Marcjwebb":1mot55k5 said:
That should have said , I get them cut into ......
The festoon kit with only 1m rail and table is over 1300. Whereas a top of the range used machine might only be 900 ish with a scoring blade ? I just haven't ever seen a track saw in action let alone what it's capable of.
For example. The longest I need to cut would be 6ft and can't see how that table can really cope with that size cut. Let along keep accuracy over the distance
I don't have an MFT, but the accuracy comes from the rail. I'd say, if you use a 3m rail (a 6ft cut is slightly too long for the standard rail), I'd expect you to get probably better than 0.1mm error over 6ft - it's as good as the extrusion the saw is running on. I assume you know that there is a rubber edging strip on the rail that is trimmed by the saw on the first pass, so it is *exactly* at the edge of the kerf. You mark up the cut, put the rail on the mark, and cut.
Obviously, you can't just dial-in a panel width like you can with a panel saw, but then there's nothing to reduce accuracy like a panel saw, either. It's simple and effective. I doubt anything but the most expensive panel saws would be as accurate over 3m.
As for cost-effectiveness, there are only three significant differences that I can see between the SP6000 (Makita) and the TS55 (Festool).
- The Festool has a riving knife, and optional splinter guards (consumables) to give an ultra clean cut on both sides of the blade. It's arguable that, if you score the surface using a scoring cut you will get an ultra-clean cut anyway (see Pete's blade recommendation).
- The Festool has a larger range of accessories to use with the rails (but as I said either will run on either brand of rails, with slight limitations). That said, the router carriage for the Makita track is less than 40 quid (fits loads of non-Makita routers too), and although Makita don't sell any (I think) you can easily fit sliding stops to their rail as there's a T-track at the back of it.
- The Makita has an anti-tip feature if you're bevel cutting. I've used this and I think it's actually really good.
As far as I can see otherwise they're extremely similar, apart from the huge price difference. I think the Makita build quality is every bit as good as the Festool, but admittedly I've never stripped my Makita down.