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Festool

Tooling up with Festool

It’s nice to have a moment to write a blog post, it’s been way too long.
I won’t bore you with the details, but the house renovation I’ve been working on has taken much longer than I thought it would, mainly because I get there only for one or two days in the week.
I’m finally onto some joinery however, having finished with all the ‘wet trades’ long ago. The electrician had a final visit last week and from this Monday, the plumbing will all be done with too.
I’ve turned my attention to some Shaker-style doors I’ve been meaning to make for a long while for the bedroom cupboards.
As I’m trying to finish as fast as I can now, I figured I may as well invest in some Festool power tools. I bought the TS55 track saw from a friend a while back and this week added a Domino DF500.
If you don’t know the Domino, it’s a nice tool for cutting mortises which Festool’s own ‘Dominos’ fit into. It’s basically a fast way of making a loose tenon. The machine works very well and I had the doors made in no time.
Festool Domino 1
Festool Domino 2
Festool Domino x
Festool Domino 3
Festool Domino 4
If I did have a problem, it’s with the saw. The TS55 seems to be holding back by 1-2 degrees when it should be full open at 90 degrees. It’s annoying as it means when you crosscut for a Domino joint, the joint has a tiny gap when you Domino it. Then when you join and glue, the pressure from your clamps pushes the joint out of shape.
Festool TS55 problem
If anyone has details about how I can fix this saw issue, can you please let me know?
I have already fiddled with the two silver adjustment screws, and I thought I had pulled the base plate in enough to make it perpendicular to the blade. But when I used the saw again today, same problem, the cuts weren’t straight.
The pic below is how the blade looks when the saw is fully open. (I can’t hear a click or anything else to suggest I should move the saw back a degree or so, for me, it’s useless if it doesn’t click to exactly 90 degrees.