chop saw blade life

[Folkpunk]

Originally Posted by Ironman

I have a drycut chopsaw. Your Fein looks exactly like my saw from Princess Auto.

Blades are around $160. There are ways to get long life out of the blade.
1. know for a fucking fact that you are cutting mild steel only. A band saw will cut tougher alloys with no harm.
2. fasten the steel securely in the vise.
3. do not try to cut anything too short, that could roll or move in the vise.
4. if you have ignored the above and killed a couple of teeth, pull the blade and have them replaced in a saw shop. Well worth it for 5.25 a tooth.
5. And never let some idiot hanging around the shop try to use it.

Also use a good quality blade. I use a 14" metal Devil with 60-70 teeth, or a Tenryu blade with same specs. They last the longest. I now get about 6 months out of a blade before I need a tooth or resharpen.

They will cut fast and last a long time if you are careful. I always have a spare blade so I never have to stop what I'm doing, and don't make " just one more" cut if a tooth is K.O'ed

This is a good list, especially #5.

[Shade Tree Welder]

Originally Posted by Lew Hartswick

Keith what do yo call this one ???
...lew...

A man-eater...

They suck.

[Shade Tree Welder]

Originally Posted by LKeithR

Like a nice Ellis...

I love my Ellis.

[LKeithR]

Yup, following Gerry's rules will get you the best life possible out of one of those blades. They sure as hell don't take kindly to any kind of abuse. We always used our drycutter more for aluminum than for steel so blades always lasted pretty good. We've had a couple but the last one crapped out a while ago and, since we're not cutting a lot of aluminum anymore, we never bothered to replace it. Still got the good Ellis horizontal which we almost always used to cut any steel we used in the shop...

[LKeithR]

Originally Posted by Shade Tree Welder

I love my Ellis.

Amen to that. We bought ours in '85 or '86 and it's still going strong. Ours came with a 1/2 HP 115V motor. We ran it like that for about a year and then switched to a 3/4 HP 208V motor--made quite a difference in how it worked.

Just curious, Ron, did your saw come with the 1/2 or the 3/4 horse motor? Before I replaced the motor I called one time and talked to the people at Ellis and they said they had had a few people calling about the saw being a bit under-powered. Always wondered if they changed the motors or not...

[Lowe.Buuck]

LKeithR - I've got an old Ellis 1200 and it has a 3/4hp motor.

[unfinished]

I also have 14" dry cut metal saw, made by mk morse. Just like like a chop saw but fitted with a carbide tipped saw blade designed for cutting mild steel. I do like it, but it doesnt seem very cost effective overall. It is fast and clean cutting, no abrasive dust floating around. I've been through like 4 blades, all recreational shop use by me. When it throws sparks the blade is shot, but it will still cut somewhat.

I wrecked one when the material shifted. Lost several teeth and it went downhill from there. The others I don't feel lasted very long for what they cost, I've tried MkMorse (original), Diablo, and Evolution blades. All run around 80 bucks.

To optimize blade life:
1) stick to material thicknesses the blade is designed for, dont cut random sheet metal or 1" stock

2) dont cut horizontal faces if possible. Set flat bar vertically in the vise. Set square tubing as diamond in the vise (buy or make the v-holders for square tubing) However if you are going miter square tubing you wont be able to use the v-holders and will have to cut the face flat. Example https://www.amazon.com/MK-Morse-CSP1.../dp/B0049SQ5OO

3) very gentle engagement of blade with material, bring blade to material and let it cut into, dont let it bounce or chatter

4) low pressure, feed it at the rate it wants to go

I can't really quantify the blade life but I feel like it should be more to be cost-effective. I'm not going to count number of cuts x cut width x material thickness for whatever projects I am doing.

I've also got the 8" milwaukee metal cutting circular saw. That is quite useful for cut metal sheets. Same things, have to be careful about pinching the blade, feed rate, engagement with material, etc...


Good tips Gerry, I never considered having the blades repaired. I'm sure mine were wrecked when i kept cutting. Ill have to see if i find somebody to regrind when they are dull. There used to be a local guy that sharpened/reground the tips on carbide table saw blades, but he's long gone.

[Shade Tree Welder]

Originally Posted by LKeithR

Just curious, Ron, did your saw come with the 1/2 or the 3/4 horse motor?

Originally Posted by Lowe.Buuck

LKeithR - I've got an old Ellis 1200 and it has a 3/4hp motor.

I have the Ellis 1600 10'x1" blade. It came with a dual voltage 1HP motor. It
came wired for 120V, I have not changed it. If it came 240V that would have
been fine too. The only mod I have made to it was an auxiliary fence.

[Shade Tree Welder]

Keith et al,

I started a separate band saw thread, as not to completely hyjack Folk's thread here.

[Folkpunk]

Originally Posted by unfinished

I also have 14" dry cut metal saw, made by mk morse. Just like like a chop saw but fitted with a carbide tipped saw blade designed for cutting mild steel. I do like it, but it doesnt seem very cost effective overall. It is fast and clean cutting, no abrasive dust floating around. I've been through like 4 blades, all recreational shop use by me. When it throws sparks the blade is shot, but it will still cut somewhat.

I wrecked one when the material shifted. Lost several teeth and it went downhill from there. The others I don't feel lasted very long for what they cost, I've tried MkMorse (original), Diablo, and Evolution blades. All run around 80 bucks.

To optimize blade life:
1) stick to material thicknesses the blade is designed for, dont cut random sheet metal or 1" stock

2) dont cut horizontal faces if possible. Set flat bar vertically in the vise. Set square tubing as diamond in the vise (buy or make the v-holders for square tubing) However if you are going miter square tubing you wont be able to use the v-holders and will have to cut the face flat. Example https://www.amazon.com/MK-Morse-CSP1.../dp/B0049SQ5OO

3) very gentle engagement of blade with material, bring blade to material and let it cut into, dont let it bounce or chatter

4) low pressure, feed it at the rate it wants to go

This is helpful. Thank you.