Another track saw option

[Ian Westwood]

Okay, Ian, here is your chance.

I see this as my chance to tell you all a little bit about myself and what I'm about.

I have a day job and I really enjoy BFM stuff. I can make great noise now and to be honest I get off on it. I can't imagine this getting old.

Every now and again I build speakers for people and people can buy speaker stuff from me if they want to.

I often spend hours replying to emails trying to help people navigate the choppy DIY audio seas. Half of them turn out to be ass holes. Some turn into sales. Some turn into friends.

Speaker Essentials is a labor of love right now. Hasn't made much money at all. In fact it is a pain in the ass. But for now I'm still enjoying it.

Personally don't give a hoot about Festool. I probably won't even open an account to be honest. I don't care if you buy from me or amazon. Seriously.

The bottom line is this: Right now, I'm in it for the kicks. Simple as that. If I can help some fellow audio enthusiast do their thing then cool.

Otherwise.. Ehhhh whatever. The internet has plenty of choice.

I'm off to a desert this weekend to enjoy other peoples stuff. Geek out on their creations. Cut loose for a couple of days. Talk shit into the small hours. Back at my desk on Monday.

Tl;dr. I do OK in my day job. Speaker Essentials is just me, a website and a couple of shelves in my garage. It is a labor of love. I don't know shit about Festool stuff. I love helping people. I love everything BFM. I enjoy other peoples creativity. You can shop anywhere. I don't care. But it would be cool if you buy from me. Who knows, one day this might become my day job. Back Monday.

[67baja]

LOL You are quite the salesman! Haha! You sound a lot like me. I have never been a DJ or set up pro sound and probably never will, but I have otops on the top shelves of my garage and am still deciding what subs to mate with them. Of course I also have several ATs, a new TT, 2 THTs, TLAHS, a curved SLA, some SLA semi-pro's (currently my 39" tall computer speakers with an AT under the desk), somewhere in the neighborhood of 50 woofers (EDIT: make that 100 woofers) ready for a build, a couple dozen tweeters (EDIT: make that 100 tweeters), and a growing stash of crossover parts, and honestly not much free time to even tinker with them. It is all for the love of the game my man. Seriously.

Enjoy your weekend in the dez. If you find yourself in Vegas, pm me and I will have a cold one waiting and the stereo blasting. Of courst that goes to all you BFMers out there.

Edit: Forgot about the 8' tall line array projects and all the extra drivers those bring to the table.

[Ian Westwood]

I will have a cold one waiting and the stereo blasting.

I will hold you to that

Over and out <static>

[AntonZ]

What else does Festool make that would be good for speaker building?

I have been told their plunge routers are the bees knees to work with. Not from personal experience mind you. I cannot justify spending that much on a tool that I use a few teams per year. My plunge router is the cheapest and I will work it till it falls apart. If and when it does, I will take that as a sign that I should probably buy a better model.

We should all get together, make some noise and have a cold beer. Now that would be a good day out. I am sorry most of you are on the other side of the globe from me. Intercontinental flights for having a beer and talking noise and sawdust is a bit over the top. Although I have already traveled to Scotland once on a similar expedition. I thoroughly enjoyed that weekend

[biggerrigger]

Ian, I just noticed that your location was not filled out and it does not say anything about you being an authorized builder in your tag lines. This may help to bring some business your way if it were.

[biggerrigger]

Anton, The only problem with having a bunch of BFM'ers getting together sampling beers and making noise is we would never be able to come back to the same location due to the noise complaints. I can only imagine having 10-15 guys getting together with all of there gear piled in one big stack playing at war volume why we all stand back several hundred yards sipping a beer and commenting on how good it sounds.

[Ian Westwood]

This saw is unusable because the track is not flat. Disappointing.

[sine143]

Ian, I just noticed that your location was not filled out and it does not say anything about you being an authorized builder in your tag lines. This may help to bring some business your way if it were.

i believe he'd prefer if people went to his website and saw his products. getting info out any way you can is good, but getting it out in the location where people can actually pay you is better

[Ian Westwood]

Ian, I just noticed that your location was not filled out and it does not say anything about you being an authorized builder in your tag lines. This may help to bring some business your way if it were.

i believe he'd prefer if people went to his website and saw his products. getting info out any way you can is good, but getting it out in the location where people can actually pay you is better

Thanks guys.... just updated my info!

[Rick Lee]

Well,.... oh well.

[biggerrigger]

Wow that track looks like its had the UPS treatment.
Is the base of the saw bent as well? Its hard to tell looking at the screen.

[Ian Westwood]

Wow that track looks like its had the UPS treatment.
Is the base of the saw bent as well? Its hard to tell looking at the screen.

No, the base of the saw looks OK. The guide rail packaging was in perfect condition. I honestly think this is how it came from the factory as it is bowed across the width, rather than the length.

At first I thought there were parts missing (available in the optional accessory kit) to prevent the rocking.... but today I took a closer look after speaking to Grizzly and realized the track is FUBARed.

After pissing a load of time and expedited shipping $$$ up against the wall I'm going to send it back and chalk this one up to experience.

My Amazon Shopping cart currently has a load of Festool stuff sitting in it but I'm going to sleep on it before pushing the button tomorrow morning...

Still can't bring myself to spend $600 on a fracking shop vac though! That's a step too far right now.

[biggerrigger]

Just remember its just like picking drivers for you BFM cabs, Buy once Cry once. If its in the cards you will have a world class piece of equipment that will last you a very long time and give you nothing but the best performance every time you use it.
If its not in the cards buy the best you can and learn to use the equipment to the best of its ability's and you will have great results with practice.

[Ian Westwood]

Buy once Cry once.

Word.

[Ian Westwood]

So during my Festool research I discovered there is a new version of the TS55 being made available on May 1st.

According to the guy I spoke to it will have the same motor, but will have finer plunge depth adjustment, the cover will be closer to the blade which means you can saw closer to a wall and something else I forgot. I think it might have been a better window or something.

There is an outside chance that you may find the outgoing model discounted at some point in the not too distant future... but then again this is Festool we are talking about so I wouldn't hold your breath.

As a company they totally suck balls with respect to pricing and policy. $32 for 2 pieces of metal to join tracks, & sold separately / individually?? Difficult to justify that after spending $1200 on a setup. Waaaaaaaaa. OK I'll quit wining and bitching.

I hope the saw & etc are absolutely awesome. Should be with me tomorrow.