New TS55

[Jake]

Plunge-cut saw TS 55 FEBQ-Plus 240V (festool.co.uk)

So the rumour mill was true. Must resist. Those upgrades hit all my minor moans, at least from the description, which is irritating.

 

[Doug71]

As I understand the main (only ?) difference is the new models have a thinner blade which is why they cut quicker. You can't put the thin blades in the old model because the riving knife is too thick.

The new cordless version has done away with the riving knife and has an electronic anti kick back thing instead.

 

[Jake]

Seriously Doug? If that's right it's very misleading talking about extra torque.

There are a few other differences (or so they say), they've done the neutral tilt Mafell thing, the scale with on/off rail measurements is how any thoughtful designer would have made it to start with, and the little pre-blade dangly wotsit looks like it will be either really useful or really really annoying.

 

[Ollie78]

The scale on my old TS 55 has a scale for on or off the track already. I think they have learned from the thinner kerfs on the HKC55 and now they will be able to use the same blades in both.

My main issue with the ts55 is the stupid dust extraction connector, there is no reason it should swivel and also it should come out higher up or at a more vertical angle. If mine dies I will buy the Maffel one, but to be fair I use the hkc 55 much more these days.

Ollie

 

[Jake]

Mine's clearly old school, it's got the single scale, tbh I automatically compensate for that pretty much without thinking. Extra torque would've been what might've tipped the balance but if that's sales-speak for a thin kerf blade I'm out.

 

[sometimewoodworker]

As I understand the main (only ?) difference is the new models have a thinner blade which is why they cut quicker. You can't put the thin blades in the old model because the riving knife is too thick.

There is absolutely no problem with using a thin kerf blade on the TS5, I’ve been using one from time to time for years now.

on the left is a regular blade and riving knife, on the left is a Tenryu thin kerf blade and knife

 

[Ollie78]

Interesting to know about the thinner blades working. That will save me hassle buying blades.

I sometimes use Dart 1.6mm kerf blades on the hkc55 ( supposed to be 1.8) because they are cheap and good.

 

[smackie]

My main issue with the ts55 is the stupid dust extraction connector, there is no reason it should swivel and also it should come out higher up or at a more vertical angle. If mine dies I will buy the Maffel one, but to be fair I use the hkc 55 much more these days.

100% this. The number of times I’ve started a cut to find resistance about 5 seconds in only to realize I‘ve snagged the vacuum hose again because the outlet has rotated down. Again.

It’s on my list of todos to buy a replacement vacuum mount and see if I can‘t work out a nice way to properly lock the hose ejection angle...

 

[Distinterior]

It's an easy fix.....Just remove the side cover from the saw, remove the dust port and wrap PTFE tape around the recess on the plastic port, then reassemble. The port will then be a snug enough fit within the casings and will stay in the position you put it in.

Over a long period of time, it can loosen up a bit with constant use, but you only need to repeat the process.
I do mine about once a year as it gets a bit too loose due to pretty much daily use.

 

[smackie]

@Distinterior Ah, yeah, that makes sense as a quick fix. I was overthinking it. I’ll dig out the plumbing tape later and try this. Cheers!

 

[Distinterior]

I have considered doing a more permanent fix but was rather loathe to start drilling holes in the casings for a grub screw to lock the dust port whilst the saw was still under warranty.

The PTFE does work, albeit non permanent and without permanent changes to the casings.

My TS55 is the older version (not the R version) and its warranty has now long since expired , so the next time mine needs tightening, I may come up with a permanent fix.

 

[Doug71]

Guess it will be interesting to see if Festools new thinner riving knife will fit the previous model saw

I do find it amusing how Festool used to push the fact that the TS55 had a riving knife, something the Mafell didn't have, now on the cordless version Festool drop the riving knife and copy Mafell.

 

[Distinterior]

Guess it will be interesting to see if Festools new thinner riving knife will fit the previous model saw

I do find it amusing how Festool used to push the fact that the TS55 had a riving knife, something the Mafell didn't have, now on the cordless version Festool drop the riving knife and copy Mafell.

They may have removed the Riving knife, but they have replaced it with an electronic anti kickback system if my understanding is correct...???

My own personal preference is to have a Riving knife.....I was breaking down a 2800mm x 2070mm sheet of 19mm MFC last week. I had quite a few long rips to make about 120mm wide.....The internal stress on the board was some of the worst I've come across and I'm certainly glad I had the Riving knife fitted to my original version of the TS55.

 

[scholar]

I haven’t had time to look at the detail of the new 55 saws, but this looks interesting; after all, I’ve had my TSC55 for, oh, over a year now...

Certainly a thinner blade makes a big difference - I have a little Bosch 12v (10.8v) saw that I use for odd jobs - that has a small, but very thin, blade at only 1.1mm thick and slices through with surprising ease.

...
My main issue with the ts55 is the stupid dust extraction connector...

Ollie

There is a fix for this problem. The swivel is useful, but it is badly designed because the little plastic fingers that engage in the teeth are too flexible. I have stiffened mine by adding some plastic spacers (probably fixed with superglue, I don’t recall) to partially fill the gap under the fingers. The two pictures below show one unmodified and one modified - this mostly solves the problem, whilst still being able to ratchet the connector around (in fact, next time I will make the spacer a smidge longer to stiffen it a little bit more, but this is nearly perfect).

(I did post this ages ago on Festool owners group, but don’t recall anyone being interested. Here is the thread with some more how-to Fitting a new dust port on a TS55)

Cheers