TS75 Blade Kerf and the Guide Rail Splinter Guard

[presidentsdad]

Hey all,
Juuuust about to pull the trigger on a TS 75, but I have question.  It looks like there are 4 wood cutting blades for the TS 75.  Two have a 2.4mm kerf and two have a 2.6mm kerf.  Noob question here:  Does 0.2mm really make that much difference?  If so, is there a shim to fix that so that you can run any of the blades on the same rail without messing up the splinter guard?  Many thanks.

 

[Gregor]

As the splinterguard facing side of the blade is fixed relative to the arbor I expect the actual thickness of the blade being irrelevant. Havn't explicitely tested that (but havn't noticed the splinter guard being off after switching blades) but it would be quite surprising (and disappointing) if the Festool designers would have messed this up.

 

[Coen]

There are actually a total of 7 blades and 3 different kerf widths. I just checked the Catalog. The first four are probably the ones you refer to; the Standard with 18 teeth, the Panther blade with 16 teeth, the Universal blade with 36 teeth and the Fine blade with 52 teeth. Below that is the Special blade for Aluminium with 72 teeth, the Special blade for Laminate with 60 teeth and the Flatteeth blade for steel with 36 teeth.

210x2,6x30  W18 493197
210x2,6x30 PW16 493196
210x2,4x30  W36 493198
210x2,4x30  W52 493199
210x2,4x30 TF72 493201
210x2,4x30 TF60 493200
210x2,2x30  F36 493351

[eek]

They made all the TS55 blades equal-kerf years ago. No idea what's going on here.

As the splinterguard facing side of the blade is fixed relative to the arbor I expect the actual thickness of the blade being irrelevant. Havn't explicitely tested that (but havn't noticed the splinter guard being off after switching blades) but it would be quite surprising (and disappointing) if the Festool designers would have messed this up.

The blades are all symmetric, so a 0.2mm fatter kerf is going 0.1mm in either direction. At least, I haven't spotted an asymmetric blade yet. I'm open to being proven wrong.

 

[Gregor]

Do the blades have the same thickness at the hole for the arbor?
In case the thickness increase is in the whole disk (not only in width of the teeth) it shouldn't matter.

Asking because I'm currently not near my shop to take a look at my TS 75 blades...

 

[Michael Kellough]

Blade thickness does matter. If the kerf is the same, a blade that is thicker will move the kerf farther away from the splinter guard. Festool (and all the other blade manufacturers) should specify blade thickness as well as kerf width.

A decade ago I bought a Forrest blade made for Festool track saws and was worried that the specified kerf was wider than the Festool blades and assumed the Forrest blade would overcut the rubber strip. Instead, the Forrest kerf was about .2mm out from the splinter guard because the blade was so much thicker than the Festool blade.

 

[presidentsdad]

There are actually a total of 7 blades and 3 different kerf widths. I just checked the Catalog. The first four are probably the ones you refer to; the Standard with 18 teeth, the Panther blade with 16 teeth, the Universal blade with 36 teeth and the Fine blade with 52 teeth. Below that is the Special blade for Aluminium with 72 teeth, the Special blade for Laminate with 60 teeth and the Flatteeth blade for steel with 36 teeth.

Hey all,
Juuuust about to pull the trigger on a TS 75, but I have question.  It looks like there are 4 wood cutting blades for the TS 75.  Two have a 2.4mm kerf and two have a 2.6mm kerf.  Noob question here:  Does 0.2mm really make that much difference?  If so, is there a shim to fix that so that you can run any of the blades on the same rail without messing up the splinter guard?  Many thanks.

I did say for woodcutting on the OP.

Do the blades have the same thickness at the hole for the arbor?
In case the thickness increase is in the whole disk (not only in width of the teeth) it shouldn't matter.

Asking because I'm currently not near my shop to take a look at my TS 75 blades...

Blade thickness does matter. If the kerf is the same, a blade that is thicker will move the kerf farther away from the splinter guard. Festool (and all the other blade manufacturers) should specify blade thickness as well as kerf width.

I did check the Festool USA website for the blades and there appears to be no info as to the thickness of the actual blade, just the kerf width.  My question is for the Panther Blade (at 2.6mm kerf) and the Fine Crosscut, aka 52 tooth blade, (at 2.4mm kerf) are those going to be able to use the same splinter guard for lining up your cut?

 

[presidentsdad]

Would a shim work to preserve the rail splinter guard?  If so, would it be one that is 1/2 the thickness of the kerf increase?  (e.g. if the increase in kerf thickness is 0.2 mm, then the shim would need to be 0.1 mm thick).

 

[rst]

I have three different versions of the 55 and a 75.  I have all set to cut exactly 3mm from the aluminum track, I do not use the splinter guard to set my distances but rather a Woodpeckers Pioloni rule set to that 3mm to place my work when accuracy is essential.

 

[presidentsdad]

Or perhaps using the Tenryu rip blade (PSW-21036CBD3), that has the same kerf as the crosscut/general purpose blade that the TS 75 comes with?  Thoughts on that?  Is the blade thickness at the bore the same?