Hammer/Felder TS question

[John Piwaron]

First, I'm a hobby guy. I also don't know everything. You also won't hear me tell my kids that. :)

I was looking at the Felder and Hammer websites and see a lot of very cool toys. But there's one thing I'm not seeing immediately or I don't understand how they specify it - what is the diameter of the arbor for the saw blade? All of my blades right now are 5/8" diameter. If all I owned was one blade changing to another size if needed would be no problem. But a bunch of them - ouch.

OTOH, I do like the option of using a 10" or 12" diameter blade if I want to. Yeah, I know - who needs a 12" blade if they do this only as a hobby. But my miter saw has that diameter blade, maybe, if need be . . . . .

[Rick Potter]

John,

They have special blades. My Felder has (I think) a 30 MM arbor, and there are two additional holes in the blade for studs that keep the blade from loosening when the brake stops it. I believe the Hammer is the same.

Soooo, no 5/8" arbor blades will fit.

Rick Potter

[John Piwaron]

o.k., good to know.

If I were to buy one of their machines will I also be locked into buying my blades from them? Or will Forrest (or anyone else) sell me a blade with the appropriate arbor holes?

Is there anyone that can modify any existing blades I have to the appropriate hole size?

[ben searight]

Forrest doesn't have the 30mm arbor blades on thier website, but they will bore them for you, just call and ask. I think it's $20 or $30 per blade. I'm sure they would bore out your existing blades as well when you send them back for sharpening.

[Chris Tsutsui]

Forrest sells blades with 30mm with 2 pins so you are not "stuck" to buying European made saw blades. Many cabinet saw owners can vouch for the Forrest saw blades. You would have to call Forrest up to order it.

Though the Euro blades that are supplied with the machine will likely be industrial quality and good for multiple sharpenings and could last a "hobbyist" a long time. My hammer came with "silver series" blades though I'm not sure if that's standard. The cut quality is excellent.

Leitz (german) also makes some excellent industrial saw blades for Euro machines.

A machinist can bore a blade though I would think that it would need balancing afterwards.


Some saw blade manufacturers like forrest has a fee to add borings though you need 3 borings per blade and it gets sort of pricey. But if you have a very expensive blade, then consider sending it to get sharpened and have them add borings to it.

Felder sells some blades for $800... The felder dado blades that are more like shaper cutters. This is one category where I may go with Forrest Dadoking because you pay around $300 and they sell them with the Euro borings already. To buy a regular dado blade with chippers and add 3 borings to each one is not cost effective.

[Jerrimy Snook]

Many saw blade manufacturers sell the 250 mm and 300 mm blades with a 30 mm bore and the 2, 7 mm pin holes on a 42 mm bolt circle common to this saw.

An important consideration when having your blade re-bored is the maximum diameter of the blade that the machine will handle. Some metric machines will not accept a 10" or 12" blade in place of their native 250 mm or 300 mm.

Jerrimy

[Brian Krause]

John,

When I bought my Felder, I purchased a single Felder blade, and had about 3-4 Forrest and Freud blades "re-bored" by Forrest. I think it cost about $33 or so for each blade to get all three holes done. However, I have since discovered Tenryu blades, which cut much cleaner than the Felder Silver Power blade, about the same as the Forrests, but cost about $65-85 for a 12" blade. So far, these have been by far the best blade I have found, especially given the price. Carbideprocessors has great prices on them.

Brian

[John Piwaron]

Tenryu - I have one of those. But I think it hasn't been out of the box once since I got some Forrest blades.

The blade I use most often is a Delta 40 tooth ATB-R. It's about 25 years old, sharpened a few times and gives me a cut as good as my WW2. The Delta blade, along with a Forrest WW2 and a Freud 24T for ripping are the ones I use about 99% of the time. I also use a Forrest Chopmaster in my miter saw.

At this point I don't know that I have all that much to have changed, I just like the option.

I'm not understanding why a 10" blade in place of a 250mm blade would be a problem. If it mounts, what difference does another 0.157" more in diameter make? It would be nice if any of my existing 10" blades *could* work in a Hammer or Felder, but it wouldn't be a deal breaker if they couldn't.

Anyway, I'm just thinking it all over. I'd like to see a saw but I'm in Milwaukee, nowhere near the 3 sites listed on their website.

For once, I have enough experience to make a really educated choice. I know with some certainty how I work and what's likely to best fit that.

[Jeff Monson]

John, when I switched to a Felder saw I was concerned about blade availability also. I have been very satisfied with the Felder blades, not only on quality but pricing also. I see no reason to switch back to Forrest blades that I used on my cabinet saw.

[Rod Sheridan]

Hi, 30mm is a standard blade bore, they are available from any good supplier. The pin holes are Felder/Hammer specific, any good saw supplier can take of that.

I had my existing blades bored and the pin holes added for about $30 per blade.

I buy blades from FS Tools, they can supply any blade or dado set in any bore you wish........Rod.

[John Piwaron]

Hi, 30mm is a standard blade bore, they are available from any good supplier. The pin holes are Felder/Hammer specific, any good saw supplier can take of that.

I had my existing blades bored and the pin holes added for about $30 per blade.

I buy blades from FS Tools, they can supply any blade or dado set in any bore you wish........Rod.

Thanks for the info. Everyone has been a great help.

[Alex Simpson]

Just as a final piece of info to assist with this, Felder & Hammer utilise a 30mm standard bore with the pinhole measurements/code I understand are 2/9/46. There are a quite a few manufacturers who supply these mentioned earlier in the thread.
Thanks all for the comments! Great thread.:)