Thread: blade speed

could i please get some help my new / secondhand panel saw, tilt , rise & fall , scribe blade, 12ft has got the ability to have the blade speed changed from 2800 / 4000 / 5600 rpm under what circumstances would one use this or need to. i cut ply 3mm to 20mm, along with mdf and some particle board, along with hardwood. i intend to use as a rip / breakdown saw as well. i have never seen this before or used the various speeds. any help would be most appreciated. thanks peter (grandad)

hey come on guys 52 views and not one person can help me with my questions, i thought that this is what the forum is all about helping people with there problems, so there must be someone out there who can now help at least 50 other people who may need to know the answer to this in the future. regards peter

Hi Peter,
I have been using a panel saw for 30+ years and never changed the speed on a panel saw yet. Most panel saw's don't have the ability to change speed's and I doubt many that can have ever been changed, but most panel saw's are used for just that panel's and would be using the highest speed only. When cutting solid timber the only change I have ever made would be to change the type of blade. In extreme cases you might need to change the speed but probably more if you were cutting sheet
plastic or ally.
Regards Rod.

Don't know if I've got an answer, how about a wild guess? The different speeds might be for different blade sizes. As you reduce the size (diameter) of the blade you would need to speed the blade up to maintain the same cutting speed.
Probably.

No guarantees on that answer, I've just finished my first coffee........

we run our panel saw (5.5kw altendorf with 3000/4000/5000rpm) at work on 4000 rpm for everything, bumped it up to 5000 once to cut some perspex
if you were doing deep rip cuts in really heavy timber it might be worth dropping to the slowest speed to maximize torque, but for most jobs the middle setting is adequate

thank you everybody for your replys it has been very helpfull, sorry for the late reply but have tried on 2 occasions but computer kept freezing when i tried to post. all i think have been on the money and i have a lot better understanding now, regards peter