Festool TKS 80

[city17]

Unfortunately Festool now own sawstop which is great for Festool and the people invested in the Festool system but ultimately licencing law (look what happened to the Bosh ReaXX) is going to prevent any pervasion of the principles of the technology itself. I appreciate that's just commerce but making the technology more freely available would prevent more accidents and bring the cost within the reach of the target audience of those who are more likely to have those accidents in the first place. Releasing the technology as a kind of open source concept would not lose sales to proportionally impact profit but would raise Festool's profile (beyond woodworking) to those not usually on their radar in a positive way. Every review of every machine with blade dropping tech would always point to Festool as the originator even though technically they never were. Also, most review summaries would make you question if you want the real thing or the pretender...

Would definitely be commendable if Festool would share their technology. But there seem to be some ways around the patent, as several more expensive manufacturers offer their own technology. For example, Felder has a finger detection technology that works even before you touch the blade + it doesn't ruin the blade, and you can return to cutting in just a minute. So it's an even better option than SawStop, but I'd imagine it's more costly and harder to implement in relatively affordable or portable saws.

 

[Gordon Tarling]

Did you have the blade guard on?

At that time I didn't. I'd removed it earlier because it had been getting in the way.

Spectric - You're right, of course, about Sawstop encouraging complacency and in an ideal world, everyone would be on their guard 100% of the time, but momentary distractions are always around, Sawstop or not, so I feel this is just another line of defence.

G.

 

[Jake]

I had been using the plastic stick which came with the saw, plus a plain stick to hold the work against the fence. I had actually finished the cut, with the workpiece clear of the back of the table and the waste piece still on the table. I had actually pressed the 'stop' switch and then reached over with my left hand to retrieve the waste piece - my mistake was in not waiting for the blade to come to a stop before reaching over.

Ouch. That's unfortunate. Blade brake and crown guard should have been your saviours there.

 

[TheBoy67]

Anyone? I have been away from the forums for a bit, but was considering one as a site saw and was expecting you lot to be all over it with good/bad/indifferent (tick as appropriate), but there's virtually nothing. Not much more on FOG either! I'd have thought the Festool Sawstop thing would have provoked some reaction. Has anyone got one? Is it OK/carp/brilliant/Sawstop eat my children/Festool evil buy old Record/Stanley instead?

I got mine a couple of weeks ago. Full kit model with sliding table and extra tables etc. I wanted to use in a 240v workshop as I do not have a 3 phase supply required for Axminster / Fusion type table saws. I have a major concern with the fence - in my view its garbage on a table at £2.5k….. They should have designed this with guide bearings front and rear, using the some units as supplied on the sliding table feature. I have taken the supplied unit and fitted a fence unit from my MFT3. The supplied unit is out of square due to slop in the unit and it binds on the table. I have watched the Festool set up videos and stripped this down many times from a clean slate install.

Festool should be ashamed of this fence.

 

[Sideways]

Festool should be ashamed of this fence.

If it's not fit for purpose, send it back. Why would you accept less than satisfactory from a premium priced product ?

 

[Spectric]

Why would you accept less than satisfactory from a premium priced product ?

I would expect at least a usable component even if it was not a premium / overpriced product, if you don't complain then they are getting away with selling substandard and will at some point cost reduce and make it worse. Best way to deal with poor quality is complain and make public.

 

[TheBoy67]

I am going to send an email to Festool. I have a friend who has the TK70 Full set model and the even the sliding rail system on that is brilliant compared to so called ‘’top of the range’ TKS80 - I know it has saw stop but that should not come with a down grade everywhere else………

 

[Spectric]

The sawstop technology you have is a "safety system" and knowing it is there you put some level of trust into it that if the worst happens it will stop and not do any harm to yourself which is the function of any safety system but how do you periodically test that it is actually functioning? Do you use a sausage to mimic a finger.