Problems with my Festool saw, aaarrrgghh!

[johnelliott]

I rang the service people (not having received the promised phone call) and have been told that the saw is being returned to Festo (presumably Minden). Should be back in a small number of days, apparently.

John

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the scan Neil

It is as I suspected, no gearbox

If you are referring to the Festool saw, it most certainly does have a gearbox. How on earth would the drive get from the motor to the saw blade,
John

John. The drawing posted by Neil deos not show a gearbox, thus the saw does not appear to have a gearbox. The sawblade will not neccesarily be central to the housing as the motor may not be centrally mounted in the case
The blade is attached directly to the motor shaft on every saw I have seen.

John. The drawing posted by Neil deos not show a gearbox that I can see

 

[Alf]

who is waiting for Alf's cutting and funny comment on ' I do get carried away somtimes ' :lol: :lol: :wink:

Usually by men in white coats...

Cheers, Alf

Well I'd hate to disappoint. :roll:

 

[Adam]

John. The drawing posted by Neil deos not show a gearbox,

Top right, part 25, described as gearbox housing on the Festool site? Don't ask me though, I'm not technical, perhaps thats just a german term for a housing around a bearing or something.

Adam

 

[froglet]

Having got the saw out of its box this morning to check this I am pretty sure that the saw blade is not directly mounted on the motor shaft. For this to be the case the whole motor would have to be no more than a couple of centimetres in diameter for it to fit into the motor housing and line up with the centre of the blade. There must be some sort of transmission system in part 25.

Graeme

 

[Jake]

From the manual of the ATF55 on the US site.

Smooth start-up:
The electronically controlled smooth start-up facility enables
start-up of the machine without jerks and requires a lower
start-up current.
No-load speed limitation:
The electronics limit the idling speed in relation to the operating
speed to max. 4800 rpm. By this means the saw is rendered
very quiet during idling, ensuring that the gears and the motor
are treated with care.

Gears of some sort in this saw (this was the previous version, wasn't it?).

Speed regulation:
The speed controller (1.9/2.3) provides infinitely variable
setting between 2000 and 4800 rpm of the speed of the saw
blade. This enables you to optimise the cutting speed to suit
the material.
Constant speed:
The pre-selected speed remains constant whether the machine
is in operation or in neutral position.
Diode display:
- The green diode (2.2) shows the operator that the machine
is in operation.
- The red diode (2.1) shows that the motor is overloaded by
about 70 %. If the motor is thus overloaded for a lengthy
period, it is switched off by the safety electronics.
Our recommendation: If the red diode lights up, lower the
feed power until the red diode goes off again. You are then
working within the allowed load.

 

[tim]

By this means the saw is rendered
very quiet during idling, ensuring that the gears and the motor
are treated with care.

What on earth does this mean? Why would you need a circular saw to idle. Unless the way this saw operates very differently to others, isn't it reasonable to expect the user to turn the saw on just before making the cut and turn it off pretty quickly after. Therefore any idling time is likely to be extremely short. Unless I'm much mistaken that is the work of a marketing bulls**t maestro.

If idling in this context means something else then I'd be pleased to understand what.

If comments above are to go by, then the non idle sound is pretty horrendous. Is the noise any worse than other saws that owners have used?

I have been looking to buy this saw for some time but have no justification right now for upgrading. I have heard only positive comments until this thread.

Cheers

Tim

 

[Woodythepecker]

I emailed Festool yesterday but as yet i have not received a reply.

I will keep you updated.

Regards

Woody

 

[Chris Knight]

Ain't this thread something? I reckon it has generated more traffic than almost anything including bevel up versus down, the best way to sharpen and which saw do I need to make dovetails like Rob Cosman! :lol: :lol:

 

[Jake]

From festool part list for the TS55EBQ

http://ekat.festool.de/EKAT/jsp/main.js ... deId=child

Part no. 56

tachometer

 

[Anonymous]

Top right, part 25, described as gearbox housing on the Festool site? Don't ask me though, I'm not technical, perhaps thats just a german term for a housing around a bearing or something.

Adam

Although not evident from the drawing in my opinion, it appears that the saw DOES have a gearbox, and so backlash in gears could be the cause of the 'hunting' Woody described at low speeds

Jake, A tachometer might well be fitted to provide cloed-loop speed control. This usually requires a separate winding and brushes on the armature, I can't see these in the drawing that Neil posted, but then I can't see evidence of a gearbox either :?

The term tachometer might be very losley applied to armature feedback that I described earlier in the thread

Of course, they may be referring to some other sort of pickup or auxiliary winding in the field assembly or even a hall effect device etc.

I have never seen this saw and my posts are based on information gleaned here in this thread in an effort to help

 

[Adam]

Ain't this thread something? I reckon it has generated more traffic than almost anything including bevel up versus down, the best way to sharpen and which saw do I need to make dovetails like Rob Cosman! :lol: :lol:

Very bizarre given very few people own this saw!

Adam

 

[Jake]

Tony, have a look at the parts diagram on the link in my post above, it seems rather different. There's a "solenoid" attached to the armature?

I agree re the gears not being obvious, they are there on the list and the diagram, but the way it is exploded makes it entirely unclear how what they do and where.

 

[Anonymous]

Jake

The link does not work, can you psot again as it tells me the session has timed out?

 

[Jake]

Right got it. The upper half of the diagram is the saw and gearbox assembly which sticks on the end of the motor assembly which is the bottom half of the drawing.

 

[johnelliott]

Ain't this thread something? I reckon it has generated more traffic than almost anything including bevel up versus down, the best way to sharpen and which saw do I need to make dovetails like Rob Cosman! :lol: :lol:

Agreed, I'm amazed, I expected maybe a page or two at the most

BTW, Chris, does your Festool saw have a gearbox? Mine certainly has, as do most other circular saws that I've seen. In fact, I don't remember ever seeing one that doesn't (doesn't mean there aren't any, of course)

John

 

[Anonymous]

If you are referring to the Festool saw, it most certainly does have a gearbox. How on earth would the drive get from the motor to the saw blade, even a glance at a picture will show that the motor and the blade are not in line
John

John, after seeing Adam's post, you are clearly right and there is a gearbox on the Festool - I could not make out a gearbox in the drawing and have never seen any Festool tools

 

[Alf]

Ain't this thread something? I reckon it has generated more traffic than almost anything including bevel up versus down, the best way to sharpen and which saw do I need to make dovetails like Rob Cosman! :lol: :lol:

Very bizarre given very few people own this saw!

Hmm, wonder how many people are reading it and going "yep, knew it wasn't worth getting a Festool"...? :wink: Which is daft of course, 'cos so far no-one has seems to have actually had any trouble with the cut at low speed as far as I can see. Interesting that this thread has exposed the noise factor though, which I don't recall ever having been mentioned before. Surprising given the general trend of more cost equalling less noise.

Cheers, Alf

 

[Jake]

Full link (which still works for me)
http://ekat.festool.de/EKAT/jsp/main.js ... deId=child

I can't work out how I got there now!

 

[Jake]

And it has turned into a german language version. Grrr.