Festool TS 75 to replace miter saw

[Joseph Ragsdale]

How well can a Festool TS 75 EQ along with a Festool Angle Unit replace a compound miter saw?

I'm considering this saw to replace my miter saw and circular saw to regain some space in my small shop.

I have no table saw and currently use either a bandsaw, circular saw, or compound miter saw. My current circular saw is a Porter Cable and is not at all accurate and best for rough cuts. The dust collection for any saw I own is poor to non existant, so I'm sure if I went with the TS 75 would be an upgrade in that department.

[Eric Haycraft]

I have a TS55, but no angle guide like what I think you are asking about.. I do have the MFT and that has an angle guide.
Anyway,
I think that you could make it work, but it certainly wouldn't be as simple or accurate as a miter saw. I say this for two reasons. First, if you aren't mitering flat stock, you need to prop up the guide and keep that flat. The blades are designed for cutting stock that is right up against the guide, so the cut quality would probably suffer a little for things like molding. Second, it doesn't look like a beefy accessory. I am sure you could get cuts close, but it would be hard to get them perfect. I don't like the angle guide on the now discontinued MFT/2, so I am personally not too hopeful that the smaller cousin is any better. You may want to wait till the first of next month. That is when they announce new products...they may start selling their SCMS and/or they may sell their table saw attachment for the TS series circular saws.

[Dan Clark]

I have the TS55, with guide rails, MFT, yadda, yadda. It's a great saw and is mondo-perfecto for breaking down sheet goods. The TS55, guide rail and MFT make a decent table saw for many things. Your bandsaw should be very good for ripping. But...

I would not replace your miter saw if it was a decent one. For fast, accurate miters, I think the miter saw is the best alternative.

FYI, while many people including me think the Festool guide system is excellent, the angle guide (http://www.festoolusa.com/ProductDetails.aspx?id=8&prodid=491588) is considered mediocre by most Festool owners. I'd suggest NOT getting it.

Regards,

Dan.

[Joseph Ragsdale]

Maybe I should have been more specific on my needs. I'm always looking for ways to use less tools or smarter tools to get the job done.

I use my miter saw for cross cutting at a 90 degree angle most of the time. I'll do a miter cut or a compound miter cut every now and then, but it mostly stays at 90. It is not a slider and has 8" capacity at 90 degrees and 6 1/2" at 45.

My circular saw is for rough cutting large pieces to a more reasonable size. After which I'll use my bandsaw and jointer.

I want to reclaim the space my miter saw takes up, so if I could use a circular saw for what I use a miter saw for, that would be great.

As for stock that is not flat, could a jig of some sort overcome this? Say for instance, I place an inverted box with a cutout for the piece to be cut and then place the guide rail on the box.

[Scott Rollins]

By the time you put a MFT and TS-55 saw set-up down it is probably bigger than your CMS. And $$$ more. But if you just want one....you could justify it. The salesman at woodcraft (he was new at the time) stopped me from buying a TS55 one day by saying one thing. My god that saw costs more than my Tablesaw!. It put the whole thing in perspective that I could nearly buy two Ridgid cast iron tablesaws ($550each) for the price of one TS55 and a MFT1080 with few accessories.

[Bruce Pennell]

If as you say you have very limited space the Festool system is great. It has the best dust collection out there ( sorry Fien people). Your miter cuts will be much slower than with your miter saw. Festool has some great resources. You might want to check out some of these;
festoolownersgroup.com/index.php?topic=1982.0
http://festoolownersgroup.com/index.php?topic=1982.0
festoolownersgroup.com/index.php?topic=1185.0http://festoolownersgroup.com/index.php?topic=1185.0
There is a lot of reading there. Hope it helps you make your mind up. Festool is great, they make high quality products and stand behind them. For a dealer Bob Marino's name comes up 8/10 times (it seems) his link is;www.bobmarinosbesttools.com/ (http://www.bobmarinosbesttools.com/)http://www.bobmarinosbesttools.com/
He will be able to answer most of your questions.
Festool is expensive, it is a very acurate portable, SAFE, system. I love it for breaking down sheet goods. Have made quite a few cabinets with my TS55 and CT22 vac. I do own a range of tool's from HF, powermatic, grizzly, rigid...ect. I love them all. If I had to have a small portable shop Festool would be my choice. Hope this helps Bruce
PS the biggest complaint I see is about the angle guide, a lot of people seem to make there own out of ply.

[Peter Quinn]

You can make 90 degree cuts with a hand saw and a $10 miter box jig. Doesn't get more simple than that. Have you ever tried to cut a 4" crown molding with a festool?

Compound miter is great for certain things that the festool is not designed to replicate, angle gauge or not. If you dont use the coumpound miter as a compound miter than it doesn't much matter. If you trim moldings regularly than the festool is a hassel.

[Paul Johnstone]

I don't have the Festool circular saw. I agree with the other posters, if you want it, and it doesn't impact the budget, go ahead and get it, and skip the rationalizing :)

However, I personally think it would be a huge PITA to use a circular saw to cut boards that are maybe 1" to 5" wide, even at 90 degrees.
You'd have to set up some kind of table like the MFT to support the cuts.
I guess you could use your workbench and put a piece of styrofoam under it.. But it would still be difficult..

If you are really set on doing it, I'd buy an extra rail from Festool and cut it down to maybe 2 feet or less, because I think the rail is something like 50 or 55".. I would want to use something that long to crosscut a 5" board.

I guess my main point is that you are going to need sawhorses set up or something similiar to an MFT in order to do this. Thus, I don't see a lot of space saved.

Now, if you had a tablesaw, you could get a Jessem Mast R Slide or build a sled .. that is a solution that can replace a miter saw.
One nice thing about the Jessem is that if you have your table saw set up for good dust collection, you can leverage that.. I have a drop to the cabinent and have a shark guard.. I backed off the Jessem fence so it's not close to the blade, so it doesn't interfere with the shark guard

One final idea.. For many years, I didn't have a permanent setup for my miter saw due to lack of space. I made something out of 2 x 4's which sat on the ground or sawhorses. It acted like a portable mitre saw stand, supporting long boards. When not in use, it leaned against the wall.
Or you could just buy a portable miter stand.

I thought about getting the festool on and off several times.
The thing that really bugged me was that they have their own propreitary blades. A good festool plywood blade is very expensive. In contrast, you can get a good plywood blade for a circular saw for $20 or less.

I'm surprised you can't get straight cuts with your porter cable circular saw. I have no problem. Are you just following a pencil line, or do you have a guide. My guide is just a cheap straight piece of aluminum. I get great results with it.

[jason lambert]

I have a Festool set up and also a miter saw. After using the festool set up I can't imangine life with out it. If you are just using it to replace a miter saw I aggree it is not really worth it. But the set up you will find yourself riping wider wood much more accuarly faster and a much cleaner cut than the band saw. Not to mention the set up is much safer both in terms of physical injury and dust extraction. Also the festool table in invaluable for clamping and assembly. Hope this helps a bit.

[Dave Falkenstein]

I agree with most of the comments so far. The Festool saw can certainly be used for accurate/square crosscuts, but that is done best using a MFT with the saw. The fence on the MFT sets up and stays square. The MFT fence does not have solid, positive detents for angles, so I seldom use mine for that purpose on the MFT. Marking lines on the MFT for frequently used angles works well for some people. The angle attachment for the guide rail is an accessory I have not used, since I have the MFT setup.

In my shop, I'd have a hard time doing without both the Festool saw and a miter saw - I use both tools all the time.

There is a lot of good information about Festool applications, including use of the guide rail and angle unit, here:

http://www.woodshopdemos.com/men-fes.htm

[Jesse Cloud]

Agree with the above. The TS55 isn't really designed to do miter saw work. Festool's miter saw, the KAPEX is not currently available in the US. UL certification process delays. Rumors are that it will come out this summer.

On the other hand, my table saw has become pretty much an assembly table since I got the TS55 and the MFT. As for sheet goods, you can do way more than just break them down with the TS55. I make final cuts on the TS55.

The MFT, TS55 and guiderails will fold up, break down, etc. to take very little storage when not in use.

[Bob Marino]

Joseph,

You have been given good advice here. The 75 does not replace a miter saw.

Jesse,

Regarding the Kapex, nah, UL issues were long over - it's getting ample supplies here for the USA market, that taking time. It twill be here mid-end of this summer.

Bob

[Chris Padilla]

Joseph,

You have been given good advice here. The 75 does not replace a miter saw.

Jesse,

Regarding the Kapex, nah, UL issues were long over - it's getting ample supplies here for the USA market, that taking time. It twill be here mid-end of this summer.

Bob

*drool* Kapex *drool* :D

[jason lambert]

wow it didn't take much to turn into a Kapex thread!

Based on your original question though I would do a 55 instead of a 75 though the 75 is big to handle.

[Joseph Ragsdale]

I recently looked at the new MFT3 due out in Spring of this year. It looks like it with the TS 55 or TS 75 could do miters pretty well.

[J. Z. Guest]

I am in the same boat as you Joseph.

My solution was to get a top quality jobsite table saw for all of my fine cutting needs. I got the Ridgid TS2400LS (http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?storeId=10051&langId=-1&catalogId=10053&productId=100090444) from Home Depot. It is just fantastic, and when I need the floor space for something else in my 10x10 shop, I just collapse the stand and roll it into the corner. The fence is great, the miter gauge is good, dust collection is good, and the electronically-controlled soft-start motor is great too. Price was about $450 and it can handle a wide variety of jobs.
http://www.homedepot.com/catalog/productImage/1bae0794-eaff-4eba-b65e-34063eb15461_400.jpg


Then, a Skilsaw HD5510 (http://www.amazon.com/Skil-HD5510-5-1-2-Inch-Circular/dp/B0000223FJ/ref=pd_bbs_sr_2?ie=UTF8&s=hi&qid=1204354361&sr=8-[B) for rough cutting and even fine cutting when used with an edge guide. Sorry I've been linking this so much, but compared to a full-size 7-1/4" circ saw, this thing is just brilliant.

I still have my miter saw, but am planning to get rid of it, as I like to use the Workmate it's currently on as outfeed support for the table saw.

[J. Z. Guest]

...the KAPEX is not currently available in the US. UL certification process delays. Rumors are that it will come out this summer.

As an engineer at UL in the power tools section, I can say that most of the delays we are blamed for are not our fault. We are the last stage before things go to market. Usually, we end up waiting on the client for samples & information that are, for whatever reason, hard to get. (prototypes)

Other times, products are "held up in UL certification" because their product doesn't meet our standards, and they are madly making last minute revisions. Of course, it is easier to point the finger of blame at UL than to admit that one's own company forgot to consider a certain aspect of safety when designing their tool.

I have the utmost respect for Festool for not cutting corners in their safety certification either. They proudly & largely display the UL mark on their tools. Sometimes, UL is slower, but there is usually a good reason for it. ;)