New toy - plunge saw, but which blade?

Hi all,

I've been thinking about getting a plunge saw for a while, but now I've got 10 internal doors to fit and one expensive oak veneered exterior door I finally took the 'plunge' and my new toy arrives tomorrow

I've opted for the 240v dewalt plunge saw, with 2 rails, rail bag and clamps for £352 from FFX which t I though was a very good deal. (I had been looking on eBay but the used ones were going for not too much less so I thought I'd buy new and get the warranty and everything).

So my question is regarding the blades. I guess it's a standard wood cutting blade that comes with the saw, but it's just occurred to me that I might need different blades to achieve the best cuts in the doors.

The doors are 10 of the cheap wickes internal moulded doors, and the other door is this one :

http://www.diy.com/nav/build/doors-...1981-x-W-838-x-D-44mm-10798120?skuId=11288825

Any suggestions of the most suitable blade(s) would be greatfully received.

Thanks
Andy

they are a 165mm blade
the one supplied is fine
just remember the first plunge cuts the rubber edging so use on a sacaraaficial board first or over the edge a few mm beyond the surface to be cut
mark the door with the cut line on the mark then lay the track half on the mark
set the depth to thickness plus 2mm
score on the breakout edge with a stanley knife [the far end]
make sure you have around 6" off the track at the front off the cut to stop the saw base locking on the end off the track

remove the last 6mm from all rubbers so when you stand the track on the ground the rubbers don't get pushed off and filled with crud causing them to delaminate more

also save an edge on each track[call it the "B" side]mark it up and when you change the blade it will be a fresh cut to that blade

further information
these doors are likely to be less than 5mm can be cut off any edge
if you cut with a plunge saw it can be difficult to cut less than 2x the blade thickness off without the blade deflecting
deflecting means the blade finds it easier to bend and rub the surface at an angle rather than cut so if you start a cut at a shallow angle near the edge go very slowly until the blade is cutting into the door with material at the outer edge greater than the blade thickness
if the blade does deflect you can go back and have another go this will reduce the deflection and eventually allow the blade to cut true

The festool blades on my ts55 never deflects.
Very solid little piece's of engineering.

Norcon said:

The festool blades on my ts55 never deflects.
Very solid little piece's of engineering.

Click to expand...

ok to be fair i am thinking off the thin kerf battery blades
i dont know if the mains version have the thin kerf blades or not
the deflection is quite small but worth a mention

Many thanks for the hints and tips big-all, some really useful bits in there.

I'm hoping there's not too much chance of deflection as I have some fairly thin trims to make some of the doors the right size. I shall report back with how I get on.

I did look at the festool Norcon as everyone seems to rave about them, but the majority of my other tools are yellow ones so I thought I'd colour co-ordinate

the blades i was talking about are around 1.2mm so ultra thin so suspect yours will be more chunky
come to think off it i had to make a thinner riving knife so the originals where thicker

Just arrived now. Spot on service from FFX and a great price too!!

Will check out the blade width once I've got it all unpacked. Ta.

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just dug out the original blade and its a chunky 2.6mm so wont deflect

Just used it for the first time. Absolutely amazing...a hundred times better than my dewalt circular saw.

The blade that came with it was DT1090 and is 2mm wide

now you know why we rave about them

kingandy2nd said:

Just used it for the first time. Absolutely amazing...a hundred times better than my dewalt circular saw.

The blade that came with it was DT1090 and is 2mm wide

Click to expand...

just found mines again and its a DT 4026

The 48t blade is too fine I use 24t on doors then just sand up with the multimaster

No point in putting strain on the motor and dulling a 48t blade quicker than needed for the sake of a piece of sandpaper

I've done 7 of the 9 internal doors I need to do now

The 48T blade was great - there moulded doors have the vinyl outer layer on the I think any lessor toothed blade would have made a mess of that facing.

From how easy they were to cut I don't think there would be much motor strain to be honest.