Festool track saw with scoring blade

[Doug71]

I know you all love your track saws so here's Festools latest version with a built in scoring blade, don't think I'll be buying one.

https://werkzeugstore24.de/festool-vorritzer-tauchsaege-tsv-60-kebq-plus-fs-im-systainer-577743.html

 

[frankendoodle65]

Surely the splinter guard on the guide rail makes the scoring blade redundant? This seems to go against the grain of decades of marketing, though perhaps for very fragile veneers or MFC it might be a slight improvement?

 

[MikeK]

Not for me. The splinter guard on the guide rail and the drop-down splinter guard on the saw do a wonderful job almost every time.

I've only had a few occasions when a scoring blade would have been nice while cutting melamine sheet goods with my track saw because there were still some small chips on both cut edges. To overcome this, I secured the guide rail to the board and set the plunge depth to about 2mm. I pulled the saw backwards along the guide rail to establish a smooth initial cut. Then I set the plunge depth for the final cut and completed the task.

 

[Spectric]

As @MikeK has said all you need is to set a shallow cut and score backwards, who wants to pay that for a tracksaw whick also looks big and bulky. Some like the Makita have a knob that gives a shallow depth for the purpose of scoring but how often do people feel the need ?

 

[Doug71]

Obviously a specialist tool so not for everyone but if you cut lots of MFC it will probably be worth it's weight in gold.

Yes the Makita has the scoring function or you can do the backwards cut thing etc but these mean making the cut twice where this should give you a perfect finish on both sides and both edges in one cut so a massive time saver if you do this a lot.

I guess Festool must think there is a market out there for it, it's not the prettiest thing though!

 

[Bristol_Rob]

Pointless IMO.

Unless the rear blade cuts on the up stroke to give both faces a clean cut.
like the scoring blade does on my sliding table saw.

 

[baldkev]

Pointless IMO.

Unless the rear blade cuts on the up stroke to give both faces a clean cut.
like the scoring blade does on my sliding table saw.

Being as plunge saws are basically circular saws, yes it does cut upwards. If it cut downwards, the blade would often be forcing the saw to jump

 

[Bristol_Rob]

Being as plunge saws are basically circular saws, yes it does cut upwards. If it cut downwards, the blade would often be forcing the saw to jump

Bugger, you're right. My bad. In that case, I do see a point for those cutting ply and laminate.

Could come in handy on the job site. But I don't see it replacing the standard lighter version.

Now we need/want another tool

 

[Fireburst]

I have always had exceptional results from both of my Festool track saws. I would like to know if the results could be improved.

 

[baldkev]

Im unconvinced. For 95% of jobs, a tracksaw would be fine. If you were doing something special, youd use a new blade and can run a scoring cut.
For a site tool, it doesnt look like something youd want to use all day....
And if you did a lot of mfc , you'd probably have a workshop with panel saw etc.
They'll no doubt sell enough to make it worthwhile for festool, but I'd expect a lot of them would get an easy life

 

[Inspector]

Funny. When track saws first came out there were a ton of people saying there was no point because a regular circular saw and a straight edge did the same. No perceived improvement. Now they are an absolute must have. This scoring blade improvement (?) is now getting the same skepticism. Next year everyone will be praising the absolutely, I wouldn't be without one, must have saw.

Someday a variable speed self feeding track saw for smoother cleaner cutting, helium filled to reduce weight , will come to market and go through the same back and forth before being a must have.

Pete

 

[Doug71]

Someday a variable speed self feeding track saw for smoother cleaner cutting, helium filled to reduce weight , will come to market and go through the same back and forth before being a must have.

Pete

Probably not helium filled but Mafell already do the self feeding thing!

 

[baldkev]

Funny. When track saws first came out there were a ton of people saying there was no point because a regular circular saw and a straight edge did the same. No perceived improvement. Now they are an absolute must have. This scoring blade improvement (?) is now getting the same skepticism. Next year everyone will be praising the absolutely, I wouldn't be without one, must have saw.

Someday a variable speed self feeding track saw for smoother cleaner cutting, helium filled to reduce weight , will come to market and go through the same back and forth before being a must have.

Pete

Interestingly i was a non believer and STILL havent got one.... even though now I'm open to it, i was dithering between makita and festool, but theres always more important tools to buy. Plus prices have gone up

The new mafell looks a smart bit of kit, but at £2500 it'd have to make me cups of coffee and do my tax return

 

[baldkev]

Probably not helium filled but Mafell already do the self feeding thing!

Aghh, beat me to it

 

[simonh]

I've cut lots and lots of Egger MFC. Yes, you can do the pull-back trick. Or the Mafell has a setting to do a shallow cut, offset the blade slightly, and then make the full-depth cut.

Both work, but a one-pass solution would be a time saver. And, any two-pass method, even with a clamped track, can lead to slight differences in how you hold the saw that can still cause chip-out issues sometimes.

Some of these Egger matt finish panels run around 200 quid per sheet. Even with the Mafell, I've used a 1mm router pass before edgebanding for finished doors. So, I can see this saw having its place. But, it is not for everyone. If all you cut is solid wood or plywood or MDF, then a regular track saw is fine.

 

[peter-harrison]

The Mafell tracksaw has a scribing function- a button you press which makes the blade just kiss the surface of what you're cutting, which works well although you have to do two passes for the cut.

 

[Distinterior]

I've cut lots and lots of Egger MFC. Yes, you can do the pull-back trick. Or the Mafell has a setting to do a shallow cut, offset the blade slightly, and then make the full-depth cut.

Both work, but a one-pass solution would be a time saver. And, any two-pass method, even with a clamped track, can lead to slight differences in how you hold the saw that can still cause chip-out issues sometimes.

Some of these Egger matt finish panels run around 200 quid per sheet. Even with the Mafell, I've used a 1mm router pass before edgebanding for finished doors. So, I can see this saw having its place. But, it is not for everyone. If all you cut is solid wood or plywood or MDF, then a regular track saw is fine.

Spot on Simon!

 

[Nic Rhodes]

Looked at this saw and it has changed many things over TS55s, I have had my 55 for more than a decade and every variant was a small tweak, this is a major change. I was impressed by what it does. Will I buy one, probably not as my 55 does all I need atm but they are still innovating.