Carbide blades for steel cutting chop saws

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Robber58

Robber58

Knifemaker / Craftsman / Service Provider
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I am facing a project where I have to cut a lot of fairly narrow pieces (3/8 inch long) from 1 1/2 inch wide bars of 154 CM steel leaving a reasonably flat, square edge. My efforts so far using my band saw have been less than satisfactory. I have been looking at getting a chop saw that runs the carbide metal cutting blades to do this job and I was wondering if anyone has any experience using them on tough to cut materials. Any advice would be very welcome.
Randy
 
The best answer I can give is "it depends".

The carbide teeth on the metal cutting saw blades hold up OK on mild steel, but will shatter if you hit hard steel. Some of the saw makers even advise against cutting rebar because of the unknown nature of the alloy ...much rebar is recycled steel. I have found that some saw blades hold up much better than others, but it also depends on what shapes you are cutting, a blade that does well on hollow shapes frequently does not do well on solid stock.

Obviously the 154cm should be in as soft a state as possible, buy a saw blade rated for stainless and expect to sharpen it frequently. Morse has a little longevity chart in one of their ads for one of their saw blades, 40 cuts on a 12" wide mild steel channel vs. 13 cuts on a 12" wide stainless plate... If you don't mind grinding off the burr perhaps an abrasive bladed chopsaw might be the answer? Used carefully they can make a clean cut on hard steel, but they will heat the material some
 
Robber58 said:
I have been looking at getting a chop saw that runs the carbide metal cutting blades to do this job and I was wondering if anyone has any experience using them on tough to cut materials.
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Chop saws run at 3,000 -- 4,000 RPM. If you put a carbide blade in it, you're guaranteed to have a catastrophic event.

What you want is a cold saw, which has a worm drive that runs at 50 - 100 RPM (for steel and ferrous materials). I have an Eisle 2-speed cold saw: it runs at 44 & 88 rpm with a 14" blade.
 
There are quite a few chop saws out there specifically designed to cut steel with a carbide tipped blade. They typically run a 14" blade at about 1300 rpm. We have 3 from different brands here in the shop, and 2 more that run the abrasive blades. Google "dry cut metal saw". Obviously you have to use the particular blades designed to go with those chop saws... Cold saws are more sophisticated, and much more expensive, pieces of equipment
 
DeWalt is making a diamond blade for abrasive 14in. chop saws. It's expensive, but if the hype is true, you only need to buy one.
I have a 5" diamond grit grinding disk on one of my hand held grinders, and it's worth every penny of the hundred bucks or so- no abrasive dust to breathe, only steel dust, and four months in I"m not seeing any wear on it.
But I'd probably use my SteelMax for what you have, as long as it's soft. (14" carbide miter saw for steel) The blades are spendy for that one too...
Andy G.
 
lazlo said:
Chop saws run at 3,000 -- 4,000 RPM. If you put a carbide blade in it, you're guaranteed to have a catastrophic event.

What you want is a cold saw, which has a worm drive that runs at 50 - 100 RPM (for steel and ferrous materials). I have an Eisle 2-speed cold saw: it runs at 44 & 88 rpm with a 14" blade.
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These are incredible, made for VERY accurate cuts.
 
I've used one at a friend's shop. Evolution 12" dry cut saw. IMO it was only good for fabrication with small to medium sized mild steel tube, bar, etc. It did not do well at all on anything harder than mild... and those TCT blades are expensive. I like an abrasive chopsaw better for sure.
 
Having used chop saws, coldsaws and bandsaws for things like this, I lean towards a bandsaw with a good blade on it. I think it would require a very stout coldsaw to get good blade life in that material.
 
I think you are looking at a very expensive option either way. I have never seen a cheap bandsaw that makes straight cuts.
 
All,
Thanks for all the input. Based on some more research, I have concluded that the blade on a dry cut saw simply will not hold up very long on this material, an abrasive blade won't cut too accurately and may cause local hardening and a cold cut unit is more than I can justify investing right now. Sam is certainly correct about accuracy on a cheap saw. Mine cuts fine but there is no way to get a clean, square cut. I even tried a high dollar saw at a friends and, although it did better, I still have to square and clean the flat. So, I guess the best option is to find a way to hold those little parts after cutting so I can clean them up. Back to tooling design.
Randy
 
I though I would add a picture so you can see the problem. It is small and difficult to handle.
RandyBlade.jpg
 
I would probably grind the end square and flat before cutting the part off of the bar. Then set up a jig to grind the bevels on the grinder or a surface grinder or mill if you have one.
 
I have a similar situation but the type of steel is called extra extra improved plow steel (high strength wire rope). I have a chop saw that has a basic 14" diamond blade but it took for ever and practically burned through the rope versus, cut it. Any opinions?
 
Welcome to Shop Talk miahoutx.
This thread is two year old. Look at the date before posting on something you find is a search.


Extra extra improved plow steel- XXX steel = 1095. it should cut fine with a chop saw and the cable in a vise.
 
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