Professional Builder’s Tibby Singh reviews the Festool Cordless Table Saw CSC SYS 50.
A power tool manufacturer with the pedigree of Festool needs no introduction, and the launch of the world’s first cordless digital portable table saw follows in that fine tradition.
You may wonder why you need a table saw when you can use a plunge saw or chop saw. I use the plunge saw the majority of times when it comes to ripping and the chop saw for any cross cutting. However, when you need to cut a 45-degree angle on a thin strip, this can be fiddly and dangerous with a plunge saw and, on the other hand, the chop saw is limited for width cuts. This is where the Festool Cordless Table Saw CSC SYS 50 will solve all your problems – and it has some amazing features that are fit for our digital world.
Get Set!
The tool is very compact, comes in a Systainer for easy transport and can be set up within minutes. There is an option to also have the UG underframe, which is perfect for transporting the saw and doubles up as a work surface. As a cordless machine it runs off two 18V 5Ah or 4Ah batteries and, with a speed of 6,800rpm, it will match the power of a corded table saw. The digital operation makes it super quick and completely effortless to set up any angle from -2 to 47 degree and there’s a cutting depth of 48mm. It can be adjusted to a tenth of a degree and millimeter, which makes the accuracy and precision incredible. In addition, the beauty of this machine is – when setting the angle – it adjusts the height automatically according to the thickness of the material, so there’s no need to do any measuring or eyeing up.
This is a very versatile solution which allows you to do parallel cuts of up to 280mm and crosscut widths of up to 450mm. All the accessories sit snuggly in to the Systainer, including the parallel side fence, angle stop, chip collection sack and a couple of riving knives for cross/rip cuts and trench/rebates.
Everything slides and locks into place with ease and you don’t have to look for the locking mechanisms as they are all highlighted in the Festool green. The angle stop helps to do angles from –70 and +70 degrees with increments at the most common angles. The bed smoothly slides for parallel and angle cuts, which is judder free, thanks to the ball bearings.
When you think it couldn’t get any better, it does, because it also allows you to save four blade positions for convenience when cutting the same materials regularly, which obviously saves having to set them each time. I have never seen such fine engineering on a tool but if anyone can, it’s Festool. You get what you pay for, and with the Festool CSC SYS 50 Cordless Table Saw you have workshop precision on site, which is the epitome of the best of both worlds.
For further information on the Festool CSC SYS 50 Cordless Table Saw visit The revolution in table saws (festool.com).
