Makita SP6000 saw and track.

[craigmarshall]

Hi,

I bought the new makita saw and track from the show the other day, and sadly, they're being returned. It may just be co-incidence that I have both a dodgy saw and a dodgy guide rail, who knows?

The track has a 2-3mm curve in it, from left to right, not up and down (which wouldn't matter), and the saw has a 2mm high spot running across the middle of the base, so it rocks backwards and forward like a bloody rocking horse! This is both on a very flat felder planer table and the track itself

It's sad and confusing, because I bought into their cordless li-on range last year: 3 drills and a torch and batteries, and I'm over the moon with the stuff - first class. I'm sending the saw and track back and am getting a refund (don't fancy trying another). I'll save the extra and buy a festool.

The major reason I'm posting this is because I recommended the stuff to some-one else last week! (Shameful! ). It really does look like a good saw - like a smarter, newer version of the festool one. Gah - I just hope they get the QA department sorted out.

Craig

[dom]

Bad luck Craig.
I'm not a lover of Makita as I too have had bad experiences with them, yet many people love 'em.

[wizer]

not keen on Makita either...

[craigmarshall]

Yes - well I don't know what to think about them now! I have the drills as I mentioned and I also have their mains jigsaw, which I am also extremely happy with. I hope it's just a bad individual saw or maybe just a bad batch of saws.

Craig

[gazza]

Makita........ No thanks.
Arnt what they used to be
What do you need it for Craig ?
You could always make a rail for any old circ saw out of a few strips of ply or mdf.
Im sure Mailee will show you a pic of his rail if you ask nicely
Cheers,
Gazza.

[craigmarshall]

gazza said:

Makita........ No thanks.
Arnt what they used to be

I'm starting to realise the general opinion of Makita!!

What do you need it for Craig ?

For the most part, cutting up sheet goods quickly and accurately.

You could always make a rail for any old circ saw out of a few strips of ply or mdf.

I have already made one to go with my bosses trim saw! He has an 18v makita trim saw and the home made track, and he also has a festool ts55 and a full complement of tracks. I know which is easier and more convenient! Yes - it's a pricy tool and you can get by on the cheap if necessary, but I know it'll be worth having the real deal. I bought the makita because I genuinely thought it would be just as good. (Haven't they had about 10 years to copy the design by now?)

Cheers,
Craig

[dom]

Craig before you buy the t55 have a look at the larger model.
I haven't tried or touched one yet, but on occasion I feel the T55 can be underpowered.
It's fine with sheet material, but there have been times when using it at 2" depth of cut it seemed to struggle.
I reiterate I don't know how much the T75 weighs and it may be a little unwieldy, actually I'm not sure it even works on the rails, but suspect it does.

[craigmarshall]

dom said:

Craig before you buy the t55 have a look at the larger model.
I haven't tried or touched one yet, but on occasion I feel the T55 can be underpowered.

That's a very good point. There have been occasions where the 55 has not exactly choked, but you can't feed it quite as fast as you want to.

It's fine with sheet material, but there have been times when using it at 2" depth of cut it seemed to struggle.
I reiterate I don't know how much the T75 weighs and it may be a little unwieldy, actually I'm not sure it even works on the rails, but suspect it does.

That's what I'd be worried about the extra size and weight - I have seen one, but it did look big! Most of what I'd be cutting would be under 2 inch, but occasionally the full amount is necessary (and sometimes more, and you have to try and come from both sides and line things up!).

I presume as the TS55 cuts 55mm, the T75 would cut 75mm. More than powerful enough for two inch.

I've heard reports from someone with a 110v TS55 that uses it through the festool hoover that it is badly underpowered. I don't know if it's a problem with just his unit, the hoover current draw, the differing voltage or if he's just trying to work it too hard , but it's interesting. My bosses 55 is really good 99% of the time though.

Craig

[dom]

I always use mine with the hoover, that was one of it's selling points for me, as a lot of my work is in customers houses.
If it's raining you need to work indoors and the dust collection is very good, unless you're trimming less than blade width.
I'll try something heavy without the vacuum tomorrow.

[engineerone]

craig, take a serious look at the mafell ksp 400, with the right angle attachment and its rail.

i have the original ksp with the flexi track and the saw itself is a really good saw. not always happy with the flexi track, but the solid one is decent, and i think the cross cut attachment is better than that used by festo.

paul

[paulchapman]

If you want guide rails and big depth of cut, the Mafell range might be worth looking at. They do saws with depth of cut that ranges from 40mm to 185mm and they all work with guide rails www.nmauk.com/mafell/mafell.html

I've never used one but they look good.

Cheers

Paul

[engineerone]

i would certainly look at the ksp 65 and 85. the good thing with mafell is their riving knife and the flat base.

paul

[Keith]

Dom what blade are you using to cut 2" timber?

I had the opportunity to try a load of blades with the TS55 and for cutting timber the Freud blades couldn't be beat.

[dom]

Hi Keith, I'm using the blades supplied by Festool, not sure of the number, but will check today.

[nickw]

I followed Keith's recommendation about the Freud blade (see Keith, someone was paying attention) and haven't regretted it.

[cuttingsolutions]

nickw said:

I followed Keith's recommendation about the Freud blade (see Keith, someone was paying attention) and haven't regretted it.

I can see that I will have to look at competing with the Freud marketing strategy...good blades but there are others

[dom]

cuttingsolutions said:

nickw said:

I followed Keith's recommendation about the Freud blade (see Keith, someone was paying attention) and haven't regretted it.

I can see that I will have to look at competing with the Freud marketing strategy...good blades but there are others

f'rinstance ?

[cuttingsolutions]

dom said:

cuttingsolutions said:

I can see that I will have to look at competing with the Freud marketing strategy...good blades but there are others

f'rinstance ?

[ftp]www.cutting-solutions.co.uk[/ftp]

[craigmarshall]

Well - I have my refund now. I'm still likely to go for the TS55, but am considering the TS75. I need to have another look at the big one to see if they're too unweildy for continuous use with one hand (!) like we do with its little brother.

I don't think I'll be convinced to be an early adopter for the dewalt (had that trouble with the makita).

The mafell are the only ones that don't see fit to use the "standard" festool track, the other two competitors do... My boss has all the tracks, so it'd be a pain to have to buy several mafell tracks too. Plus they've only half migrated their range over to the new style pivot where the centre of axis is actually at the cut line at the bottom of the track (like festool, dewalt and makita) rather than a few mil up and in. i.e. you can only do 90 and 45 degrees on their tracks, and even then you have to move the saw over one notch. If you want to do anything else, e.g. 22.5 degrees, you have to eyeball it..

Craig

Edit: paul (engineerone), you are definitely right about the cross cutting. For some uses, it's almost a replacement for a mitre saw. The festool angle guide thingy doesn't hold quite tight enough. You feel like you're going to break it doing it up tight enough to stay square.

[gazza]

craigmarshall said:

I've heard reports from someone with a 110v TS55 that uses it through the festool hoover that it is badly underpowered. I don't know if it's a problem with just his unit, the hoover current draw, the differing voltage or if he's just trying to work it too hard , but it's interesting.
Craig

Very interesting Craig !!
As far as im concerned 110volt isnt any were near as powerfull as 240volt, but it is illegal to use 240volt on site.
Perhaps it has something to do with the different voltage (not meant as a joke) but you would think that 110volt would be set up internally to have the same torque. Perhaps one of our resident electrical experts could shed some light on the matter (eh Bob)
Cheers,
Gazza.

[craigmarshall]

gazza said:

...but you would think that 110volt would be set up internally to have the same torque...

As far as I remember, you can get the same amount of power from 110v, despite it being half the voltage. A 1200w motor is 1200 watts regardless of the voltage it comes from. If you are getting 1200w out of a 240v motor, you are drawing 5 amps (1200/240). With 110v, you can still get the same power, but it's nearly 11 amps (1200/110).

I think as far as the motor itself is concerned, you'd probably get around half the number of windings inside a 110v motor. And the windings would be thicker to handle the extra current (heat).

In short - I don't think there should be any reason the 110v stuff should be any less powerful, but maybe those big yellow boxes are limiting in some way, after all?

I know my boss and I only use 240v, but I think that's okay, because we do only about half of our work outside of the workshop, and of that, 99% of that is in people's homes, not on a construction site.

What is the actual law about this? How do you define someone's home vs. a construction site? Does it have to be habitable before the 110v rule goes away or something like that?

Craig

PS: Take the above electrical info. with a pinch of salt, I may well have it all back to front ;D

[Scrit]

craigmarshall said:

The Mafell are the only ones that don't see fit to use the "standard" Festool track, the other two competitors do...

There is no standard, I'm afraid. The earlier deWalt tracks are not compatible with Festool, neither is my Bosch track. I've been told that the Metabio track is similarly incompatible, although that one I can't say from actual experience.....

Scrit