops for the parallel guides. Those I had to purchase.
I lost a trigger screw from my hvlp spray gun and the manufacturer sent me a free replacement screw. I was pleased.
The drill bit that came with my Kreg shelf pin drilling jig was creating huge tear-outs on the plywood. Kreg sent me a replacement for free (but it was no better).
The drill bit that came with my Kreg shelf pin drilling jig was creating huge tear-outs on the plywood. Kreg sent me a replacement for free (but it was no better).
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