unexpected use for ATF55

[Mark Blumer]

I bought my ATF55 with two rails because getting in and out of my basement shop is, at best, a chore and at worst, impossible with full sheets of manufactured boards. Yesterday I got another use from it. I bought a single 4/4, 12 foot x 10 inch rough sawn cherry plank. I had them cross-cut it to 8 foot at the yard and brought the wood home (I need 7 1/2 feet for this project).

When I laid the plank on my table saw and looked more carefully, I realized that it was crooked along both long edges. The variance from straight was a belly of about 1 1/4" in the middle of its length. Although I have a very fine table saw, I needed to establish a straight edge. I wanted to cut off a 4" x 8' strip that I could face plane and then thickness. In prior days, I would have had to make up a sled from scrap plywood and attach the plank to the plywood with the wood overhanging on the blade side and the plywood straight edge against the fence. This is a real pain with such a large, heavy piece of wood.

With my new Festool saw and guide, I just laid the rail on the convex side so that the ends of the plank were just barely exposed from the rubber edge of the rail and the curve of the wood extended beyond the rail. A single pass from the saw gave me a perfect (and finished) straight edge on the lumber. It was then an easy matter to flip the board over and register the straight edge on my table saw fence for further cuts. I love these Festools!

Mark Blumer (East Lansing, MI)

[Frank Pellow]

I have used my Festool circular saw and quide rails in a similar way. The versitility of this combination of tools is great, isn't it. :)

[Greg Mann]

The trick is to keep an open mind to the problem solving possibilites these tools provide. I am installing commercially purchased kitchen cabinets. In one application, I needed to align the face-frames of two drawer units with a wall unit and it was important to have perfectly aligned edges so that the fill between the assembled units and the wall did not have gaps. The various units deviated in width by 1/16 inch. I just assembled them for best fit and 'jointed' the uneven edges of the face-frames with the Festool GCSS. In another case, I needed a 36 inch fill strip that tapered from 9/16 at one end to 7/16 at the other to accommodate the out of plumb wall. I just marked each end, set the guiderail on the marks and used the offcut. I even put a back bevel on it at the same time to facilitate any hand fitting at the wall. Both jobs were a piece of cake and totally controllable. It is a little leap of faith to put a CS to work on 'finished cabinets' but nothing works as well. I feel like I have barely scratched the surface of what these tools wil do.


Greg

[Michael Ballent]

Well there is one less reason to own a jointer ;) Now for a quick and easy way to flatten the face of the board and I can get some space back in the shop :D

[Greg Mann]

Well there is one less reason to own a jointer ;) Now for a quick and easy way to flatten the face of the board and I can get some space back in the shop :D
Haven't figured out how to joint the faces yet, Michael. We'll keep you posted.

Greg

[Tom LaRussa]

I bought my ATF55
Okay, I'll bite.

What's an ATF55?

Motor oil?

Federal Law Enforcement Agency?

Off-road vehicle?

What?

[Frank Pellow]

Okay, I'll bite.

What's an ATF55?

Motor oil?

Federal Law Enforcement Agency?

Off-road vehicle?

What?
(as I said in my above post in this thread) It is a Festool circular saw.

I have noticed that many people just cite product numbers withoout the proper contextual information. I suggest that all of us should endevour not to make this oversight.