New Blades For TS(C)55

[jonny round boy]

I've just stumbled across this whilst looking for something else, and I don't remember reading about it on here so thought I'd post it.

It seems Festool have released some new blades for the TS55, but with a thinner kerf of 1.8mm. Presumably this is for better battery life with the TSC, but these would also work with the mains version.

There's an 18-tooth 'Standard' blade, 500458; a 32-tooth 'Fine' blade, 500459; and a 12-tooth 'Panther' blade, 500460.

All showing as being available from 1st April.

0.4mm doesn't sound like much, but it's roughly an 18% reduction from the existing 'standard' 2.2mm kerf, so should help significantly with battery life. I'm not sure if the new 'fine' blade with 32 teeth would give as good of a cut as the normal 48 teeth 'fine' blade, but I'm guessing that will also help with battery life.

Apologies if this has been posted before & I just missed it (which is entirely possible!).

 

[sancho57]

That's pretty cool having a thin kerf blade. That should make cutting a lot easier as well.
Only issue is you'll have to replace the splinter guard if you decide to go with these blades. Plus changing between the 1.8 and the 2.2 May be a issue as well

 

[neeleman]

The blades are meant for the yet to release new HKC 55.
Which is an 18V battery regular circular saw.

The thinner kerf of 1.8 has al to do with less power to remove the material.
Thus it makes sense with a battery powered saw.
Of course they will also suit the TS(C) 55 saw.
But then the splinter guard of your tracks will be tuned to the 1.8 kerf.
If this is a problem when you use the 2.2 blades you'll have to find out yourself.

Mafell has these blades already for years now
And in an AC powered saw it also makes sense.
Although they also do get dull more often.

 

[mouppe]

That's pretty cool having a thin kerf blade. That should make cutting a lot easier as well.
Only issue is you'll have to replace the splinter guard if you decide to go with these blades. Plus changing between the 1.8 and the 2.2 May be a issue as well

It may not affect the splinterguard because the difference in blade thickness is to the right of the guard, perhaps?

 

[neeleman]

That's a smart comment!
I think we are making it more difficult then it is?

 

[semenza]

That's pretty cool having a thin kerf blade. That should make cutting a lot easier as well.
Only issue is you'll have to replace the splinter guard if you decide to go with these blades. Plus changing between the 1.8 and the 2.2 May be a issue as well

It may not affect the splinterguard because the difference in blade thickness is to the right of the guard, perhaps?

  The difference would be split to the left and right unless the teeth are offset to one side of the plate .... which would be really weird and probably unworkable.

    I have seen the TSC55 in action with the regular TS55 blades ..... cutting and battery life didn't seem to be a problem. I can't say how long the battery lasted but it certainly wasn't anything along the lines of 2 - 3 eight foot cuts and then recharge.  But I can see that an extended battery life would be good to have for use on a standard type saw for framing or similar work.

Seth

 

[eddraper]

Tenryu is my blade of choice on my table saw.  They are wonderful blades - they're quiet and they just cut through stuff like butter.

When my Festool blades dull, I will be replacing them with Tenryu.

They have a number of Festool compatible blades.  Here's their lineup for the TS55 and TS75:

http://tenryu.com/ps.html

 

[Rick Christopherson]

  The difference would be split to the left and right unless the teeth are offset to one side of the plate .... which would be really weird and probably unworkable.

No, not exactly. The only applicable dimension is the offset from the blade plate to the outside of the teeth. If this dimension remains the same, then the blade will not impact the position of the splinter guard. However, because you don't want the blade plate too thin, it is likely that this dimension is slightly smaller with the thinner blades.

But actually, it isn't as big of a deal as many would make it. Having a slight gap between the blade and splinterguard is inevitable shortly after you originally cut your splinterguard. It doesn't have a significant impact on the cutting.

 

[semenza]

  That is essentially what I was going for. The idea that the difference in kerf might not (probably not) work out to be all to the right of the blade. As figured from just the specified difference in kerf size from 2.2mm to 1.8mm.

Seth