T55 problems with 8/4 Maple

[JamieMcGannon]

I experienced a problem while ripping a 28" long piece of 8/4 hard maple. The T55 really seemed to struggle to cut the board and was really binding on the thickness. The saw shut off once so i let it cool off, reset my track more securely and continued at a very very slow feed rate. It eventually made it through but the burning of the wood was surprisingly bad.

Is this to be expected?

The T55 is less than a year old with very little use and the blade is sharp. This was my first experience ripping hard maple of this thickness.

Thanks,

Jamie

 

[Theshipstore]

If you are using the blade that came with the TS 55 it is really not a good blade for ripping, you should try the panther blade for ripping, less teeth more chip clearance, better cut.
I rip White Oak, Cherry,Walnut and Maples with now problem at all.

Sal

 

[tjbnwi]

8/4 quater sawn white oak 8' long ripped with the TS 55, one pass, no burning. The stock blade is a 48 tooth blade for sheet goods and up 3/4" stock. You need to purchase the Panther rip blade. Make sure you get the 2.2 mm kerf blade. The other option it to make the cut in progressive plunges, cut 1/3 deep at a time. If you don't shift the rail the cut will be fine.

The Panther blade works on maple also.

Tom

 

[Guilliaume woodworks]

I like to baby my t55...I make multiple passes if I think saw will struggle ....I use guide rail clamps so I don't have to worry about g.r. moving. Also recommend changing blade. 

 

[JamieMcGannon]

Thanks, Sal and Tom. I will pick up the Panther tomorrow.

Any tricks up your sleeves to deal with narrow off cut pieces? I am using the hard maple added to a birch ply pull out shelf. I plan on making strips 1.75"x 1.187"x28" and gluing them to the sheet good and applying the shelf slides.

Thanks again,

Jamie

 

[JamieMcGannon]

I see the Panther is listed at 14 tooth, 2.5mm kerf, item 495372. Is this what you guys recommend or the 12 tooth 2.2mm kerf, 496305?

 

[tjbnwi]

12 tooth 2.2 so it matches your existing blade.

Tom

 

[tjbnwi]

You mean like this?

Start here, follow the links in this thread;

http://festoolownersgroup.com/festool-how-to/how-to-efficiently-rip-a-bunch-of-strips-with-a-track-saw/

Tom

 

[tjbnwi]

One other thing make sure the blade is clean. Maple can gum up a blade quickly.

Tom

 

[JamieMcGannon]

Tom, why is important to match kerf to existing blade?

 

[tjbnwi]

It keeps the splinter guard consistent. You place the rail by referencing the splinter guard. I know the change I very, very minimal but if you can keep it the same for all blades why not do it.

Tom

 

[JamieMcGannon]

The blade is indexed to the motor side of the saw at the arbor. How would a thicker kerf affect the splinter guard on the rail? The motor side edge of the blade is what cuts into the splinter guard on the rail and that should be a constant regardless of kerf! Now if you're talking about the splinter guard on the saw itself then i understand your concern but I dont follow you with regards to keeping all your blades with the same kerf to keep them compatible with your rails.

 

[semenza]

The blade is indexed to the motor side of the saw at the arbor. How would a thicker kerf affect the splinter guard on the rail? The motor side edge of the blade is what cuts into the splinter guard on the rail and that should be a constant regardless of kerf! Now if you're talking about the splinter guard on the saw itself then i understand your concern but I dont follow you with regards to keeping all your blades with the same kerf to keep them compatible with your rails.

Except that the blade plate thickness may not be the same for the different types of blades (not sure about this).  And also the tooth set / amount the teeth protrude  to the sides of the blade plate is different. In either case one or both of those cause the blades with thicker kerfs to cut further into the anti-splinter strip on the rail. The width of the kerf is not the width of the plate it is the width at the teeth, and the plate is what registers against the saw.

Seth

 

[JamieMcGannon]

Got it, thanks Seth.

 

[tjbnwi]

If the plate is the same thickness and the tooth is wider, centered on the plate the tooth would be 0.019685 (sorry, can't do this in mm) of an inch closer to the splinter guard.

Tom

 

[Paul G]

The blade is indexed to the motor side of the saw at the arbor. How would a thicker kerf affect the splinter guard on the rail? The motor side edge of the blade is what cuts into the splinter guard on the rail and that should be a constant regardless of kerf! Now if you're talking about the splinter guard on the saw itself then i understand your concern but I dont follow you with regards to keeping all your blades with the same kerf to keep them compatible with your rails.

Except that the blade plate thickness may not be the same for the different types of blades (not sure about this).  And also the tooth set / amount the teeth protrude  to the sides of the blade plate is different. In either case one or both of those cause the blades with thicker kerfs to cut further into the anti-splinter strip on the rail. The width of the kerf is not the width of the plate it is the width at the teeth, and the plate is what registers against the saw.

Seth

That being said, do all Festool 2.2mm kerf blades share the same plate thickness? If not they would hit the splinter guard differently even though they have the same cut kerf.

 

[tjbnwi]

The blade is indexed to the motor side of the saw at the arbor. How would a thicker kerf affect the splinter guard on the rail? The motor side edge of the blade is what cuts into the splinter guard on the rail and that should be a constant regardless of kerf! Now if you're talking about the splinter guard on the saw itself then i understand your concern but I dont follow you with regards to keeping all your blades with the same kerf to keep them compatible with your rails.

Except that the blade plate thickness may not be the same for the different types of blades (not sure about this).  And also the tooth set / amount the teeth protrude  to the sides of the blade plate is different. In either case one or both of those cause the blades with thicker kerfs to cut further into the anti-splinter strip on the rail. The width of the kerf is not the width of the plate it is the width at the teeth, and the plate is what registers against the saw.

Seth

That being said, do all Festool 2.2mm kerf blades share the same plate thickness? If not they would hit the splinter guard differently even though they have the same cut kerf.

Just checked my blades plate thickness (in thousandths of an inch);

48 tooth-0.0645"

28 tooth-0.066"

12 tooth-0.065"

Pretty close to the same.

Tom

 

[Michael Kellough]

Only the Panther and Universal blades are suitable fro ripping hardwoods in a single pass. You'll notice a huge difference in how much force is required to push the saw through the work.

Regardless of nominal kerf specs you should expect the Panther to cut off more of the splinter guard and the Universal might too so try to do all the ripping with a jig that allows mechanical positioning of stock and plan to re-set the splinter guard after the ripping in done.

Both those blades have very deep gullets between teeth so the tooth its cantilevered out on a peninsula of flexible steel. It is prone to deflect when encountering changes in grain direction resulting in a very rough cut and a ragged splinter guard.

In my experience the Universal gives better results but I keep a Panther for the occasion maximum depth cut.

 

[Paul G]

That being said, do all Festool 2.2mm kerf blades share the same plate thickness? If not they would hit the splinter guard differently even though they have the same cut kerf.

Just checked my blades plate thickness (in thousandths of an inch);

48 tooth-0.0645"

28 tooth-0.066"

12 tooth-0.065"

Pretty close to the same.

Tom

Yes, pretty close, as is the kerf between 2.2 and 2.4mm.... in inches the difference is 0.00787", and that's the total kerf, not the difference in splinter guard clearance which will be even less depending on the plate thickness changes. I'm not disagreeing that using the same kerf is best, rather just running the numbers to understand what hairs we're trying to split here.

 

[GhostFist]

Was just on the Lee Valley website and it's saying the Panther blade is no longer available.....what's up with that?