yafq (yet another festool question - hw flooring)

[David Figueroa]

I have read the festool threads with great interest; I am starting a fairly big santos mahogany flooring project. I would like to get rid of my table saw (storage considerations) but would like to know how much of a pain it would be to just have a festool plunge saw for this kind of thing, i.e doing several long rips, each the same width. I already know that if slight tapering is required, that of course is easier on the festool.

I am also concerned about tearout of the opposite side; This does not seem to bother anyone. Is there a trick to solving this problem?

Also does it make sense to buy one of the MFT's (which one)?

thank you in advance.

[Paul Berendsohn]

Tearout on the opposite side? That's perilously close to heresy among Festoolians, David ;) At the risk of promoting an unholy marriage of nearly biblical proportions, I hear Dino has successfully mounted a Festool saw on a Eureka EZSmart guide system, which has no tearout on either side...

Reminds me of the line in Ghostbusters... "What's next? Dogs and cats lying together?"

Regards,
Paul

[Brian Buckley]

David,

The Festool plunge saw will work well for ripping. Be sure to order the long guide rail with it. I think it is about 110". If you use a backer board (MDF or Plywood) you will get no splintering on the back side.
It is not as convenient as a table saw for ripping, but works very well.
I have the small MFT table. It works super for miter cuts and routing. It is a little bit of a pain to set up. This is probably due to the fact that I dont use it very often.
Be sure and save a lot of money. Once you buy the saw, you will realize how all of the other Festools are needed. I have quite a few of them (am embarrassed to say how many) They all exceed any other hand held power tools I have ever owned.

Brian

[Frank Pellow]

For ripping, get the Festool "Panther blade". The price for this blade for the ATF 55 saw is about $25. It does a really good job.

About tearout on the off-cut. I have not detected any but others have reported a small amount.

You ask what size table to get. The MFT 1080 seems to be a lot more popular than the MFT 800. For example there is a survery of tools owned on the Yahoo Festool Owners Gruop forum and, on it 23 people own the 1080, whereas only 4 own the 800.

[Frank Pellow]

David,

... Be sure to order the long guide rail with it. I think it is about 110". If you use a backer board (MDF or Plywood) you will get no splintering on the back side.
...
Brian

I wanted portability so did not order the longer rails. Rather, I have 3 of the 1400mm rails and connect tham together as needed. I have no problems at all at the connections.

[David Figueroa]

Festool saw on a Eureka EZSmart guide system...

You know I found the Sawmill forum, when I saw the EZSmart guide on Ebay and did a web search on it to find out what the heck it was.

A form of bait and switch, looking for Eureka info, and finding a Festool black hole that is sucking me in. (I am actually have full engines in reverse, to continue with the metaphor - but it seems futile).

Back to my post - I really dont want to keep my table saw, but I would if someone will tell me that I would be sorry if I get rid of it. At this point I can't have both for space/money reasons.

[Dan Stuewe]

David, I don't have much to add regarding Festools except that the guy who put the Santos Mahogany on our stairs used their system. My wife, father-in-law and I did the dining room/entry. The material we used was prefinished T&G so I wasn't too concerned about the quality of cut because all (well, at least 99%) cut edges are hidden by the baseboard. I used my chopsaw extensively as well as jig saw and table saw.

Also wanted to post that you've picked a gorgeous wood for your floor. We've been getting compliments for the year and a half since we installed ours. I have to admit that the quality of the install is pretty mediocre, but the beauty of the wood makes up for it! (you can see pictures of what we did on our web site)