hockey_magnet said:
I was wondering if anyone who has the fine tooth blade can give me an idea as to how much better it performs in terms of splinter free cuts vs the universal blade that the kapex comes with
Chris
Chris, I own at total of 6 Kapex, 4 of which are set up in my large shop, so none are a long walk from where they are needed. The newest Kapex is kept with an UG for site work. The remaining Kapex is kept in reserve and normally stays in my condo.
All of my Kapex have a Universal blade available. I own enough Fine Tooth blades if needed on a given day all could have one installed. Normally one of the shop roving Kapex has a Universal blade and the other rover a Fine Tooth blade. The Kapex bolted to a long bench on the west wall is used primarily to cross-cut solid lumber (mostly hardwood) that will receive additional milling later. Nearly always this Kapex has a Universal blade installed.
The other Kapex on a long bench is against the east wall in the heart of our frame, door and drawer front department. So it is used on a wide variety of solid lumber and almost always is making the final cut on parts. The cabinet maker using this Kapex switches back and forth between the Universal and Fine Tooth blades, but also has sharp Solid Surface/Laminate as well as Aluminum/Plastic blades close to hand.
What we all have learned from TS55 experience is that some material besides the obvious responds best to those exotic blades. Sometimes what we have to do is try cutting scraps with the various blades until we find the one which works best on that day. Hence the 2 rovers have different blades. The nice thing about Kapex is changing blades is easy and rapid.
Please note that the Universal and Fine Tooth all use ATB shape teeth, and for a 260mm dia blade, 60 teeth is hardly a coarse blade. Sometimes all we need to do is speed up the Universal to improve the cut quality for a given application.
Our goal is to reduce to a minimum any post-cut refinement of a part. After some experience we learn which blade at what speed has served well in the past for a particular species of wood.
