went to a demo, very intrigued, but confused

[steveinaz]

A couple of weeks ago I went to a Festool demo and was very impressed. I went home and posted my Table Saw and Dust collector on Craigs List and, surprisingly, they sold in a few hours. I've been a hobbyist for about 4 years or so. I don't concentrate on any one thing, it's whatever strikes my fancy. I had a pretty good grasp of the T/S , Jet Contractor Saw, but was wanting more accuracy and better use of my very limited space. My questions: 1) can a track saw replace a table saw for 90 or 95% of the tasks? 2) Is there a good companion book for the Festool track saw, say tips, tricks and jigs for the TS55? I saw a "Festool Essentials" book on-line. I don't know if it's any good. I was thinking of starting with a TS55REQ, MFT/3, a CT midi and Festools chip separator. I was also thinking of hooking up my jointer and surface planer to the CT midi.
Any help or comments will be appreciated. Thanks, steveinaz

 

[peter halle]

First of all,  [welcome] to the FOG.  As a moderator I can track your ip address to get a general idea of where you live and there a ton of helpful members who live in your area that might be willing to do a get-together if you would ask for that in this thread and ask for a PM.

There are some great videos out on YouTube that you might want to look at and digest.  You might want to do a youtube search; halfinchshy and others some great videos.

Peter

 

[Sparktrician]

There are some great videos out on YouTube that you might want to look at and digest.  You might want to do a youtube search; halfinchshy and others some great videos.

And don't forget the YouTube Festool channel.  [smile]

 

[ChuckM]

It is hard to generalize if the track saw can replace a table saw as they have their own functional strengths.

All I can say is for myself that since I do not use sheet goods a lot (and when I do, I have them precut to rough sizes (e.g. 4x8 into 2 of 4 x 4) at the home center or lumber yard so they can fit into my SUV), I would be nowhere near as efficient as I am in the shop using only a track saw. In the past 10 years, I have only used the track saw or circular saw three or four times, and everything else (some 100 projects) was built using a combination of a table saw, mitre saw, band saw or hand saw.

 

[ScotF]

I have not turned on my cabinet saw in 5 years and I have built several projects using a track saw as my main circular saw. So yes, it can cover much of the same ground. It takes practice and is not as efficient in some things, but it works well and takes up less space. I still have my cabinet saw in case I want to use it or need it for some operation, but it mostly is a storage bench these days.

 

[sancho57]

First  [welcome] to the FOG

festool is a different approach to woodworking. I suggest you take a festool class, start with the essentials which thoroughly goes over all the core tools bulding small project. Also find  brick and mortar dealer where you can go and ask questions and get advice from. The festool reps travel about do demos at different stores, talk to your brick and mortar and find out when your rep is coming there. get to know your rep get his number give him a call.

Can a Track saw replace a table saw. Id say yes. How ever it may take more time to do the set up make a jig to do what you want etc. This is the place to come if you want to know about jigs etc. Lots of info here.

However you did get the big 3 which is awesome MFT/TS55/CT are the base of the system. now youll find yerself buying a lot of accessories clamps etc as you taylor your tools to your needs .

 

[mrboult]

As someone who has spent a lot of time with huge table saws with all the sliding supporting tables and measures. My preference would be a TS with ALL the accessories!
MFT
Side fence
Parallel guides
Rail Clamps
Etc

With only the rails i still prefer the TS for full sized sheet goods as even with the biggest sliding tables, table saws are still so easy to make imperfect cuts when pushing an 8x4 sheet through.

Smaller work is ironically where i find the table saws most useful, but an MFT and a host of accessories can make the TS just as good IMHO. And much easier to move and store if needed!

Just my opinion obviously.