That is some seriously Tough Carbide!!!

[Dan Clermont]

Couple of weeks back I was trimming the bottom of a closet door with my recently sharpened TS-55 blade.

Attached is a pic of the door trimming and I ripped right through two screws and nicked two others. I had no idea I hit a screw... or two... or three.... or four except for a tiny spark and a change in the sound of the cut.

Anyhow, I've probably cut another 100 linear feet of plywood and can't see any problems with the blade. The teeth all physically look fine as well.

Dan Clermont

 

[Tinker]

I have done the same with a brandnew Festool router bit.  I tore thru a pocket screw head.  It did a redesign on the screw with no trace of chip, scratch or whatever to the bit. 

It is amazing what carbide tools will withstand under right circumstances. i used to buy carbide stone cutting tools.  You could hammer with a pitch on stone forever, it seemed.  But drop one on the ground at just the right angle, and you would have a pile of chipped carbide. 

My saw blades were in contact with nails and concrete impregnated lumber all the time.  Sometimes, there would be quite a spectacular shower of sparks to rival any July 4th display.  the blades just kept chewing. Oh, I did loose teeth as time went along.  A blade would last maybe year at most before i would have to replace.  Not from inability to cut thru nails anymore, but because the blade would start overheating and then warpage.  as soon as that started happening, I put in a new blade.  Maybe about 1/3 of the teeth would be gone by then.

 

[greg mann]

If you guys saw what we do with carbide every day it just might blow you away. In just one typical application we drill 20mm holes (think MFT) in ductile iron at 60+ inches per minute, or one inch per second, and often get 100,000 holes before re-grind. Of course, the geometry on a woodcutting sawblade tooth is much more fragile than the cutting edges on the drilling and milling tools we use and I dare say the TS is spinning faster but carbide is really an incredible material. And, it keeps getting better all the time. When I started doing what I do in 1968, 350 feet per minute was about the high end for cutting speed and, quite often, a cutting would dull enough in one cut that you could be out of tolerance by the time you got to the end of a cut. What a pain. Today, we run 1000 fpm all the time and tool life is easily 10 times as long; in some cases, a hundred times longer. We may be in the golden age of cutting tool development.

 

[Loren Hedahl]

Greg, I wasn't aware of the cutting ability of carbide.  To me, this is truly amazing!

 

[pteubel]

If you want to see what carbide saw blades can REALLY do, check out Metal Devil. A few months ago I purchased one of their blades from Amazon, slapped it on one of my regular circular saws, and proceeded to cut some 1/4" thick x 2" wide cold rolled bar stock. Unbelievable. No dust, just chips. Very little sparks. The resulting cut was not only cool to the touch within 5 seconds, but the surface looked machined.

The very next day, I ordered more blades and converted one of my miter saws to a dedicated metal cut-off saw. Oh, and I sold my 14" abrasive saw, too.

 

[Tinker]

>>>If you want to see what carbide saw blades can REALLY do, check out Metal Devil. A few months ago I purchased one of their blades from Amazon, slapped it on one of my regular circular saws, and proceeded to cut some 1/4" thick x 2" wide cold rolled bar stock. Unbelievable. No dust, just chips. Very little sparks. The resulting cut was not only cool to the touch within 5 seconds, but the surface looked machined.

The very next day, I ordered more blades and converted one of my miter saws to a dedicated metal cut-off saw. Oh, and I sold my 14" abrasive saw, too.

 

[Eli]

Would somebody more patient than me read the list of blades and figure out which blade goes on my TS55 and post it here?

 

[jonny round boy]

Would somebody more patient than me read the list of blades and figure out which blade goes on my TS55 and post it here?

CSM62548SIC is a 159mm dia. 48 tooth blade with 20mm arbor - that should do the trick. 4200 max rpm

Alternatively CSM 62556TSIC is same as above, but 56 tooth version for thinner steel.

 

[Brice Burrell]

.......Also, in case anybody wants to use with Festool saw (i doubt the blades are made to fit Festool arbor), I would guess it to not be a good idea to attach to a CT, or any other vac if the blades can cut wood at same time as cutting metal.  There will be SOME sparks.  I don't even knowingly cut any wood containing metal inside my shop. I don't like the thought of open flames coming as a surprise  :-[ :-X
Tinker

Have you seen the Spark Trap that Festool offers, used with the vac for cutting or sanding materials that generate sparks.

 

[Tinker]

Have you seen the Spark Trap that Festool offers, used with the vac for cutting or sanding materials that generate sparks.
[/quote]

Verreeee eenterestinnngg!  Butt>>> I am not the greatest housekeeper in my shop.  I do not do any cutting or grinding in there that i even think might generate a spark.  It does look like a good idea.  I might think about it out in my outdoor equipment shop where i already have my grinder set up for every day use.  No dust or oily rags within the same area (room).
Tinker

 

[Bill in seattle]

the ts 75 is already set to cut metal and has a blade 493391 designed to cut metal. it can cut steel to 1/8" but there are people using it up to 1/4" cutting  mild steel plate, but with more frequent resharpening and a slower cut speed. the speed should be set to the lowest setting and let the blade cut.  The vacuum can be used and one should use the spark trap.one  note thou on thicker steel ,the chips do come off quite hot and have melted the hose behind the saw. if you are going to cut a lot of metal, the dirt trap for the ct's  filled 1/4 with water has been effective for some people rather than a paper filter bag to hold the chips if they are still warm. it has a fine steel mesh on its top to keep crud from getting to the filters as well.
some may cringe at the thought of doing these kind of things to the festools,  but it just goes to show how tough and versatile festools really are.

bill in seattle
festool supply

 

[neoshed]

If I had to cut through metal often enough I'd go get a evolution rage. AFAIK they developed the idea?