Anyone using the festool hk55 for cabinet making?

[ian_in_the_midlands]

I am looking to buy a track saw, mainly for sizing plywood sheets in my small workshop.
Amazingly a festool is in my price range (I never thought I would say that!) - the HK55 with the FS1400 guide rail.
I see it is aimed more at site framing work, but would this be my best choice in this price bracket?
I have seen it stated on here that the HK55 is not a plunge saw, but from videos I have watched, it appears that it is. Am I missing something?

From the reviews, it appears that the festool TS55 is probably the better saw, but it is probably more than I want to spend.
What would spending the extra money give me in terms of accuracy and quality of finish?
The other options would be the Makita or the Dewalt.


I plan a visit to Axminster tomorrow to compare them, but any thoughts and suggestions on what to look out for when comparing them would be appreciated.
Thanks.

 

[Alexam]

Axminster will give you an honest opinion on all the tools they sell. Festool are certainly very good indeed, but it may be overkill depending on what you intend to do in the future. A discussion should bring out the best result. The store at Nuneaton is very good so you should have a good visit.
Malcolm

 

[Roughcut]

I am looking to buy a track saw, mainly for sizing plywood sheets in my small workshop.
Amazingly a festool is in my price range (I never thought I would say that!) - the HK55 with the FS1400 guide rail.
I see it is aimed more at site framing work, but would this be my best choice in this price bracket?
I have seen it stated on here that the HK55 is not a plunge saw, but from videos I have watched, it appears that it is. Am I missing something?

From the reviews, it appears that the festool TS55 is probably the better saw, but it is probably more than I want to spend.
What would spending the extra money give me in terms of accuracy and quality of finish?
The other options would be the Makita or the Dewalt.


I plan a visit to Axminster tomorrow to compare them, but any thoughts and suggestions on what to look out for when comparing them would be appreciated.
Thanks.

I would recommend the Ts55 for your intended purpose.

 

[Nelsun]

I'd check out blade choices for the HK saw. I know the TS55 has a range of optons e.g. for ripping, high quality crosscutting and all manner of others. I'd guess the HK blades would be more geared towards construction tasks.

Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk

 

[Simou1]

Ian

The K in the HK bit is for Konstruktion in Festool speak and the saw is aimed fairly and squarely at site carpenters. It is a plunge saw and is very effective when the dedicated guide rail is fitted.

I don't have one, I bought the TS55 when it first came out, but a site chippy friend of mine bought one for rafter work and he is less than impressed at the capacity when cutting 45 degree mitres.

The TS55 is a cracking saw and would be ideal for the uses you describe plus there is a good range of different blades available to cover most eventualities.

If you are going to Axminster have a good look at the other saws with guide rails. All are good, most are cheaper than the Festool equivalent but the HK55, whilst a cheaper way into the slippery slope of Systainer Mountain, may not be the best choice.

 

[jw00d]

I have the HK55 and have been very impressed with it. I use it with the normal 1.4 rails rather than the clip-on guide. It comes with blade aimed for rougher use but I bought a 60T TS55 blade for cutting some oak panels to size for a chest of drawers and the cuts were accurate and splinter free.
It does do plunge cuts as well, again probably not the same way the TS55 does them but seems fine the few that I've had to make. Obviously the extraction won't be as good as the TS55 with the open blade guide but it's not terrible if you're just working in a garage/workshop. Overall I'd say try them both if you can but I think it's great for the money.

Jamie

 

[ian_in_the_midlands]

Some good advice - thanks.
Don't TS blades fit HK saws (but not the other way around?)
If it is down to quality of dust extraction then I can live with that - I will not be using it every day.
Is there a discernible difference in the accuracy and the quality of cut between the TS and HK saws?

No-one has vouched for Dewalt or Makita. Is the festool kit really that much better?
Makita has no splitter that puts me off it a bit, but he Dewalt looks good in the reviews.

 

[beech1948]

Dewalt, Makita and Fest7ool track saws are all pretty much the same in terms of accuracy and outcome of a cut. BUT

The BUT is simply that if you bvuy Festoolk you are buying into a level of systemisation and pre-thought out working that is lacking in other similar saws. So if in the future you will need other parts of the systematised approach then buy Festool.

If all you need is a track saw then buy a cheap one even cheaper than Dewalt and Makita and tune it up a little ancd your good to go.

What is interesting about Festool is that they give excellent performance but mainly using standard parts and bearings. Again its all in the well thought out systems approach.