High Buck Skill Saw

Ron Roase

Member
Messages
268
Location
Bloomington MN USA
This is only a new tool to me, it's been around for some time. I could never justify spending that kind of money for a skill saw. Even when it bears the name Festool! That is until one day when I had to make 3 podiums for the Knights of Columbus. I had 3 sheets of 4X8 1/2" plywood to work with. I have a friend that has one of those high buck skill saws and I borrowed it for this job. Big mistake.... after using that high buck skill saw, I was hooked! That is not a skill saw, it's a table saw in your hand. Sure I had read about it saw lots of stuff on You Tube, but after using it I had to go out and buy my own. What a great product it is. I will be looking at other Festool products in the future with a much different attitude.:thumb::D
 
Seems to be a common reaction to using Festool stuff. ;) I've not had the experience yet... probably a good thing, for the sake of my wallet. :D
 
+3

I don't have any problem getting good results with much less expensive stuff! And...I can get more stuff with the money I have left!!!
 
Never tried fesstool stuff either. Just seems way too expensive for what work I'd do with them. Great quality tools though.

I don't get why folks would pay 3 or 4 times the cost of a brand name battery drill for a fesstool drill.
 
Their drills, and their Rotax sanders are very good, too. I have the 12v drill kit, and the 5" Rotax sander, as well as the saw, and I wouldn't trade any of them for another brand!
 
I've tried a few items. Rotex 150 sander, RC-12 drill and the KAPEX. They're nice. They didn't follow me home but, they're nice.
 
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I've used the ts55 before and it didn't impress me. Every time you pulled the trigger it growled like something was in the gears. Could never get straight cuts either when two 55" rails were joined together no matter what we did to align the rails. Glad your happy with it.
 
I don't get why folks would pay 3 or 4 times the cost of a brand name battery drill for a fesstool drill.

And you wont until you use one than the light will go on and you will say. I don't get why someone would wast money on that cheap stuff that doesn't really do the job it was designed for?:thumb::rofl::rofl::rofl:
 
I've used the ts55 before and it didn't impress me. Every time you pulled the trigger it growled like something was in the gears. Could never get straight cuts either when two 55" rails were joined together no matter what we did to align the rails. Glad your happy with it.
Never had any problems getting a straight cut with two 55's joined together. You must have had a damaged set of rails.:dunno:
 
Never had any problems getting a straight cut with two 55's joined together. You must have had a damaged set of rails.:dunno:

Maybe a possibility but we had 4 55" rails and tried all possible configurations between them. The rails themselves cut straight but not when they were connected together.
 
Maybe a possibility but we had 4 55" rails and tried all possible configurations between them. The rails themselves cut straight but not when they were connected together.

Sorry Alan, but either the saw was damaged, or there was operator error :)

I have the TS55 and it works so very well, it cuts straighter than I can with my Tablesaw, but that is because I don't have the room for big outfeed and infeed tables for my tablesaw. Moving the saw along the rails it is dead easy to get cuts that are straight as can be.

The saw growls because of the way the motor works and the gearbox. Ever been in a real race car? The gears growl in that too because they are designed for strength, not for being quiet.

I totally understand why some guys don't like Festool, but I love the stuff, yes it is expensive and I cannot afford to get it all, but for me the investment in the TS55 is money well spent.

YMMV :wave:
 
Sorry Alan, but either the saw was damaged, or there was operator error :)

I have the TS55 and it works so very well, it cuts straighter than I can with my Tablesaw, but that is because I don't have the room for big outfeed and infeed tables for my tablesaw. Moving the saw along the rails it is dead easy to get cuts that are straight as can be.

The saw growls because of the way the motor works and the gearbox. Ever been in a real race car? The gears growl in that too because they are designed for strength, not for being quiet.

I totally understand why some guys don't like Festool, but I love the stuff, yes it is expensive and I cannot afford to get it all, but for me the investment in the TS55 is money well spent.

YMMV :wave:

Again it cuts straight if your only using one 55" rail but if you connect any two of the four rails he had the cuts would not be straight. The saw would glide on the rails with no effort but if you put the cut edges towards each other there would always be a gap in the middle when using two rails that were connected together. we could never figure out why. We even tried using one of the rails as a straight edge when we needed to join two rails for a longer cut.
 
The TS-75. Use it, love it, never ever go back! ;)

There's no point in having affection for any tool, but that one, well, it changed my whole approach to woodworking. Truly transformative.

Alan, I had the same problem at first. Then I realized I was trying to make the tool behave the way I expected it to behave. So I got out my now redundant 48" red line cutting guide, and used that for alignment as I tightened the set screws. Every once in a while I have to take out the connecting bars and clean out the tracks. If your rails weren't matching up, those two things may help...

Thanks,

Bill
 
I've been considering the grizzly for the price, but the makita is the one I was planning to get myself. Not sure I've convinced myself that I really "need" one yet though, have other things for the shop I'd like to get. The CNC has been sucking a lot of money out the wallet lately with new software and hardware.
 
I've got the 6" RO sander. Did it hurt when I bought it? Heck yes! Do I regret it? Heck no! I decided to get it when I was refinishing a desk and the one I had gave up the ghost. The second one I'd toasted, not on the desk but over the years.
 
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