[Oscar]

I thought it might be a good idea to collaborate into one thread regarding all sizes of circular metal cutting carbide-tooth blades, for all metals, so we can document our findings.

One blade I had been using for years was the Evolution 36-tooth multi-purpose blade that I just recently had re-sharpened at W.D. Quinn, and for occasional metal cutting it works ok. Definitely not optimum, but it does cut steel. I used it for so long simply because it came with my Rage 2 saw and it sees limited use for my projects.



In stock form it has a standard alternating bevel, but W.D. Quinn puts a modified alternating bevel on the carbide tips when they sharpen it, like so:



Cutting thin material (<3/16") with it is risky because you can easily loose carbide tips if you feed the blade in too fast. It can be done, but just have to go slow. 3/16" (single-layer, like flat bar) is what I would call a good lower-limit for cutting steel. 1/8" for angle/channel/tube since it has multiple-layers to go through, effectively making it seem like a thicker material to the blade. For solid round, I'd guesstimate about 3/8" diameter. Cuts PVC/plastic and wood pretty good.

[Oscar]

A blade I just got is the Diablo 90-tooth blade for cutting up to 1/4" steel and ferrous metals. Works much, much better for cutting thinner material, such as the aforementioned 1/8" flat bar.



This blade has a TCG (Triple Chip Grind) on the carbide tips. Very nice and smooth, and just a smidge quieter to my ears in my garage in overall level, but the main difference is reduced higher frequencies that 'annoy' a typical peron's ear (less high-pitched shrieking).



Here is a clip of (first) of the Evolution 36-tooth multipurpose blade cuting 3" x 1/8" flat bar, standing up, and then (second) the Diablo 90-tooth blade cutting the same 3" x 1/8" flat bar, inside my garage.

KLmEAXjhhWo

[Oscar]

This other blade I just got 'for the hell of it to try it out'. It had a $3 coupon on Amazon, so I figured, what the heck. $61 shipped. Tomax 14" 72-tooth blade.







Obviously I don't expect the carbide tips to be "commercial grade", but for me as a hobbyist, I figured it might just work out. It runs smooth/true, cut the 3" x 1/8" flat bar pretty smoothly (although not as smooth as the 90 tooth blade from Diablo), and the carbide tips have a TCG. I'm basically gonna keep the Tomax as a 'backup' when I send out the Diablo blade to be re-sharpened when that time comes. I've been using stick wax lubricant every single time I cut something, so hopefully that will prolonge it's life.

So all in all, the Diablo blade will be the go-to blade, which I will order at least 1 more, possibly two more. That way when I send them out to be re-sharpened I pay less for shipping multiple blades in one box as opposed to 1 per box on different occasions.

[Timberjack]

What type / brand of wax stick do you use? we used to use alot of wd 40 on aluminium at the boat shops . but have never used any yet on my cutoff saw here at home for steel ,have been wondering about lubing the blade , just makes sense .

[Oscar]

What type / brand of wax stick do you use? we used to use alot of wd 40 on aluminium at the boat shops . but have never used any yet on my cutoff saw here at home for steel ,have been wondering about lubing the blade , just makes sense .

I had been using Blair rotabroach stick wax because I had previously bought it for Blair hole cutters. Works good from what I can tell, but it's expensive for that little 1.8oz tube or what ever size it is. Just this week I bought Stick Kut wax lubricant to try it out. 15oz tube for $15 bucks shipped on Amazon. Gonna cut some 14ga steel for a cart this weekend, so I'll update this thread with my findings.

[BugHunter]

My favorite blades for my non-ferrous saw is very similar to the red blade you show above. No whistling, no ungodly screeching, an almost silent blade at idle. The teeth have a similar configuration as you show where the one tooth takes out the center and then the next one takes out the right then the next one takes out the left, then another one down the center. And so forth. I can't really tell what your blade is doing but the tombstone looking teeth are just like the ones my blade has. It's the other ones that seem a bit odd, almost like they ignore one side of the cut. Is that a used bleed with some chipped teeth?

When I get to work I'm generally running around like a madman but I know I have new ones I could take some pictures of if I could ever remember.

[BugHunter]

Here's a couple pics of the blades that I like. These are import blades and the carbide is awesome. They are Silent Running and boy do they cut. They are non-ferrous metal though so you would have to find the same blade in a ferrous metal type. Below I also put a picture of the Bosch blades that I had which made a high pitched whistle so unbearable that everyone in the building had to wear ear protection when it was running. The most unbearable sound ever. They had to go. Back in the old days we used to go through blades twice a year. Mostly because the blades were all crap. Not only are these a smaller turf so we save material but they are also a much nicer cut with less teeth. The Bosch 80 tooth was an experiment but we had 120 and 140 tooth blades that didn't last at all.

[Oscar]

No, none of my blades have chipped teeth. Probably just an illiusion from the pic. Are all your blades 12" or some 14"?

[homeboy]

[quote="Oscar"]This other blade I just got 'for the hell of it to try it out'. It had a $3 coupon on Amazon, so I figured, what the heck. $61 shipped. Tomax 14" 72-tooth blade. --------- A good example of why price alone is no absolute guarantee of the quality or cost/benefit of anything you buy. This exact blade on Amazon.ca - C$222.34 couple days ago!! It took me a while and a lot of research before I bought the first Diablo blade in large part because it was so relatively cheap (C$105-110.00)compared to most of the others. The Evolution blade which I knew worked well runs around C$150.00.

[Oscar]

DANG, that's a good chunk of change for the same exactly blade!

[BugHunter]

No, none of my blades have chipped teeth. Probably just an illiusion from the pic. Are all your blades 12" or some 14"?

All 12

[homeboy]

DANG, that's a good chunk of change for the same exactly blade!

-----. Yep! Another tipping point was Freud as the manufacturer. Lowes.com now has a Dewalt 14in 66T metal cutting "chop saw" blade listed for $139.00! Nowhere in the description or specifications is the max RPM mentioned. The only place it's displayed is on the picture of the blade itself in faint print, Max 1800 RPM. How many reviews have we seen about useless dry cut blades lasting only a few cuts before dull. Often I'am sure it's inattention to detail or bad technique but negligent advertising doesn't help.

[5vzfehilux]

Not meant as a thread hijack but with this type of setup, how do you cut mitre joints with angle iron, to give that nice 45deg corner joint look?

I've tried a couple of times and it's a bit of a mindf*k for me to work out which way to orient the stock to the blade. Also, is this the only way that angle can be cut ? By 'way' I mean the orientation of the stock relative to the blade. Reason I ask and getting back on topic I had a 8+1/4" Diablo Steel Demon blade running on a cheapy compound mitre saw and I cut some 1/8" stock a few times, with one edge of the stock sitting flat on the saw deck. You can guess it sailed thru the 'vertical' leg of the cut but bogged down when it hit the corner and then had to run thru the flat. I'm pretty sure that's what dulled it faster than yrs of correct cutting would. I had another blade handy and re-orienting it back to the same way in the pic above and it ripped thru it like it wasn't there.

[Poland308]

Unplugged of course, but I hold down the saw so I can get a speed square against the blade. And adjust the clamp fence off of the blade edge.

[Oscar]

Unplugged of course, but I hold down the saw so I can get a speed square against the blade. And adjust the clamp fence off of the blade edge.

I'm pretty sure he's not asking about how to obtain the 45° measurement/markings. I think he's asking about how to not orient the stock to avoid the inevitability of cutting through one of the stock's flat-sides, which would be laying down flat on the base of the saw.

5vzfehilux,

What this is, is a geometry problem. Unfortunately the placement of the vise is what makes this difficult. The vise usually 'forces' us to place the stock in such a location that the blade will almost always come down right on top of that flat side. To avoid it you'd need to either

A) be able to use an alternate location for the vise that puts the angle further from the blade (closer to you on the plane of the base)
or
B) custom-make a jig to hold the angle on the base 'further' away from the blade (on the plane of the base of course). IOW, the angle would be closer to you from your perspective, but not so far away from the traditional location that the blade wouldn't be able to get all the way through on the cut.

Hopefully you can visualize what I mean and how it would work. The only issue is holding the angle stock in the right location. If you need a pic because I'm not making any sense, I can take one in a few minutes.

[homeboy]

Not meant as a thread hijack but with this type of setup, how do you cut mitre joints with angle iron, to give that nice 45deg corner joint look?

I've tried a couple of times and it's a bit of a mindf*k for me to work out which way to orient the stock to the blade. Also, is this the only way that angle can be cut ? By 'way' I mean the orientation of the stock relative to the blade. Reason I ask and getting back on topic I had a 8+1/4" Diablo Steel Demon blade running on a cheapy compound mitre saw and I cut some 1/8" stock a few times, with one edge of the stock sitting flat on the saw deck. You can guess it sailed thru the 'vertical' leg of the cut but bogged down when it hit the corner and then had to run thru the flat. I'm pretty sure that's what dulled it faster than yrs of correct cutting would. I had another blade handy and re-orienting it back to the same way in the pic above and it ripped thru it like it wasn't there.[/quote] --------- Is this a straight compound or sliding compound miter saw? If it's an abrasive saw it turns too fast for the carbide metal cutting blade and will heat up and dull the teeth. I have a Rage 3 sliding saw and the blade drops down in the deck a bit so it's actually cutting upwards a bit instead of flat and works fine. For the 14in saw when cutting flat, miters, larger tubing, just cut for a couple seconds, raise blade a bit for a couple seconds to cool and repeat. Bit of a theory on my part but I seem to get good blade life so doesn't hurt.

[5vzfehilux]

Hopefully you can visualize what I mean and how it would work. The only issue is holding the angle stock in the right location. If you need a pic because I'm not making any sense, I can take one in a few minutes.

Thks Oscar, that would be great if it's not a hassle. It's friday arvo here and the brian has already walked out the door.

Is this a straight compound or sliding compound miter saw? If it's an abrasive saw it turns too fast for the carbide metal cutting blade and will heat up and dull the teeth. I have a Rage 3 sliding saw and the blade drops down in the deck a bit so it's actually cutting upwards a bit instead of flat and works fine. For the 14in saw when cutting flat, miters, larger tubing, just cut for a couple seconds, raise blade a bit for a couple seconds to cool and repeat. Bit of a theory on my part but I seem to get good blade life so doesn't hurt.

Yep it's a straight mitre saw. TBH it was prob never intended to run a steel blade but the rev specs of machine vs blade are ok so it does work and it has enough juice to spin it thru.

Funnily enough when I posted this morning, I got a txt straight after from the shop I'd taken the blade to to get resharpened saying it was ready. I took some angle stock and quizzed them about it and they said the aim of blade life is to try and always cut the thinnest section possible. As I said before and I told them, I think I'd made the blade blunt from orienting the stock so that the blade was forced to make the hardest cut, ie come down thru the vertical which is no drama but then it would hit the corner of the angle and have to try and dig thru and across the flat base. He said it's hard with square tube stock though because you want to keep everything tight and secure for cutting, but trying to orient tube in a blade - friendly way means the vise only has a thin corner to hold onto, which raises the sketch factor.

Another thing with my saw is that although it's little, it has a bevel cut feature where instead of spinning the deck and blade to make 45° relative to the fence, you can leave the deck and fence as is at 90° to the blade and let the blade flop over to 45°, ie when you look at the machine front straight on the blade is tilted off. I think but haven't tried yet that this could allow a quick 45° mitre with the angle stock oriented with one face flat on the deck. Flop the blade over to 45°, cut just down to the rounded corner then flip the blade and stock back to normal and make the vertical straight down cut. Might give it a try if I can get a vise to hold it right.

[Oscar]

Forgot to check this thread. I was actually working on a stand for my metal saw.

So what is the actual saw that you have? Can you post a link or a pic?

[5vzfehilux]

It's the simplest littly saw going around. And yes about the guard.

[Granddaddy]

a little outside of the thread title but maybe it will be f use to someone,
I got in a bind for a blade for my rage 2 and the only thing I could lay my hands on that would fit was a Lennox ceramic edged blade. reading the packaging it sounded as if it was a miracle of metal cutting technology but in reality it makes the multi material blade that came with the rage 2 look like a laser. I am still using it but only because I am determined to get my money out of it.

[JayWal]

I bought a diamond edged 5" cutoff wheel for an angle grinder to try it as well, since they claim a crazy long life. Compared to abrasives. And yeah I know exactly what you mean its horrible for cutting. Loud, slow and not a nice finish at all. I use it more for cleaning slag out of tight corners or getting the corner of a t joint clean. Since there's no risk of it exploding if you give it a side load, unlike a normal zipcut.

Sent from my SM-G970W using Tapatalk

[Oscar]

I bought a diamond edged 5" cutoff wheel for an angle grinder to try it as well, since they claim a crazy long life. Compared to abrasives. And yeah I know exactly what you mean its horrible for cutting. Loud, slow and not a nice finish at all. I use it more for cleaning slag out of tight corners or getting the corner of a t joint clean. Since there's no risk of it exploding if you give it a side load, unlike a normal zipcut.

Sent from my SM-G970W using Tapatalk

Wrong thread.

[JayWal]

I bought a diamond edged 5" cutoff wheel for an angle grinder to try it as well, since they claim a crazy long life. Compared to abrasives. And yeah I know exactly what you mean its horrible for cutting. Loud, slow and not a nice finish at all. I use it more for cleaning slag out of tight corners or getting the corner of a t joint clean. Since there's no risk of it exploding if you give it a side load, unlike a normal zipcut.

Sent from my SM-G970W using Tapatalk

Wrong thread. [emoji38]

Diamond...carbide... same cloud different park [emoji846]

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[sbaker56]

Bought one of those Diablo 7 1/4" 48T cermet metal cutting blades for circular saws, so I guess I can finally join the thread.

I'm intending to use it on thick aluminum mostly as right now I'm just using a 24 tooth carbide wood blade. But I'm debating seeing just how long it'll last on steel. It's intended for it, I just can't help but be skeptical and I'd hate to dull it too fast.

[Oscar]

Unplugged of course, but I hold down the saw so I can get a speed square against the blade. And adjust the clamp fence off of the blade edge.

I'm pretty sure he's not asking about how to obtain the 45° measurement/markings. I think he's asking about how to not orient the stock to avoid the inevitability of cutting through one of the stock's flat-sides, which would be laying down flat on the base of the saw.

5vzfehilux,

What this is, is a geometry problem. Unfortunately the placement of the vise is what makes this difficult. The vise usually 'forces' us to place the stock in such a location that the blade will almost always come down right on top of that flat side. To avoid it you'd need to either

A) be able to use an alternate location for the vise that puts the angle further from the blade (closer to you on the plane of the base)
or
B) custom-make a jig to hold the angle on the base 'further' away from the blade (on the plane of the base of course). IOW, the angle would be closer to you from your perspective, but not so far away from the traditional location that the blade wouldn't be able to get all the way through on the cut.

Hopefully you can visualize what I mean and how it would work. The only issue is holding the angle stock in the right location. If you need a pic because I'm not making any sense, I can take one in a few minutes.

So I finally got a chance to cut some steel for some rolling bases for my storage racks that I had been meaning to make for some time, and made use of the technique that I had mentioned.

The "problem" is the typical fence location has the blade come down on one of the flats when doing a miter cut, as was mentioned:




So what I end up doing is spacing out the angle closer towards me, by using whatever I can find that will allow proper clamping, in this case I'm using 1¼" square tubing. I do this because on my saw the fence can't be re-located so as to bring the material closer to me, from my perspective standing in front of the saw:



Doing so allows the blade to come down starting at the corner:




And as it continues to cut away, it never encounters any flats: