I just put a new 10" 50 tooth Freud thin-kerf combo blade in my sears 3HP table saw and proceeded to cut some 3/4" poplar into 2" wide strips.
The saw got bogged down and seemed to really struggle. I even had a few burn marks along the cut edges.
Am I asking too much from this saw? Should I use a straight ripping blade?
Also, how high above the wood should I raise the blade? I assume the lower, the safer, but, being higher seems like it would cut downwards more instead of at a lower angle.
In my case I had the blade up about 2 1/2".
I realize the saw is probably not worthy of a Freud blade, but, I'm trying to make the needed cuts with what I have.
Something is wrong, especially for 3 HP. My 1 1/2 hp saw will cut 2" thick with just some slowing down. 3/4" goes like nothing at all. If you have burning you may have mis-alignment and that can cause some problems.
Things to check: Defective blade Saw badly mis-aligned (blade, fence, or both) Slipping belt
Or the wrong blade. A 50 tooth blade is NOT a rip blade. The smallest tooth I've seen on a 10" finish rip blade is in the 40 tooth pattern. Most finish rip blades have 30 teeth and glue line rips have 30 to 24 teeth. Combination blades with 50 teeth are going to struggle in ripping.
To me, it makes sense to use the correct blade for the job.
Charlie Self
"Say what you will about the ten commandments, you must always come back to the pleasant fact that there are only ten of them." H. L. Mencken
I believe the saw came with 2 - 36 tooth blades. I'll put the as yet unused / new blade on an give it a try. I'll check the alignment again after I install it.
Crikey... I know Sears lies about horsepower, but I don't imagine your saw could be any more anemic than mine. I have a Skil 3400 benchtop. I'm running a 40-tooth blade I think, Freud TK960. I've cut lots of stuff much bigger than 3/4" on it, up to resawing 2x4s and even 4x4 poplar timbers.
Sounds like maybe
you're feeding too fast
your rip fence isn't parallel to the blade
your blade isn't perpendicular to the table, and it's tilted toward the fence
you're running without the splitter, and the kerf is closing up on the far side
Giving your saw a tuneup might really help. For some reason, I was convinced that my saw was just a useless piece of junk, and I never bothered to try to get it to work better. It still isn't a very good machine, but a couple days spent fiddling with it made a world of difference. It's at least useful now, and a lot better than nothing.
It would probably help. With a 50-tooth blade, I'd imagine you'd have to feed even more slowly than I do, and I have to go slow and easy on rips through thick materials. I do get some burning too, just not nearly as bad as I used to.
That's pretty much it. Lower = safer, less tooth exposure. Higher = less strain on the anemic motor, and I think (think, mind you, I might be wrong) less risk of a kickback.
Feh. If my piece of crap is worthy of a Freud blade, anything is. Putting a "better" quality blade on it really helped. I don't think it would have been wise to put a Forrest WWII on the thing though.
I know that feeling. Of late, I *am* using real wood for stuff, and it hurts a lot more when I screw up. It's a lot more rewarding though when I get something almost sort of close to right. :)
Sure, but I've done on often with a Freud blade. It should be able to handle
3/4" with little strain. OTOH, after posting a reply, I realized he is not talking a 3 hp cabinet saw but a 3 Sears hp saw, probably less than 1 real hp. Ed
I also use the 50 tooth Freud Combo. If the Tablesaw that you are using is that $199.00 shaft driven one then you will bog down big-time. Same thing happened to me. I now use the same combo blade in a 1 1/2 HP belt-driven contractor's saw and it works great as long as I keep the blade clean.
I swapped blades with a 36 tooth one and it did cut a bit smoother.
Plus... comments below.
I believe this saw is similiar to their benchtop model, plus a leg kit.
Correct, it was off by a few degrees.
Correct the splitter on this saw was offset by 1/4" or so, so I yanked it off. It was more of a hinderence than a help. It may be worth investigating how to fix it though.
This is one of my first (indoor) projects not build out of white pine.
While I agree entirely with what Charlie says, I have ripped thicker stock than that with my 60 tooth blade when I was too damn lazy to change it out. My saw is a 3 hp Unisaw and it cut through like a hot knife through butter.
That being said, either something is wrong with your motor, or it is possible that there is something wrong with the wiring in the circuit it's on. Too many things on the same circuit will draw enough power that you are starving the motor and ruining it. It would also result in poor performance.
Yeah, but his is NOT a Unisaw. I've used my Unisaw to cut 2" oak with a combo blade. Fortunately, just a couple pieces, but...it works.
I think he's probably running ye olde basic 1.5 HP contractor's saw, which is the reason he absolutely needs a correct blade, or, at worst, one that is less incorrect.
Charlie Self
"Say what you will about the ten commandments, you must always come back to the pleasant fact that there are only ten of them." H. L. Mencken
This seems silly, but your experience is so far out of line, that it almost sounds like you put the blade in backwards. I don't mean to insult you, but just about any table saw should be able to rip 3/4" poplar with ease. Something is grotesquely wrong. When I was in college, I worked in an unsupervised student union woodshop, where they let you change the blades yourself without any safetly checkout. I put a blade in backwards. It cut but was fitful and difficult and eventually threw the wood at me.
From what marketing people tell me, Sears doesn't have the cojones to NOT call these saws three horse. It's been going on so long, it's expected. Too, as one marketeer told me, "Everybody does it," which is almost true--check the HP ratings on routers.
Charlie Self
"Say what you will about the ten commandments, you must always come back to the pleasant fact that there are only ten of them." H. L. Mencken
From what I see, induction motors are rated fairly, it's universal moters that defy the laws of physics - things like shop-vacs, routers, circular saws, ...
Maybe the screaming coming from a universal moter is the sound of that unaccounted for power being sucked through the interdimensional vortex?
Sounds to me like a wrong tool for the job thing. After I bought my Delta contractors saw, I thought I'd like to get some smooth rips and save myself some sanding time. I put the 80 tooth blade from my miter saw on it and proceeded to try to rip some 3/4 oak. What a nightmare - burning edges, the saw bogging down, circuit breaker being tripped. I switched to a 40 tooth combo blade and haven't had a problem since.
It's *imperative* that you fix it, or replace it. A properly adjusted splitter is essential in the prevention of kickbacks. Do a Google search on splitter and kickback, and you'll see what I mean.
-- Doug Miller (alphageek at milmac dot com)
How come we choose from just two people to run for president and 50 for Miss America?
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