Scheppach versus Festool track saw

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scsmith42

New User
Scott Smith
Fellow NCWW member Joe Scharle recently acquired the Scheppach CS55 track saw, and he brought it by my shop yesterday in order to compare it to my Festool TS55.

At first glance, it appears that the Scheppach system is a clone of the Festool , with enough modifications to the design to prevent them from running afoul of copyright laws.

The tracks – although similar, are not compatible. The Scheppach track is about ¼” wider between the guide rail and the edge of the track, which means that a Festool saw will not work at all on the Scheppach track. Additionally, the spacing is different between the two guide ridges, preventing one track from being attached to the other.

Rail comparison 1.JPG Rail misalignment.JPG

The Scheppach saw will glide down the Festool track; however it overhangs the side of the track by ¼”, negating the benefits of the rubber strip that reduces tear-out. The size difference is depicted in the photo below.

Rail comparison 2.JPG


The photo below shows the Scheppach saw sitting on the Festool guide rail. Note the gap between the saw blade and the rubber anti-tear out strip.

Scheppach on Festool rail.JPG


From a size and handling perspective, the two saws are very similar. They both cut through a 6/4 white oak board w/o any problems; however there was a noticeable difference in the smoothness of the cut between the two saws. While neither saw left any kerf marks, The surface left by the Festool saw was noticeably smoother than the cut left by the Scheppach (which left some minute kerf marks on the cut).

[EDIT: I just inspected the cut left by the Scheppach more closely, and some minute kerf marks are visible. Each saw used the blade that was supplied with the saw].

The price of the Scheppach is fantastic though, and unless you need the utmost in quality on your cut it is a worthwhile track saw to consider.



Side by side 1.JPG Side by side 2.JPG
 
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Woodman2k

Greg Bender
Corporate Member
Scott,
Thanx for the timely and informative post. Looks like I need to check out what else is available. I need to be able to rip 96" sheets and do not want to deal with stacking up 4 rails and hoping they are in fact true. I'm needing to find out which manufacturers have the longer track available.
Greg
 

scsmith42

New User
Scott Smith
Greg, from the photo's it appears that the new Grizzly track saw is the same as the Sheppach. Thus, their 102" track *should* work.
 

Drew

Drew Goodson
User
An excellent tool review! I think you should make this a running feature on the site.
 
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agrieco

anthony
Corporate Member
Great review! Thanks for clarifying and the great pics!

FWIW, I've exchanged emails with both Scheppach and Grizzly re: availability of the track. Grizzly is going to have the 55" long sections in stock mid March. Scheppach has indicated that Grizzly will be the vendor in the US that they work with and that they are the ones to get the longer track from.

The guy who is selling the Scheppach branded saw+ 2x track pieces on Amazon/Ebay only has the shorter sections.

So, I think this is well known, but the Grizzly track saw = Scheppach track saw. http://www.grizzly.com/catalog/2013/Main/248

anthony
 

Skymaster

New User
Jack
just looking at Grizz catalog BE VERY CAREFUL!!!!!!!!!!! GRIZZ IS SCREWIN YA Saw 179.95 done Oh you want track, 49.95 for one 55", Oh g u need 2? another 49.95, drat u need to connect em ? 24.95 for that kit Sorry I am NOT a fan of Grizz, got a couple in shop but overall company is NOT on my favorite list IMHO
 

Bas

Recovering tool addict
Bas
Corporate Member
just looking at Grizz catalog BE VERY CAREFUL!!!!!!!!!!! GRIZZ IS SCREWIN YA Saw 179.95 done Oh you want track, 49.95 for one 55", Oh g u need 2? another 49.95, drat u need to connect em ? 24.95 for that kit Sorry I am NOT a fan of Grizz, got a couple in shop but overall company is NOT on my favorite list IMHO
Exactly how is this "screwin" you? Yes, you have to buy the track separately, but I think that's a plus. If you want the large 102" track, you're not stuck with a small guide rail you no longer need. And if you're not looking to connect two shorter tracks, why get the connector kit? The price of the saw and rails is less than half than what the Festool/ Makita/ DeWalt setup would cost.
 

scsmith42

New User
Scott Smith
how much difference so you think the blade difference made or did you use the same blade on both saws

I did not use the same blade on each saw; instead I used the blades that they came with. One interesting thing worth noting is that my TS55 has seen a LOT of use, and still has the original blade. Even with several hours of use on it, it still cut more smoothly than the Scheppach blade.

Having said that, the cut quality was acceptable from the Scheppach; if not glue line rip quality it was close to it.
 

wghatcher

Greg
Senior User
Thanks for the review. Looks like the kit from Amazon plus the 55 inch rail from Grizzly may be the way to go.
 

drw

Donn
Corporate Member
Scott and Joe, thanks for taking the time to do the side-by-side comparisons. Although I made my track-saw purchase several years ago, I am sure your post will prove helpful to a lot of folks.
 
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