Re: Basic Table Saw Question

Jan 17, 2004 2 Replies
T

It's very hard to find 8" blades anymore. If you use a 10" make sure you can raise and lower it through the whole range without hitting anything inside or the insert. Rotate it by hand with the power disconnected in the full up and down positions. Use a 10" blade if it works. They build up less heat and less wear.



Tim



Yes, I am a Newbie. I recently bought a cabinet saw (50 year old Atlas)
> that has an eight inch blade on it. When I looked on the 'net for some
> information I found that this model should of had a ten inch blade from the
> factory. Now my question is can an eight and ten inch blade be used on the
> same saw? Other than cutting through thicker wood is there an advantage to
> either one?
>
> TIA,
> Bryan
>
>
>
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R

DAGS for "8 inch table saw blade". I found a bunch of places selling them on the first shot.

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R

Any table saw is designed to accommodate a particular -maximum- diameter of blade.

Assuming that the hole in the center of the blade is big enough to fit the mounting in the saw, one can use a smaller diameter blade.

For any kind of rotating cutting tool (saw blades, drill bits, router bits, shaper cutters, etc., etc., ad nauseum :) there is an optimum 'rim speed' for the type of material being cut.

Using a 'smaller than designed for' blade results in a "less than optimum" rim speed.

Sometimes there are advantages to using a smaller blade that outweigh the reduction in rim speed. e.g. using an 'undersized' dado set (a) makes it much more difficult to 'overload' the saw, and (b) one *rarely* (at most) has need to cut "deep" dados -- thus the smaller (read "MUCH less expensive") set is justified.

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