saw blade for acrylic?

chrismunn

New member
Unless you are going to do some things to the table saw to sturdy it up, its not a very good saw. I had one very similar to that and it wasn't steady enough for me personally. I ended up welding the legs solid and adding some other bracing to it. Then I threw it away when I plugged it into an old 220 outlet that looks like a 100 outlet and smoked the motor. But, I give it credit, it ran for another 3 days after I smoked it.
 
This is the blade that you want to use. LU94M010 Industrial Plastics Blade
Acrylic, polycarbonate, vinyl and most other plastics can now be cut cleanly without melting using the LU94M series from Freud. By combining MicroGrain carbide tips with a specially modified triple chip grind and a negative hook angle, these blades will give the clean, smooth cut you would expect from the high tooth count but produce less heat, keeping the cut edges crisper.

Thick MicroGrain carbide tips
Laser cut blade bodies and expansion slots
Kickback reducing design
Tri-metal brazing for impact-resistant tips
Covered by Freud's Limited Lifetime Warranty

You will have to purchase it online. It run's about $75.00 on most websites. Acrylic is tough stuff to cut. The blade you listed is a thincurf blade and it will chatter and wobble and give a less than perfect edge. A blade stiffener may help with this. If you want to buy a carbide blade off of the rack, look for a standard thickness blade. I use a Freud LU85R blade to cut acrylic on rare occasions. It is thicker and gives a decent cut on acrylic and gives a glass smooth cut on wood. A thin curf blade is meant to be used on underpowered saws or for fast cuts when quality of cut is not a factor. The saw you listed should be fine but a custom made zero clearance throat plate wil make it safer and cut better. You may consider purchasing a quality 7 1/2" standard curf sawblade to use on the saw for acrylic. They are cheaper,will have less wobble and chatter and will not strain the motor as much. Still the best blade for acrylic is a blade made for that purpose. The grind of the teeth make the difference.
 
I use standard steel 7 1/4 OSB/Ply blades lubed with beeswax. I change them often too. Reason being on a 10" table saw they spin slower and because they do the just as well as more expensive blades. I bought a nic Freud ATB 80 tooth blade and rarely use it for acrylic. Instead I buy contractor ten packs of the cheap steels and change them at the first sign of coking.
 
I have a slightly older model Ryobi table saw; it was their top of the line model at the time, basically the same as you listed, but with a fixed base and a built-in router table instead of the plain outrigger. It is by far the worst shop tool I've ever used... under-powered motor, the fence is absolutely horrible, the miter gauge is clumsy and inaccurate. The blade height mechanism has been sticky since shortly after first use, and I have to disassemble the entire guts of the thing on a way-too-frequent basis to clean out the mechanism, because too much debris accumulates - regardless of whether or not the vacuum connection is used. The safety guard/anti-kickback attachment is so poorly designed (too thick) that it prevents use all but the thickest saw blades, so I end up not using it at all. The sliding table part requires realignment constantly. I find it extremely frustrating and quite difficult to do precision cutting with. I repeatedly kick myself in the posterior for not getting a Dewalt, Delta, or Jet as I'd originally intended.

Like the others said, spend a few bucks more and get the proper blade for plastics.
 
I was going to buy that "special plastic blade", but then read on (I believe) TAP plastic site that regular triple chip blade will do same great job. It cost around $60. Just make sure that it will be raised 1/2" over your work piece and feed a piece of acrylic at constant speed. BTW voting for a different brand saw too. Look @ Makita 10" model. You may like it. Good luck!
 
What are you going to be using the acrylic for? I ask because if you are going to be making a vessel to hold water, routing the edges is almost a necessity. (That is based on my opinion and experience only)

FWIW, I would recommend buying a full sized contractor type saw rather than a smaller sized portable saw. A Rigid TS3650 is more than double what you have been looking at buying but is 100 times better in terms of versatility and performance. The standard blade the 3650 comes with will cut acrylic pretty decent right out of the box. Stationary table saws do take alot of real estate in the garage though.
 
I use a Forrest Wood Worker II 40T ATB.... though at $130-$150 each, most WWII owners would not dream of cutting acrylic with one :)

In any case, the blade produced edges that were perfectly acceptable for solvent welding most projects like sumps and reactors. For a display I would likely use the router to ensure that there was no chance of bubbles.
 
thanks for all the input guys. alot of good info here!

as far as the saw being un-stable on the stock stand, thats not a problem. i dont mind building something more sturdy. an under powered motor may be of some concern though...

i do plan on cutting acrylic for tank building (of course! :D ) but i have a router for joint trimming.

i would like a full sized shop table saw, but simply cant afford it. plus i have no intentions of building full on cabintry sets with it. just minor stuff really. ive owned that craftsman saw in the first link and found it to be rather clunky. ive also owned the ridgid table saw that comes on the floding table with wheeles and absolutely LOVED it! the only problem is that its like $450.oo :eek: i had a whole gang of decent quality tools stolen from me when i lived in california.

im actually not a big fan of ryobi tools, they seem to be very weak. i use them at work becasue its what the boss buys, and i can say with confidence that thier not that great. i have had the opportunity to take that ryobi saw in the link off the shelf at HD and play around with it a little bit. obviously i didnt get to use it for cutting anything, but i was able to check the action of everything. the fence seemed to slide easily and when tightend into place it squared itself up to the blade quite nicely. that alone was a HUGE plus for becaue to me there is nothing worse than a fence that tightens up crooked! (like the 9000 year old craftsman we have at work :rolleyes: ) also the table opens up and allows the fence to open up to 30". for asimple and small saw thats another huge plus for me as most small table saws only open up to somewhere around 20" or something? i dont remember checking the depth or miter adjustment knobs on it though so ill have to go back and have another look at that....

thanks everybody.
 
BTW Chris...

I turned an old crapsman 3hp saw into an accurate piece of equipment that rivals many cabinet saws. I put on an aftermarket fecnce (Excalibur) and machined pulleys with a linkbelt. I also added a trunion alignment kit and used a dial indicator to set the trunion and check the runout. It is amazine how much easier a saw is to use when it is setup properly.
 
I agree with BeanAnimal 100% on getting a saw set up correctly. I have the TS3650 and did quite a few mods to it. I didn't have to use a link-belt, the 3650 comes with a really nice serpentine belt out of the box and it is so smooth. Getting the blade and fence parallel to the miter slot is of utmost importance, and takes a bit of time to achieve. The machine work and finish on the table is flat and the t-square fence locks true and tight so I'm happy with it. I didn't see the need for a fence upgrade. I did slide the fence rails all of the way to the right and added a router table in between, I get alomost 48" of capacity now. I have been making raised panel doors for my kitchen with it lately. (That's a whole different hobby altogether though)

Sorry to shift the focus of your thread on my stuff. Good luck with your mission.
 
i love to know that old things can be re-furbished into something of great quality, but seeing as im only now in the market for a simple table saw, i dont have the ability to take on such a task :D . although maybe one day? i need to first AQUIRE some sort of machine skills :lol:

30reef, i dont mind you talking about your projects or tools, it helps me cover my own bases to make sure im not missing anything. i would love to own a table saw that opens up to 48" ! not only that, i really want to have the ability to add a router although im not sure i have the understanding yet?

but the bottom line is that i need something inexpensive, something that will get the job done and something as close to true as i can get for the money.

i think i will throw down for the quality blade though...

thanks again for the input guys.
 
I still say look at your local classifieds for used items.


Also check out www.woodnet.net go to the forums A great wood working site with a for sale forum as well.

You should be able to find a nice used saw that is much much better than that robyi and will put you on the track for some good equipment rather than buying junk to begin with.

Kim
 
Back
Top