How much 'oomph'?

[Lonsdale73]

I bought 48 and 60tpi blades

I sincerely hope that that is a typo.

Yeah, yer right, only 40 and 60 teeth, not quite per inch either!

It depends on what you want to cut, how thick it is and in what direction you want to cut it..

At the moment, I'm working mostly with 18mm pine and most of what I want to do will be either tearing a strip off a wider board, or reducing it to something thinner, both of which I'd say are rip cuts with the grain. I do the occasional cross cut and sometimes have to cut either MDF or plywood sheets to size.

 

[lurker]

Well done!
Bet you can't understand what the fuss was about now

For ripping I bought
FREUD PRO LP20M 025 TCT Circular Saw Blade - 250mm x 30mm - 24T
From Amazon £29 delivered

 

[Lonsdale73]

Well done!
Bet you can't understand what the fuss was about now

For ripping I bought
FREUD PRO LP20M 025 TCT Circular Saw Blade - 250mm x 30mm - 24T
From Amazon £29 delivered

I bought the same blade and fitted it this morning. Went on a LOT easier than the old one came off. Also slid the rip fence back such the the long piece is now flush with the far end of the short piece, ie, just past the cut. I had a piece of timber left over from the angled cut featured so that I'd repeat that. Powered it up, fed in the timber and something didn't sound right. In fact, it didn't sound at all so I stopped the machine to check it. Despite the lack of sound a cut had most certainly been made and it continued to rip the rest of the piece like the proverbial hot knife through butter.

I then returned the blade to 90 degrees and cut the remaining piece to 60mm. The lack of any sound was a little disconcerting but the spray of very fine dust told me something was happening. Again, sliced right through it.

Next I raised the blade and attempted to re-saw the 60 mm section into two pieces approx 7mm thick. Perhaps not entirely surprising that the machine had to work a little harder but even so it split that reasonably well. I don't think it was a great piece of timber to begin with and it's been knocking about my workshop for a while now so it's a bit cupped, bowed and maybe even a little warped (that might just be me) but it wasn't bad. Unbelievable the difference a blade can make.

Thanks for all the guidance folks.

 

[AndyT]

It's nice to see such a positive outcome and I am sure this thread will help others who will have been wondering why they were getting disappointing results from their saws. It's what makes this forum the helpful place it is.

 

[lurker]

=D>
Got there in the end didn't we?

 

[Lonsdale73]

=D>
Got there in the end didn't we?

The end? No way, this is me just getting started! Cue mass exodus or knowledgeable regulars...

 

[Steve Maskery]

Good. Your 60T blade is very fine cutting, you should be able to cut veneered boards with that, especially is you use a ZCI. What shape are the teeth, ATB or tripple-chip?
The 48 is a decent general crosscut blade and you can also rip thinnish (say up to 1") stuff with it, very satisfactorily. If you go up to 3" timber, you will need something with bigger gullets.
I'm glad you are on your way.

 

[lurker]

I like to think we have now convinced you the TS is not a dud but a usable tool.
Took six months though :shock: :lol:

 

[heimlaga]

Glad you got it all sorted out!

This is exactly the way I learned...... I didn't trust the experts but I tested whether they were right or wrong. Sometimes the expert were proven wrong but they proved to be right often enough to make it worthwhile to listen to them and give it a try!
Keep going and 20 years from now you may be one of the experts!