Tracksaw - can't decide between Makita and Festool

[michael gates]

got the Makita and have had it since it came out, I have lots of Festools but have never looked back about buying the Makita over the Festool. Save the 100.00!!

[Carl Beckett]

wow - over 75 replies and > 2000 views

[Steven Wayne]

Well now you need a Festool vacuum because it interfaces to the saw so well, and their jig saw is a really nice unit and will work with the same track as the plunge saw, and their sanders have such good dust collection and you already have the vacuum, and that domino sure looks like a great little joint maker, and the MFT sure makes your cutting table look like crap, and....you need a good divorce attorney.

That's pretty much what happened for me. Both the TS55 & MFT as a slightly used package deal. Got to reading about Festool online and was interested in a Domino. Bought a Domino & CT Midi slightly used. Then, I really drank the green juice and bought a router and a sander.. I'm happy with the purchases and with the tools. The trick is to keep your eye out for used. I have found a few good deals.

[Dave Lehnert]

I use a regular Makita saw and a $20 straight edge from lowe's. I can make perfect, square cuts. So if money is tight it can be done for less.

[Victor Robinson]

I use a regular Makita saw and a $20 straight edge from lowe's. I can make perfect, square cuts. So if money is tight it can be done for less.

It's true, you could probably get 75% of the function for about 20% of the price. The unfortunate thing in my case was my circ saw is a piece of crap - basically, the base plate isn't square so riding against a straight-edge or homemade guide wasn't as easy as it should be. I fought with my circ saw for a long time trying to get such a system to work, but it never worked out right. I'm sure if I was starting with a better circ saw, say the Makita 5007, that route would have been more appealing. I wasn't about to buy another circ saw to fuss with though.

For the record, I went with the Festool and put it to work immediately on some cabinet projects. It's fantastic, but the best feature for me so far has been the dust collection and double zero clearance. Spectacular chip-free cuts on melamine.

[Jim Becker]

Although I don't use my Festool track-saw in the show much...simply because I have a slider in there...I use it for a lot of little things in there as well as during home improvement tasks. I like the Festool "system" and take advantage of it when it makes sense to do so. And I use my rails with other Festool machines, too, including both routers and even the jig saw once or thrice.

[john lawson]

I bought the Dewalt tracksaw and am very happy with it. (and the riving knife is a nice feature)

One of the reasons I bought the Dewalt is that their track works with my PC router, Woodcraft advised me I would have to have a festool router to use with their setup. I also bought the adjustable miter attachment and clamps.

I bought everything from Toolup, much cheaper than anyone else

[raymond Abel]

allo
Maybe I am a bit late but here are my comment.
The Festool TS55 is great.
I used it for precision cut with the track & hard work
Here is some videos I made with my TS55 & CT26.




Yes, it is a lot of maney but it worth it

Ray

[Mac McQuinn]

No doubt (3) very nice tools although unless those saws provide 100% dust pick-up, you're still going to be wearing a respirator when cutting/sizing sheet goods. I have a system in which upon arriving home w/ new sheet goods, I slide material onto saw horses directly from truck so I'm not torquing my back lifting the heavy stuff. I lay out tick marks for my layout, allowing 1/16" overage. I don a P100 equipped respirator and use a nice lightweight circular saw(Ridgid Fuego 6.5) and clamp-on guides to cut to these marks. Vacuum all surfaces and stack for cutting to precision specifications later on table saw in shop. Total investment is roughly $150.00 for saw and guide. Lack of back pain; priceless.

Mac

[Scott Parks]

I bought a TS55, CT22, RO150 and a drill in 2005. Couldn't be happier. I haven't turned on my cabinet saw since 2007. I haven't done much woodworking the last few years, but have done everything I needed to do with the TS55. Yesterday, I finished wiring my current garage for 220v so I can use my table saw to build some storage cabinets. Instead, I used the TS55. Maybe today, I'll fire up the table saw to do some rip cuts.

I love the Festool system. In 2007 I did a townhouse remodel. Instead of having a contractor saw, I was able to do everything on site with the TS55 and a compound miter saw. Dust collection is excellent if you lay your material down on a sheet of 1" or thicker sacrificial foam. Last night I roughed out 6 sheets of plywood in my garage, and barely had any stray sawdust to vacuum up, and no airborne dust.

I haven't been to SMC in a very long time. I came here today to look for storage ideas for my systainers, and came upon this thread. I drooled through the Festool catalog last night and came to the conclusion that I need to add a router and jigsaw to my collection. Two thumbs up for Festool!

[Victor Robinson]

I bought a TS55, CT22, RO150 and a drill in 2005. Couldn't be happier. I haven't turned on my cabinet saw since 2007. I haven't done much woodworking the last few years, but have done everything I needed to do with the TS55. Yesterday, I finished wiring my current garage for 220v so I can use my table saw to build some storage cabinets. Instead, I used the TS55. Maybe today, I'll fire up the table saw to do some rip cuts.I love the Festool system. In 2007 I did a townhouse remodel. Instead of having a contractor saw, I was able to do everything on site with the TS55 and a compound miter saw. Dust collection is excellent if you lay your material down on a sheet of 1" or thicker sacrificial foam. Last night I roughed out 6 sheets of plywood in my garage, and barely had any stray sawdust to vacuum up, and no airborne dust.I haven't been to SMC in a very long time. I came here today to look for storage ideas for my systainers, and came upon this thread. I drooled through the Festool catalog last night and came to the conclusion that I need to add a router and jigsaw to my collection. Two thumbs up for Festool!

Just saw a neat systainer storage workbench on the Festool owners group forum. I think the thread is called "My sysport workbench." I'm not sure I'll ever have enough systainers to justify something like that, but it might give you some ideas.