Anyone used Trend Craftpro blades in their TS55?

[porker]

Hi,
I've got some laminate worktop (Maia) to cut and rather than use the standard Festool blade, I thought I would get a 48T blade for the laminate. Much as I love the Festool blades there seem to be other quality blades available a lot cheaper. I can pick up the Trend blade for £12.50 delivered which is a lot cheaper than the 48T festool blade. Anybody used them? It looks like the kerf is 2.4mm although some places state 2.2mm which I believe is the same as the Festool ones. Will the difference mean I'll need a new strip afterwards?

I have some cheap Lidl blades I used to cut a section of parquet floor out as I was bothered about the blade clogging with bitumen and touching the concrete floor and didn't want to destroy my Festool blade. They did the job really well. They are however not fine blades and I don't want chip out on the laminate.
thanks,
Matt

 

[Distinterior]

.....???? Maia is a Solid Surface coated particle board, its not a Laminate worktop..!!!

If you are cutting up Maia worktops, I would suggest you use a good quality blade such as the Festool blades you mentioned. All the joints & finished edges will need to be routed anyway, but a good quality saw blade will leave you with minimum routing to do.

 

[porker]

Thanks, sorry for the description, it does have a thickish surface on a chipboard substrate as you say. The cutting is very simple as its for the basins in two bedrooms that are mirror images of each other and the unfinished edge will go against a wall so there won't be any routing on the edges although I might route the hole for the basins.

Sounds like I should bite the bullet and get a good quality blade. I guess my question is more - are the Festool blades worth the premium over say Trend or Freud blades?

 

[Distinterior]

I bought a set of 3 cheap blades of evilbay for my TS55 (Saxon). I tried them on some Melamine coated chipboard and they cut OK for the first few cuts, but soon lost their edge. They work OK on bare chipboard, mdf etc. When it comes to Solid Surface material, you have to be very careful of micro-fracturing which can show up later after installation in the form of cracks developing in the Solid Surface.

I don't know if Freud or Trend offer a specific blade suitable for Solid Surface materials, but Festool do and it cuts really cleanly.
As you say, Festool blades are a lot of money but you do get what you pay for, plus there are no issues with the kerf width or having to replace your strip on your rail.

I believe the Festool blades are made for them by Leitz, a German blade manufacturer. But, I'm not sure they are available to buy directly in the UK.

Edit. I just checked and they are available in the UK....!!