Large Tablesaw Blades

[Marc Coogan]

I picked up a Powermatic sliding tablesaw with a 30mm arbor. I'm not sure where to buy blades from at a reasonable cost any thoughts?

[David Kumm]

Look at ebay. FS Tool, Leitz, Nap Gladu, Tenyru, Royce Ayr, Leuco all make great blades. Larger diameters and odd bores sell reasonably. Lots of carbide so sharpening can be done. Find a good sharpening source and you can pick up deals on odd blades. Caveat is if you have scoring, you want the panel blades to all have the same kerf so you don't have to dilly dip adjusting the scorer. Dave

[Marc Coogan]

Will do. The saw does have a scoring blade. I have never used a saw like this, I'm looking forward to it. 381454

[Rod Sheridan]

Hi Marc, any industrial blade supplier will sell you the correct blade, and bore the arbour hole to 30mm for you.

Does your scoring saw blade have shims? If so you may need more to adjust it for your blades.

I normally buy FS Tools blades however Felder may have blades in stock, I know they do where I live.............Regards, Rod.

[Marc Coogan]

Not sure about the Shims, I will check tonight. I'm going to order a blade or two today. I'm going away for a few days and want to fire it up when I get back.

[David Kumm]

There are two types of scoring blades. Konical where the tips have angled sides and you raise the blade to a proper height to match the kerf of the main. Split scorers have two blades and shims, much like dado blades. You adjust the shims to match the kerf. With a split you want to match your primary crosscut blade. Konical can be more flexible but only if your machine has a lever to raise the scring blades to exactly the same height. Looks like your PM is a rebadged Robland. I don't know the specs but I'd buy a reasonably priced used one until you have time to examine exactly what will work best with the scorer. A combo or rip blade would be a safe bet as they con't need scoring. Dave

[Martin Wasner]

Will do. The saw does have a scoring blade. I have never used a saw like this, I'm looking forward to it. 381454

Pretty sure it's made by Robland if you need parts.

I use a lot of FS blades and have been content with them

[Rick Fisher]

I use Tenryu but any of the brands are good.

[Peter Kelly]

Pretty sure it's made by Robland if you need parts.

I use a lot of FS blades and have been content with themCorrect, re-badged Robland Z320.

Original manual: http://www.southern-tool.com/store/media/wmh/pdf/m_1791288K.pdf

[Chris Parks]

Does it require drive pin holes in the blade to prevent the saw blade spinning in the arbour?

[Rick Fisher]

I have a 14" Forrest Woodworker which I had drilled to fit my saw. Its a rugged blade, I also have 3 Tenryu blades and use them more .. I don't believe I will ever wear any of these blades out. They are a step above the 10" versions for cabinet saws in my humble opinion.

[Marc Coogan]

The instructions said to use blades with drive pins, but when I looked at the arbor it doesn't have them.

[Chris Parks]

The instructions said to use blades with drive pins, but when I looked at the arbor it doesn't have them.

The holes for the pins might be there and someone has removed them? A 300 or 315mm blade most probably needs them to prevent it spinning on start up and on mine shut down as it has a brake in the motor. You only need to pick one up to feel how heavy it is, I bought a carbide drill and drilled the blades myself.

[David Kumm]

A 300mm blade is still relatively small. Euro saws are required to have brakes and the pins do kkeep the blade from loosening when the brake is set too fast. Many large saws lack the pins and still work fine. I have no issues on my 18" blade saws but if you are running an injection brake or a vfd with a brake resistor, you need to be careful not to set it to stop too quickly. About 5 seconds generally works. If the PM lacks a brake, it will lack the pins. They can also be made if you can figure out the thread- I assume it would be left hand and metric. Dave

[Marc Coogan]

Thanks everyone for the tips so far, a ton of things I wasn't aware of. I'm on vacation and won't be back until next week. I did find time to order a blade from Carbide Proccessors. Here are the details of the blade I ordered, it is a Tenryu. I thought this would be a good start while getting the saw all squared up.

Sliding Table, Vert. Panel, Combination IW-35060CBD3. 350mm dia., 60 teeth, 30mm arbor, ATB grind, .136 kerf, 20 rake. Combination, rip & cross cuts in wood