I just finished dialing in the table saw sled, and I’m curios about a few things.
I noticed that there’s a thin-kerf (diablo?) blade on the saw. I’m curious why we’re not using a full kerf blade. It was pretty aparent that the thin kerf blade had significant wobble during wind-up and down. A full kerf blade should reduce that a little, and at 7.5hp it’s hard to see what the draw back is. Or stabilizers if thin kerf is ultimately desired. https://www.amazon.com/Amana-Tool-STF-4-Blade-Stabilizers/dp/B000P4QGKO/
The blade is also terminally dirty and has several chipped teeth. I understand that only stewards are supposed to change/maintain the blades, does that extend to cleaning?
The fence appears to be out of square (1/16th of an inch end to end). I spent a few minutes trying to figure out how to square it up but wasn’t all that successful. It appears to be variably out of square as well. Depending on how much you cinch the fence down.
Non-stewards can and do change the blade, generally when they need to use a specialty blade, but they should put the regular blade back on afterwards. Sounds like maybe someone didn’t. There should be a regular blade in the table saw supply drawer; whoever uses the saw next after seeing this should find it and put it on.
Not sure what you mean by the blade wobbling. If that is the case, you would not get an accuarate cut and the fence may very well be squared. The saw was overhauled last week and was aligned all the way around. The only thing was that they did put a dull blade back on it. Probably the one that you used. Anyway, thin kerf blades are the norm in most places. They are very accuarate and economical (both in the cost of the blade and less stock being wasted on repeat cuts)which is a driving factor. If you require such pressision that entails a full kerf blade, consider bringing one with you. Many members do. Currently thin kerf blades are designed to be used interchageably with full kerf blades. When in good condition, they do not need additional stabilization. To be specific, I have never seen a stibilizer nor have i heard of anyone trying to use one on a Saw Stop or any cabinet table saw and I have used Delta, Powermatic, Jet, Grizzly, and Saw Stop ever since they came in the market. However, all of the above come with one from the factory is the big washer between the nut and the blade on the arbor. The cleanliness of the blades? comon! You’re in a multiple user facility. To be honest i don’t clean the blade in my table saw at home. The finishes they put on the blades now days are sufficient. You also have a very nice jointer to clean your edges near by.
I cleaned the two general purpose blades using Simple Green and a brass wire brush. It took about 3 min for one of the blades, and a good amount of time longer for the other (it was surprisingly gunked up). That should help to reduce burning.
I wasn’t able to find any full kerf blades, so I wound up installing the sharper of the two general purpose diablos. I think the previous blade can get sharpened, but after that it will probably be EOL. There’s too many chipped teeth that it wouldn’t be economical. Especially for these kinds of blades where there’s not much carbide to start off with.
Thanks for doing this and sharing it as well. I didnt even know saw blade cleaning was a thing. Definitely makes since after reading your post, and now I’m curious about the blade on my home saw.
No problem. It was mostly a selfish endeavor. A dirty blade wobbles more and as a result negatively effects the zero clearance insert on the new sled. A full kerf blade will reduce the wobble quite a bit more.
Additionally I was getting a lot of burning (and I saw other peoples rips getting burned up a ton as well). So the fastest way to prevent that is to clean off all that pitch and expose the carbide again.
If I can make a suggestion, I think these blades would be a better option to stock over the diablos. The carbide is twice as big, and that lets you sharpen it a ton more. I’ve sharpened mine 5 times so far and I probably have another 3-5 sharpens left. There’s an outfit in San Antonio that does the sharpening. They drive up to Austin and collect blades from Woodcraft. Turn around takes a week and costs me $15/service (they charge per tooth). They sharpen router bits as well https://www.amazon.com/CMT-215-050-10-Industrial-Combination-10-Inch/dp/B000P4JPAM/
Absolutely. It’s also great to have the nudge on learning to clean the blade ourselves. Some of my projects will be all the better for you pointing this out. Thanks!
honestly I’m a little surprised we’ve gone so long since firing a brake that the blade needs to be cleaned. We got in the habit of buying the cheapest serviceable general-purpose blade because we were replacing them weekly for a while.
