TS 55 Saw Blade Update - Universal Blade 2.2mm Kerf

[ccarrolladams]

ok i know im asking a stupid question , but here goes

why does the thickness of the kerf matter to the splinter guard . is it not regestered off of the flange on the arbor of the motor .
have they reduced the amount of clearence between the side of the tooth and the body of the blade

Alan you ask a logical question.

Saw blades normally have a kerf wider than the metal around the arbor. Thus when you index from the arbor face with different style blades the position of the kerf on the arbor side will vary. This is true of all saws. Our big slider and beam saws store information about every blade in our inventory, each with a unique serial number. When each blade is re-ground it is measured and the data in the computer is adjusted such that the rip fence on the slider knows how far it is from both side of the kerf. The same is true of the beam saw.

Most of the time our TS55 saws use the standard 48 tooth fine blades. All our TS55 have been adjusted such that the inner side of the kerf is the same relative to the splinter guard. Since 2006 I have not used a TS55 without a guide rail and only to break down sheet material.

As Shane and others have stated, the larger blades on the TS75 need a wider kerf. We have surface ground steel shims for our TS75 blades so each makes the inner side of its kerf in the identical place as do all the TS55. Our goal is that all will be within 0.1mm of each other and do minimal damage to any of our guide rails. We have accomplished this with the TS55 I own and those personally owned by the cabinet makers working with me. We have managed to come very close with the TS75 I own with one kind of blade. The cabinet maker who owns his own TS75 has a couple of rails that match his saw, so he uses those with his TS75 and the shop rails with his TS55.

 

[ccarrolladams]

The kerf is actually the width of the teeth.  The body of the blade is narrower, and is in fact irrelevant insofar as to how it affects the guiderail splinterguard.  So if different blades have different teeth widths/kerfs, the splinter guard is being recut off when using the wider kerfs.  When you go and put back on a smaller kerf blade after having used a wider kerf blade, now the splinter guard will no longer be zero clearance for the norrower kerf blade(s), and you'd need to go and reposition/re-cut the splinterguard again.  This dilema also applies to the splinter guard attachment that is also fastened to the outboard side of the saw as well.

From a consumer perspective, it is best they are all the same kerf, but I wonder also if certain performance issues will change modifying certain kerfs to a common kerf width.  I just don't know squat about blade construction/performance characteristics to know if there is a trade-off as a result.  I think very few folks would know.

Kevin, in my experience there is a reason why each blade design has an ideal kerf width. Normally as the blade becomes larger the kerf needs to be wider. When a blade is intended to be more aggressive it also needs a wider kerf. By way of example the typical blades on my beam and slider saws are over 400mm with kerfs from 5 to 6mm. Let me tell you that is a lot of dust to collect!

I have faith in the combined design team of Festool and its blade manufacturing partners that they will not release common kerf blades until each style is modified to be effective with the narrow kerf. Currently we only use Festool blades on our TS55 saws. This works because those TS55 are only used to break down sheet goods. We use our TS75 for a wide variety of tasks, so we need many styles of blades for them. Each as a kerf best for it, meaning we custom grind shims for the arbor side. The cabinet maker in our shop who uses the TS75 the most let his widest blade trim the splinter guard on his own rails. He makes test cuts and measures from the outside of the rail "hat" allowing for the kerf of a given blade. This works for him and he is efficient and accurate.

Doing that would drive me nuts, so I stick to what I do best and use my TS55 with identical blades.

 

[Alan m]

sorry guys if i confused ye.
i know about the kerf and what it is etc etc
what i was asking was that if the kerf of the blade increases does the gauge of the blade body increase the same amount.
if this was the case then the kerf thickness wouldnt matter as the distance fromm the edge of the teeth to the body of the blade would be constant.
if this is not the case and the blade body thickness doesnt increase with the kerf , i think it would be worth blade manufactures doing it this way as the inside edge of every blade would spin in the same plane regardles of the kerf.

 

[harry_]

sorry guys if i confused ye.
i know about the kerf and what it is etc etc
what i was asking was that if the kerf of the blade increases does the gauge of the blade body increase the same amount.
if this was the case then the kerf thickness wouldnt matter as the distance fromm the edge of the teeth to the body of the blade would be constant.
if this is not the case and the blade body thickness doesnt increase with the kerf , i think it would be worth blade manufactures doing it this way as the inside edge of every blade would spin in the same plane regardles of the kerf.

Alan,

I understand what you mean:

If the tooth of blade "A" overhangs to the motor side by 1mm, and the tooth of blade "B" overhangs to the motor side by 2mm. the only way to compensate for that would be to either shim the blade by the 1mm or increase the body of the blade at the hub by 1mm.

The thickness of the body itself is irrelevant on the motor side as that is the 'reference' side.

Think of it this way: it wouldn't matter if the fence on your table saw is an inch thick or a foot thick, Xmm from the blade will always be Xmm from the blade. What you are discussing is basically the same thing, only in reverse.