Rich Engelhardt
05-21-2018, 9:10 AM
The thing rocks!!!
The Makita track is a whole lot "stickier" than any of the three Festool tracks I have for my TS 55EQ. I found using the Festool clamps not only unnecessary, but, they were a bit on the detrimental side. I was cutting down a sheet of 4x8 5mm underlayment & the clamps made it bow slightly.
W/out the clamps, the track laid nice and flat & acted like it was glued in place.
I love to ability to use this tool away from the shop/job site!
I drove to Home Depot with my 2017 Rav4, a couple of 4' 2x4's, a pair of sawhorses & my shop made portable flat surface (a 3'x5' legless table). All I really needed though were the 2 4' 2x4's.
I stuck the 2x4's under the 5mm sheet to allow some clearance for the blade & to help support the track, and marked out the exact dimensions of the pieces I needed to cut.
I proceeded to cut out - to exact size - - I mean exact, down to the smallest 32nd of an inch exact - right there in the parking lot of Home Depot.
When all the pieces had been cut, there was no problem at all in involved in hauling the 5mm sheet back to the job site.
I used one set of batteries - fully charged about three months ago - to make about 50 or so running foot of cuts & still have a lot of charge left.
There's only one downside & in my book, it's a pretty large one - - the Makita has no riving knife.
My Festool TS55EQ does have one.
More than once, that riving knife has allowed me to continue cutting a sheet of plywood that would have otherwise caused a circular saw to bind up solid.
With that in mind, I'm not so sure I can replace the Festool with the Makita right at this point.
maybe in the future if/when I no longer have to cut anything other than MDF, cabinet grade plywood,,,etc,,stuff that's not that prone to warping - like CDX and other "rough" plywood.
While we're on the subject of cordless & batteries.....
About the only other real drawback is my 18V cordless drill is a newer DeWalt LiIon - I picked it up about 8/9 months ago.
Aside from the track saw, I don't have a use for anything else battery operated from Makita.
Bottom line here is - the Makita is an exceptionally good value - compared to the Festool. I'm tickled with it.
Once I've made more critical cuts - - -I have a couple of kitchen cabinet boxes I have to make - I'll have a much better idea of how accurate the Makita is and how well it leaves a nice clean tear-out free cut.
Oh yeah - I almost for got the single most important point...
My assistant in Home Depot parking lot helping me with all the cutting - - also known as - my wife ;) - - was super impressed with the entire operation of cutting the pieces to exact size, at the source,transporting them in a passenger vehicle (instead of a truck or van) and then just taking them in the house and sticking them in place. She had an ear to ear grin!<<<--that alone was worth the price of the Makita!
The Makita track is a whole lot "stickier" than any of the three Festool tracks I have for my TS 55EQ. I found using the Festool clamps not only unnecessary, but, they were a bit on the detrimental side. I was cutting down a sheet of 4x8 5mm underlayment & the clamps made it bow slightly.
W/out the clamps, the track laid nice and flat & acted like it was glued in place.
I love to ability to use this tool away from the shop/job site!
I drove to Home Depot with my 2017 Rav4, a couple of 4' 2x4's, a pair of sawhorses & my shop made portable flat surface (a 3'x5' legless table). All I really needed though were the 2 4' 2x4's.
I stuck the 2x4's under the 5mm sheet to allow some clearance for the blade & to help support the track, and marked out the exact dimensions of the pieces I needed to cut.
I proceeded to cut out - to exact size - - I mean exact, down to the smallest 32nd of an inch exact - right there in the parking lot of Home Depot.
When all the pieces had been cut, there was no problem at all in involved in hauling the 5mm sheet back to the job site.
I used one set of batteries - fully charged about three months ago - to make about 50 or so running foot of cuts & still have a lot of charge left.
There's only one downside & in my book, it's a pretty large one - - the Makita has no riving knife.
My Festool TS55EQ does have one.
More than once, that riving knife has allowed me to continue cutting a sheet of plywood that would have otherwise caused a circular saw to bind up solid.
With that in mind, I'm not so sure I can replace the Festool with the Makita right at this point.
maybe in the future if/when I no longer have to cut anything other than MDF, cabinet grade plywood,,,etc,,stuff that's not that prone to warping - like CDX and other "rough" plywood.
While we're on the subject of cordless & batteries.....
About the only other real drawback is my 18V cordless drill is a newer DeWalt LiIon - I picked it up about 8/9 months ago.
Aside from the track saw, I don't have a use for anything else battery operated from Makita.
Bottom line here is - the Makita is an exceptionally good value - compared to the Festool. I'm tickled with it.
Once I've made more critical cuts - - -I have a couple of kitchen cabinet boxes I have to make - I'll have a much better idea of how accurate the Makita is and how well it leaves a nice clean tear-out free cut.
Oh yeah - I almost for got the single most important point...
My assistant in Home Depot parking lot helping me with all the cutting - - also known as - my wife ;) - - was super impressed with the entire operation of cutting the pieces to exact size, at the source,transporting them in a passenger vehicle (instead of a truck or van) and then just taking them in the house and sticking them in place. She had an ear to ear grin!<<<--that alone was worth the price of the Makita!