Making cutting boards with Festool TS55 EBQ ?

[Niels J. Larsen]

I've read Mike Schwing's article about making cutting boards (http://www.sawmillcreek.org/articles/2/).

In his article he relies heavily on a table saw.
Unfortunately I don't have a table saw - what I do have is the Festool TS 55 EQB plunge saw

Now to my question: Will I be able to use this with success and if so - any tips as to how I should setup the guide rail to ensure that the various strips of wood have the same width along the entire length of each strip ?

Cheers,

Niels
(new member from Denmark and a Festool junkie)

[Christian Aufreiter]

Hi Niels,

let me be the first one to welcome you on SMC.
Do you own a MFT? It should be possible to cut those pieces on it. Otherwise I'd suggest to build a simple temporary cutting table. Use a piece of MDF (at least 18 mm thick) and attach two pieces of wood which should serve as some kind of fence for the guide rail. Aligning the rail with those block it shoud have exactly 90° with the MDF's edge. Next step would be to install a fence parallel to the guide rail. I'd simply clamp a piece of ply to the MDF board or use a large metal square for that job.

Hope my description is clear enough,

Regards,

Christian

[JayStPeter]

Niels,

Welcome. I hate to refer a new member to another forum, but there has been a thread on using the Festool saws to cut thin strips lately at the Festool Owners Group (go to yahoo.com, click groups, and search on Festool to get there).

Most of us here are in the US, so we don't have the TS 55 yet. But, it seems to be an improved version of the ATF, so the same techniques should apply.

As an abbreviated version, most of the discussion focuses on building jigs for the MFT to rip thin strips. After reading and trying to understand the jigs shown, I've determined I'll stick to my table saw . But, there certainly seems to be ways to do what you want to do. You'll just have to get a little creative .

Jay

[Greg Mann]

Welcome, Niels.

There are other Festool junkies around here as well. Do you have an MFT? If so, you can set up several stops on the offcut side and just keep pushing your stock against them and use the offcut strips. There have been many posts on the Yahoo Festool Owners Group relative to this very subject. You might want to check that out as well. Many SMCers post there.

I think you will enjoy this forum. There are some very knowledgable people here, and it is always nice to get imput from acrss the pond too.

Greg

[Niels J. Larsen]

Hi everyone and thanks for the welcome and tips!

Unfortunately I don't have a MFT - yet
I will probably make some kind of jig or guide to do this - I'll see what I can find on Yahoo Groups on this subject.

Cheers,
Niels