Festool TS 55 - Cutting MFC

[seanf]

I'm going to be building a lot of in-cupboard storage soon for a pantry, our under stairs area and more. I will be using my TS 55 plunge saw for this and making the storage from MFC. I see Festool have a laminate blade, but am not sure if it is worth getting or not. I have seen tips on performing a scoring cut whilst running the saw backwards before then doing the full cut as normal and assume that is just using the standard blade. It would be good to hear people’s experiences in getting nice clean cuts without chipping the facing of the boards

Thanks

Sean

 

[TheTiddles]

Score cut, then full cut, use the right blade and have it new/sharp

 

[MikeK]

I have seen tips on performing a scoring cut whilst running the saw backwards before then doing the full cut as normal and assume that is just using the standard blade. It would be good to hear people’s experiences in getting nice clean cuts without chipping the facing of the boards

I used the standard blade for the backwards scoring cut the few times I cut melamine panels and wanted a clean edge on the offcut side. Set the depth to about 3mm for the scoring cut and then increase the depth for the through cut.

The TS55 has two scales for the depth setting. The "FS" is used with the guide rail and compensates for the 5mm height of the rail.

 

[seanf]

Thank you both. I am still thinking about purchasing the laminate blade as I had some advice that MFC cutting will dull blades pretty quickly. I won’t be cutting huge amounts, but would like to keep my main blade in good order

Sean