Ripping blade for TS 55 R

[kristosig]

Hi!

I recently bought a TS 55 R plunge saw (just missed the new TS 55 F) for breaking down sheet goods (mostly 18 mm plywood). It came with a W48 blade, which I suppose will serve me well, even if it, strictly speaking, is not designed for ripping.

I have a project coming up where I will have to make a straight edge on two pieces of 50 mm thick ash. They are 3,5 m long and 600-780 mm wide, so they are quite heavy. Ripping them on my jobsite table saw seems difficult and I would have to make a jig for it, as they don't have a straight edge, I need to make one.

So, I want to see if I can use my TS 55 for this. I realise it will be taxing and I may have to do it in two or more passes.

I've been looking for a Panther blade, ie the PW12 one, to use for this. Figure I might as well use it for ripping plywood as well and save the W48 blade for cross cutting. Unfortunately, I can't find a vendor that has the PW12 with 2,2 mm kerf in stock untill it is too late for me.

My options are:
-Buy a W18 universal blade instead. Would certainly be more versatile.
-Buy a Panther PW12 blade with 1,8 mm kerf. Would probably rip the ash more effectively and the thinner blade would mean the under-powered (for the job) saw would perform better. But that would mean my rip cuts would not follow my tracks.

I would appreciate your opinions and experiences of using thinner blades or a mixture of blades with different thicknesses. Does it bother you that the cut does not follow the track in the same way? I'd imagine that this would mean the cut ending up 1,5 0,2 mm from the track. There are some older threads though from before they standardised the blades where people seem to have varying experiences with this, the difference in some cases being bigger (because of alignment, maybe?).

Anyway, long story short. If you were buying a single ripping blade for a TS 55 R that also has a W48 2,2 mm - would you choose the PW12 1,8 mm or the W18 2,2 mm?

 

[Bohdan]

If the body of the 1.8 mm blade is the same thickness as the 2.2 mm blade the cut will be 0.2 mm away from the plastic strip.

If the blade body is thinner on the thinner blade then the error will be even less.

In any case because you are ripping there will not be any chipping and you should get a perfect cut.

 

[Cypren]

I believe you cannot use a 1.8mm blade on the current TS 55 models (as opposed to the new ones coming next month) because of the riving knife, which is 2.2mm and therefore won't fit into the cut left by the blade.

Practically speaking, the gulf between the 48 tooth and 18 tooth blade is enormous, but the 18 tooth to 12 tooth blade less so; if I were in your shoes I would just get the 18 tooth blade and make your cuts carefully in multiple passes so as not to stress the motor too much or scorch the wood.

 

[kristosig]

If the body of the 1.8 mm blade is the same thickness as the 2.2 mm blade the cut will be 0.2 mm away from the plastic strip.

If the blade body is thinner on the thinner blade then the error will be even less.

In any case because you are ripping there will not be any chipping and you should get a perfect cut.

Thanks for the correction, 0,2 mm, not 1,5 as I erroneously wrote! A 0,2 mm difference is of course negligible.

 

[kristosig]

I believe you cannot use a 1.8mm blade on the current TS 55 models (as opposed to the new ones coming next month) because of the riving knife, which is 2.2mm and therefore won't fit into the cut left by the blade.

Practically speaking, the gulf between the 48 tooth and 18 tooth blade is enormous, but the 18 tooth to 12 tooth blade less so; if I were in your shoes I would just get the 18 tooth blade and make your cuts carefully in multiple passes so as not to stress the motor too much or scorch the wood.

Good point about the riving knife. I can see how that would be a problem, at least in plunge cuts. Probably less of a problem when ripping straight through.

I understand the difference in tooth count is small between 18 and 12. What I'm mostly concerned about is the shape of the teeth. Wonder how noticeable it is that the Panther blade has a more "aggressive" shape?

 

[mino]

If you have just a couple rips to do, just do multiple plunges. Even three or four if needed. Just make sure to clamp the rail and you should be fine.

For normal use the 28T universal blade is better than would seem. It is more than good-enough for cross-cutting and provides enough oomph for ripping. The 48T more of a cabinetry specialist one for fine hardwood cross cutting and is kinda overkill for plywood or softer materials. Having the 28T in saw for regular use with 48T and 12T Panther in the shelf for those special cuts is IMO optimal.

Ref compativbility:
The TS55 riving knife is 2.1mm wide to slide in the 2.2-ish cut.

For compatibility ref. the track cut line you need blade which has 0.6 mm width-at-arbor/kerf difference AND has 2.1 mm kerf or more.

The Festools 2.2 blades are 2.2/1.6 and the HK blades are 1.8/1.2 so the HK series will not work with the TS55 but the TS(2.2) series will work well with HK saws.

A 2.4/1.8 mm blade will work just fine while 2.0/1.4 blades like a 10T Makita rip one I have can be "forced to work" when on track while 1.8 HK series blades are too thin.

 

[woodbutcherbower]

Some of the advice given on here is maybe a little wide of the mark. I spend half my life ripping hardwood countertops for kitchens - I must have done upwards of 500 in everything imaginable - oak, walnut, wenge, iroko, afromosia, zebrano, maple, beech, sapele, birch, elm - and ash. The Panther blade is absolutely the best solution - but even that will need 3 passes on 50mm thick material, with the depth stop set at 15-20mm. At this depth, the saw will run at its normal speed and you won't hear any signs of it struggling. The riving knife is unaffected and I’ve never had a problem. The 2.2mm Festool 496301 12-tooth is still widely available. Don’t expect it to give anything like the same quality of cut as a 48-tooth crosscut, because it won’t. You’ll have some finishing to do on the surface afterwards, if it's going to be a visible, finished edge - not too much, but it will need a 120-grit sand at the minimum. And just to confirm - the shadow line caused by the marginally smaller kerf is virtually imperceptible. The material will only scorch if the blade is moving too slowly, if its worn, or if you’re trying to take out too much in one pass.

There’s no point in using this type of blade for ripping plywood, because the material consists of multiple sheets laminated with the grain going in opposing directions anyway. It therefore doesn’t matter if you’re cutting across the long or short edge - a 48t crosscut is best.

And finally - DO NOT under ANY circumstances use the Panther blade to plunge into hardwood, unless you have no alternative. If you do have to plunge - do it very, very, very slowly, and don't try and dig any more than 15mm in one go. Failing to do this will almost certainly see your blade instantly grabbing and kicking back with considerable force. Ideally - always set the saw further back on the rail, and cut into it from the edge. Once you're into the cut with the saw moving, treat as any other cut.

Hope that helps.

 

[Cheese]

If this were my project, I'd just purchase the 2.2 mm, 12 tooth Panther blade for the TS 55. You could also use the 1.8 mm 12 tooth Panther blade but you'd have to remove the riving knife. However it would cut much easier.

One of the nice features about using Festool blades is that they tend to maintain the same amount of carbide overhang on all of their track saw blades. That's the reason you can switch between the 2.6 mm and the 2.4 mm kerf blades for the TS 75 and not worry about  damaging the splinter guard strip.

For example:
The HKC kerf is 1.8 mm wide while the blade PLATE is 1.2 mm thick = .6 mm overhang.
The TSC kerf is 2.2 mm wide while the blade PLATE is 1.6 mm thick = .6 mm overhang.
So the carbide overhangs the blade PLATE by .3 mm on each side.

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And as already mentioned, just use the 48 tooth blade for plywood because of ply orientation, you will always be ripping half of the plies while at the same time cross cutting half of the plies.

 

[Crazyraceguy]

Forget the idea of "ripping" with plywood. Because of the alternating layers of grain, you will never get into enough going the same way to actually rip, which makes big curly chips. Because of the rotation of the blade, the bottom surface will come out fine with nearly any blade. The only layer that really matters, as far as the blade is concerned, is the top surface. You definitely don't want those big teeth of the rip blade in that. The general purpose ATB that comes with the TS55 will be fine.

 

[kristosig]

Thank you all for your replies. I really appreciate it.

As for "ripping" plywood; noted, thanks.

As for the 12-tooth Panther blade, unfortunately, my suppliers do not have it in 2,2 mm and won´t get it until it is too late for me. That's the problem.

The project is a dining room table. I have 50 mm thick slabs of ash, milled from the same tree. It was a double-trunk tree that I specifically chose for this purpose, felled, milled and dried to 7% moisture content. It is about 600 mm in the narrow end and 780 mm in the wide end. I want to take two slabs, make a straight edge on one side of each and then glue them together so it'll be a table top with live edges on both sides and an "open book" effekt, ie the two halves will mirror each other. I will probably make my cut a little diagonal so they will be about as wide in both ends, about 600 mm. My wife wants the table to be about 1200x3500 mm, so that'll do nicely.

I´m not keen on removing the riving knife in order to be able to use the 1,8 mm blade. If that is necessary, I'd rather pass.

Extra thanks for the warning about the panther blade and plunging into hardwood, [member=75780]woodbutcherbower[/member], as well as the rest of your insightful reply.

 

[CeeJay]

I have used a thin kerf Diablo blade on my TS55 without removing the riving knife. It worked fine as I was cutting thick stock (50mm)  as you will be so was feeding fairly slowly.

So if there is a Diablo rip blade available (they do a 24T that fits the TS55) you could try that.

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