Table saw blade tension

[danst96]

Has anyone on here ever experienced a table saw losing its tension?

 

[doctor Bob]

I'm all ears, I think you need to explain a bit better.

 

[Daniel2]

Has anyone on here ever experienced a table saw losing its tension?

No.

 

[danst96]

I'm all ears, I think you need to explain a bit better.

Sorry I missed a key word in the question, BLADE.

I'm busy making some stalls for a charity event from pallet wood (I know, I know ) and in order to maximize the wood for some decorative parts and for roof shingles (see attached pics) I'm ripping the boards down to half thickness, I do this in 2 passes and it was putting a fair bit of strain on the blade. Then yesterday I noticed the cut was going everywhere and when you turn on the saw the blade wobbles like mad and goes all over the show. Needless to say some poo shot out and I checked the Arbor and everything else and all seemed fine . When the blade is cool it is stable but do a cut and it gets hot it seems to lose all tension. I opted to go get a new ripping blade and it's fine now so the only thing I can think is the blade itself lost its tension. My brother who used to sell diamond cut off saw blades suggested that it was the tension causing the issues.

Attached is a picture of the throat plate which shows how much the blade moved. Like I say the saw was getting some abuse, at least a solid hour of constant ripping down the width of the saw, the blade taking cuts of between 2-2.5 inches.

Also to add, the blade with the issue was the factory general purpose 60t blade that came with my Laguna F3. I've since replaced it with a Freud 40t ripping blade.

 

[Sachakins]

60t blade for crosscutting not ripping, I'd go down to 24t for that type of ripping.

 

[Sideways]

This recent thread may be worth a read.

https://www.ukworkshop.co.uk/thread...eking-advice-information.133293/#post-1514660
Unless you have a large industrial saw, even 40T is too many teeth for sustained ripping of softwood.
My guess is that you overheated the blade because it was the wrong one for the job.

 

[Orraloon]

Making those full depth rips with the blade fully enclosed the heat can soon build up. Even with the correct ripping blade I would still be resting things to allow the blade to cool a bit between cuts on a job like that. Better still if you have a bandsaw use that for any rips deeper than the blade height. In the past I have done cuts like that but it always felt risky as with my saw the splitter and guard has to come off. Anyhow cost of a blade is not too severe when it comes to the learning curve with tablesaws. As others have said get a 24t ripping blade and use the 40t as general purpose.
The stalls look pretty good by the way.
Regards
John

 

[danst96]

Sorry correction, my ripping blade is 24t and is doing a dream of a job. I knew the 60t blade wasn't right for the job but it was coming up for a replacement and I procrastinated going getting the ripping blade, lesson learnt.

Props for the Laguna F3 though, it hardly sniffs at the cut.

 

[danst96]

Better still if you have a bandsaw use that for any rips deeper than the blade height.

Unfortunately I don't have a capable bandsaw. It's on the list though, just need a kind Santa

 

[cowtown_eric]

sounds like you soundly destroyed a blade!

Eric

 

[Insanity]

Sounds to me that you've warped the blade, throwing it out of balance as it spins.
Bin the blade, not worth risking your safety over £20 or so.

 

[dzj]

Happens sometimes when the feed rate is greater than gullets can eject.

 

[GregW]

Has anyone on here ever experienced a table saw losing its tension?

I use 66t blade with Sapele. 24t blade might definitely slip, especially on wet softwood timber.

Try to spray DRY PTFE (from W40) to loose tension on blade when cutting, but I wood recommend 52t and better extraction…

 

[Daniel2]

I use a Z16 blade for ripping.

 

[johnnyb]

I've found they don't cut the same after sharpening...sometimes. 24t blade is fine for ripping 66t is dangerous( due to the pressure needed. ) I've read they need tension because of expansion of the saw plate near the cutting edge. some have slots presumably for the same reason.

 

[Lons]

As already said, wrong blade and probably blunt as you state it was due for replacement and you've overheated and warped it, I'm not surprised you had brown trousers as it's dangerous practice and has to be done with the top guard removed. You learned from the experience but be careful as the new blade will also suffer if you push it too hard for too long, I use a Freud 24t blade for ripping btw.

 

[TheTiddles]

When you say tension in the blade? You mean when it’s spinning and the mass is acting to pull the disk into tension from the centre towards the edge?

(You already know you cooked it)

 

[baldkev]

When you say tension in the blade? You mean when it’s spinning and the mass is acting to pull the disk into tension from the centre towards the edge?

I was in our local sharpeners, dropping off some bits to be done and we had a conversation about saw blades. He was explaining how the good blades are tempered. I cant remember now though!


Basically if the blade overheats, its not going to be recoverable..... bin it.

 

[TheTiddles]

Tempered makes sense, tensioned would be clever! There’d have to be some other part in compression, not sure where that’d go

 

[toolsntat]

Hammer tensioning.....

https://www.yorksaw.com/flattening-tensioning-circular-knives-saw-blades/
Cheers Andy