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[Canuck]

Well, not sure I can help with measurements because I don't have a TS Aligner or a dial caliper to measure with, however I do use a two stabilizer set-up.  The one that Forrest offers is a single one?  I'm not quite a fan of Forrest blades in every situation, I use a 12" Forrest Chopmaster on my Chop saw and it vastly improved the quality of cut from a freud, but on my tablesaw I prefer CMT blades but I sometimes use a freud, CMT, Dimar, and Forrest, really depends on what I'm doing?  My take on the stabilizers are that they keep the blade running true, removing any vibration?  Wether you could measure without running the saw and come to any conclusions seems like a moot point IMHO.  Your finished cut should be the final telltale signs if you've got everything dialed in

[Carl Morris]

Your finished cut should be the final telltale signs if you've got everything dialed in

Good point, the quality of the cut is the bottom line.  Have you done the same type of cut with/without stabilizers to see if there is a noticeable difference?

    -- Carl

[Canuck]

Well, not really, but my cuts are vastly superior to when I first started making puzzles   One of the major improvements I seemed to notice was when I went to a 'link' belt.  They really do improve the 'vibration' that you get from a regular belt, but of course that's more of a 'smoothness' of cut rather than accuracy (does that even make sense?)

[Scott Peterson]

I have ripped square sticks with and without stabilizers and have noticed a difference.  Actually, I noticed a difference between using 1 and 2 stabilizers as well.

When I was doing the test cuts, I could see the difference when making square sticks out of African Blackwood, since that is a highly shiny wood if cut really smooth - and all the blade marks show up pretty clearly on this wood.  However, I could feel the difference on a piece of maple - between using one or two stabilizers.

I like my Freud Ultimate Cutoff blade because the plate thickness is the full kerf width.  This makes a stiffer blade to begin with, then when adding the stabilizers, even less vibration (runout) should be achieved.  I rip square sticks with a Forrest Woodworker II which has a plate thinner than the kerf - and the stiffeners help a lot there too.  Really, all the stiffeners/stabilizers are doing is making the blade act stiffer, meaning less amplitude during vibration. 

One other possible benefit is the stiffeners and blade will vibrate at a higher natural frequency than the blade alone.  It's hard to tell unless you can somehow measure the vibration frequency coming from the saw motor, but this shift in frequency for the blade might help to avoid resonance with the forcing frequency coming from the saw.  But, then again, the stiffeners could line it up the natural frequency of the blade assembly with the frequency coming form the saw, and create resonance...  Hard to know for sure unless the frequency of the motor was measured. 

[Carl Morris]

I'm going to add "getting stabilizers" to my list of improvements to try soon.  Where are you guys getting yours?

When I was reading through the blade straightening patents there was mention that a blade really should be measured for flatness at-speed, because that takes into account any variations that cause the blade to deflect differently than when at rest.  One way to test the effect of stabilizers would be to run the saw and touch a pencil to the plate of the blade with/without stabilizers and see how the high spots change.

    -- Carl

[Canuck]

I got mine from Lee Valley but I'm sure HF, Woodcraft, etc... has them
http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.aspx?c=1&p=30075&cat=1,41080,41165&ap=1