Festool Metal-Cutting Blades Discontinued (US)

[Shane Holland]

I have just added two new steel cutting blades, for the TS 55 and TS 75 to our website. These are brand new product offerings from this manufacturer, so it may be a short time before we have them in stock.

 

[Cheese]

Hey [member=48572]Shane Holland[/member], just a heads-up, I went to your website to look at the new saw blades and noticed under the Technical Specs menu, all 5 of the saw blades were listed at 210mm.  [eek]
Also the part numbers for the first 3 blades are the same at MD210-725, and the tooth counts for the Kapex blade and the TS 55 blade are different in the Features menu than the Technical Specs menu. Also the bore for the TS 55 aluminum & steel blade is listed as 30mm.

Also, just curious if Amana has issued any max material thickness for these blades? Have you or anyone at The Nut tried these blades in a saw?

 

[Shane Holland]

[member=44099]Cheese[/member], thanks for the heads up on the issue under the specs. I've made the corrections.

We were just told about these new steel cutting blades this morning. We do not have them in stock yet and we were not given any information about maximum cut capacity, but I can check. I'll post back when I find something out for you.

 

[Cheese]

Ya Shane I'm curious about the depth limitations on both the aluminum and steel blades. Thanks...

 

[Shane Holland]

[member=44099]Cheese[/member], according to the manufacturer, you can cut up to 1/4" thing gauge aluminum with the aluminum blade and up to 1/8" steel with the steel blade. Thanks.

 

[TylerC]

[member=57769]TylerC[/member] curious to the reasoning ... I would have thought they'd have been modestly popular for aluminium profiles. Was it a UL issue with the spark arrestor that precipitated this? If so, that'd probably remove any chance of the PF1200 getting "stateside".

The reason is related to the spark arrestor. I'll have a more thorough for you all tomorrow.

It took me a little longer than expected to get an official answer.

Because we no longer offer the spark trap as an attachment to our dust extractors, we are unable to provide a dust extraction system that is suitable for connecting to these saws when cutting metal.

 

[promark747]

[member=57769]TylerC[/member] curious to the reasoning ... I would have thought they'd have been modestly popular for aluminium profiles. Was it a UL issue with the spark arrestor that precipitated this? If so, that'd probably remove any chance of the PF1200 getting "stateside".

The reason is related to the spark arrestor. I'll have a more thorough for you all tomorrow.

It took me a little longer than expected to get an official answer.

Because we no longer offer the spark trap as an attachment to our dust extractors, we are unable to provide a dust extraction system that is suitable for connecting to these saws when cutting metal.

Tyler,

I guess the question for current owners is whether Festool recommends NOT using the spark trap (and metal cutting blades), or whether the decision to discontinue the spark trap (and metal cutting blades) was purely an economic one.

 

[worldburger]

[member=44099]Cheese[/member], according to the manufacturer, you can cut up to 1/4" thing gauge aluminum with the aluminum blade and up to 1/8" steel with the steel blade. Thanks.

Shane, is there any option for steel cutting on the Kapex?

 

[Cheese]

Shane, is there any option for steel cutting on the Kapex?

Festool never offered a steel cutting blade for the Kapex so I’d guess that Amana probably won’t either, however we’ll let [member=48572]Shane Holland[/member] weigh in on this one.

 

[Bob D.]

"Because we no longer offer the spark trap as an attachment to our
dust extractors, we are unable to provide a dust extraction system
that is suitable for connecting to these saws when cutting metal."

Maybe I'm reading too much into this, but does this mean that FT
does not condone cutting metal with any of these saws regardless
of the blade manufacturer and/or chip collection system used?

Will the manuals for these saws be revised to state that cutting metal
is not approved and could void warranty?

 

[Naildrivingman]

"Because we no longer offer the spark trap as an attachment to our
dust extractors, we are unable to provide a dust extraction system
that is suitable for connecting to these saws when cutting metal."

Maybe I'm reading too much into this, but does this mean that FT
does not condone cutting metal with any of these saws regardless
of the blade manufacturer and/or chip collection system used?

Will the manuals for these saws be revised to state that cutting metal
is not approved and could void warranty?

I was told or read that the supplemental manuals are for US customers. I don't know the reason.  If one carefully compares the standard manual and the supplemental, one will note it is not what the supplemental states that is different from the main manual, but rather what the supplemental manual doesn't state that is different from the main manual.

For example, the TS series main manual states that cementitious materials and others may be cut with the tool, but in the supplemental manual, the language referring to cementitious materials is omitted while the rest from the main manual remains as written.  Basically, the language does not state that we can or cannot cut cementitious materials with the TS.

Does this omission upset me?  NO!  Why?  Because there are tools that are dedicated to certain tasks (like cutting metal) and I choose to match the tool to the job.  Sometimes I wonder if FT didn't grow too fast and make mistakes in the attempt to capture a larger market share by developing tools that ostensibly had multiple applications only to find they did not.

 

[Cheese]

I was told or read that the supplemental manuals are for US customers. I don't know the reason.  If one carefully compares the standard manual and the supplemental, one will note it is not what the supplemental states that is different from the main manual, but rather what the supplemental manual doesn't state that is different from the main manual.

Just conjecture on my part, but I believe the supplemental manuals are all authored by Rick Christopherson based in the US. As such, I am sure he was given general marching orders from Festool corporate on what to include and what not to include. This could explain the discrepancies noted in the manuals.

Also note that Festool still markets and sells spark traps, aluminum cutting blades, steel cutting blades and PCD blades in other countries. Thus the reason why cutting these different materials is mentioned in the international manual.

I just chalk it up to some quirky Festool USA afraid of being sued by those ambulance chasing US lawyers thing.

 

[Shane Holland]

[member=44099]Cheese[/member], according to the manufacturer, you can cut up to 1/4" thing gauge aluminum with the aluminum blade and up to 1/8" steel with the steel blade. Thanks.

Shane, is there any option for steel cutting on the Kapex?

[member=22929]worldburger[/member], no steel blade for the Kapex.

 

[Michael Kellough]

Amana steel cutting blades on sale at US Tool and Fastener.

They also have sale prices on a bunch of Tenryu blades.

Mid Dec. 2019

 

[Shane Holland]

Our prices are the same or lower for Amana blades.  Plus, free shipping on our Festool site. [big grin]

 

[Michael Kellough]

Shane, no disrespect intended by posting in this thread.
I searched for a relevant thread to add to rather than start another and didn’t realize that you started this one.