Varying thicknesses of TS55 blades??

[Toolpig]

Something I discovered awhile back about changing blades on my TS55...

It would appear that blade thicknesses for this saw can vary slightly, even within the Festool line. You'd think this wouldn't matter, but it can alter the rubber strip affixed to your guide rails. This happened to me one time when I switched from a combination blade to a Panther ripping blade. When I was done with the Panther blade and started using the combo blade again, I discovered that the rubber strip no longer aligned the blade perfectly with my cut line. Now I have to replace the rubber strip on my longest guide rail and them buggers ain't cheap!

Anybody else have this problem?

 

[TOOLTOWN]

Are you using blades that are a couple years old?  

Recently festool changed their blades (For the TS 55) so they all have the same kerf (2.2 mm).  This should eliminate any problems with over cutting the splinter guard.

The new blade numbers are as follows:

496305 - Panther
496304 - Universal
495377 - Fine
496309 - Solid surface / Laminate
496307 - Aluminum / Plastic

Ken

 

[Toolpig]

Yes, my blades are probably 4 or 5 years old.  Good to know they changed them.  Thanks!

- Jason

 

[Paul G]

Are you using blades that are a couple years old?  

Recently festool changed their blades (For the TS 55) so they all have the same kerf (2.2 mm).  This should eliminate any problems with over cutting the splinter guard.

The new blade numbers are as follows:

496305 - Panther
496304 - Universal
495377 - Fine
496309 - Solid surface / Laminate
496307 - Aluminum / Plastic

Ken

Standardized kerfs is a big help, but exact same splinter guard alignment would also require the plates to be the same thickness at the arbor. Unfortunately there's no factory measure provided for that that I'm aware of. Maybe a month ago or so in another thread some members posted measurements of their blades and there was a variance between part #s, don't recall if that was for 55 or 75 blades though.

 

[ccarrolladams]

Actually my metal fabrication factory located about 5 miles from my custom cabinet shop has a lot of precision measuring equipment.

All of the current Festool TS55 blades use plates of identical thickness.

 

[Paul G]

Actually my metal fabrication factory located about 5 miles from my custom cabinet shop has a lot of precision measuring equipment.

All of the current Festool TS55 blades use plates of identical thickness.

Thanks for the feedback on that, good to get all the measures from one place

 

[Michael Kellough]

Actually my metal fabrication factory located about 5 miles from my custom cabinet shop has a lot of precision measuring equipment.

All of the current Festool TS55 blades use plates of identical thickness.

That's good but only one factor in determining actual the kerf.

Tooth geometry and gullet depth have affect tooth deflection.
The species and grain pattern of the wood also effects tooth deflection.

On the fine tooth blade tooth deflection is minimal, probably less than plate bending when cutting tangent to a knot.
The first edition Panther blade could suffer extreme tooth deflection. I use mine only in desperation.
The Universal blade (as opposed to the standard equipment Fine tooth blade) is what i use when ripping or the depth of cut is too much for the Fine tooth blade to cut without getting too hot and scorching the wood.

 

[ccarrolladams]

Guess what, Festool has saw blade designers who know what they are doing!

It is hardly a surprise that all design aspects of a saw blade, besides thickness of the blade blade, are important to achieve the desired results.

Of course there are compromises when the design constraint is that all Festool blades for the TS55 not only have the same plate thickness, but that they create the same kerf and that when installed on a given TS55 the saw side of the kerf be exactly the same distance from the reference side of the guide channel.

Normally the larger the diameter of a blade, the thicker the plate and wider the kerf. For example, the 550mm dia blades for my Felder slider saw have nominal 5.5mm kerfs. This is necessary because a slider table saw with blade wobble would defeat the purpose.

The tricky thing is that while it is fairly easy to measure the thickness of the plate, it is hardly straight forward to measure a blade to figure out the exact kerf it will produce. The method I use is a series of feeler gauges. I use those to check the kerf on every blade each time said blade comes back from the sharpening service.

 

[waltwood]

Something I discovered awhile back about changing blades on my TS55...

It would appear that blade thicknesses for this saw can vary slightly, even within the Festool line. You'd think this wouldn't matter, but it can alter the rubber strip affixed to your guide rails. This happened to me one time when I switched from a combination blade to a Panther ripping blade. When I was done with the Panther blade and started using the combo blade again, I discovered that the rubber strip no longer aligned the blade perfectly with my cut line. Now I have to replace the rubber strip on my longest guide rail and them buggers ain't cheap!

Anybody else have this problem?

How far is the vinyl strip away from the cut line?  A 32 nd of an inch or more?

 

[Michael Kellough]

My old Panther cut the rubber strip back to less than 1 mm from the aluminum in spots. A wavy cut.

 

[ShawnRussell]

The TS 55 and 75 blades are the same kerf size. I had thought it was 2.4mm, I have seen 2.2mm and 2.5 listed in different documentation.

The blade thickness is also uniform for the Kapex.

 

[Paul G]

The TS 55 and 75 blades are the same kerf size.

Do you have a source for this? According to Festoousa.com the TS75 blades vary from 2.2 to 2.6mm kerf depending on the part#

 

[ShawnRussell]

It was said by The Sedge, but he also stated he needed to double check that data. He was sure it was 100% accurate for the TS55/TS55 REQ. Others in the class verbalized that they were the same. But  I was also sure the blade was 2.4mm but the Festool site says 2.5.

So... I am not sure. I am heading to Highland Hardware Monday. I will take a microcrometer with me tomorrow and report back.

The TS 55 and 75 blades are the same kerf size.

Do you have a source for this? According to Festoousa.com the TS75 blades vary from 2.2 to 2.6mm kerf depending on the part#

 

[Benjamin]

I bet this has been mentioned , but make sure you take a look at the packaging before you buy one, it will say right on the front cover 2.2 mm or 2.5mm . As some places still have the 2.5mm hanging around on the shelves

 

[searcher]

I bet this has been mentioned , but make sure you take a look at the packaging before you buy one, it will say right on the front cover 2.2 mm or 2.5mm . As some places still have the 2.5mm hanging around on the shelves

Better yet, open the box and check the blade. I recently got a 2.5 blade in a 2.2 box and messed up the splinterguards on my rails.

 

[semenza]

Something I discovered awhile back about changing blades on my TS55...

It would appear that blade thicknesses for this saw can vary slightly, even within the Festool line. You'd think this wouldn't matter, but it can alter the rubber strip affixed to your guide rails. This happened to me one time when I switched from a combination blade to a Panther ripping blade. When I was done with the Panther blade and started using the combo blade again, I discovered that the rubber strip no longer aligned the blade perfectly with my cut line. Now I have to replace the rubber strip on my longest guide rail and them buggers ain't cheap!

Anybody else have this problem?

This may be too late but ..... you can remove the strip , move it over a bit and put it back on.

Seth

 

[josephgewing]

My motto is:  Measure it with a micrometer, mark it with chalk and cut it with an axe. lol. 

 

[semenza]

My motto is:  Measure it with a micrometer, mark it with chalk and cut it with an axe. lol. 

Just eyeball it and go straight to the axe, saves loads of time and everything always fits because the tolerances are so high  [laughing]

Actually there was a thread about a shed on here and it seems the guy may have used an axe.  [eek]

Seth