Circular Saw Burning/Smoking Problem

[John Grossbohlin]

Let's try this again... "blade guard." It's time for bed... ;~)

[CW]

Lots of saws, even fairly pricey table saws, come with lousy blades. That would be the first thing I tried. Replace the blade.

[David Merrill]

Try removing the blade and laying it on a flat surface, first on one side then on the other side, to check for possible warping due to overheating. Does the blade have some sort of radial slots to resist such warping ? I ran onto this problem once with a cheap carbide blade; the warp was noticeable once the blade was dismounted.

David Merrill

[Puckdropper]

[e-mail] wrote in news:1154381386.703627.22440 @i3g2000cwc.googlegroups.com:

*snip: Blade smokes while cutting*

*snip*

Nicorette maybe?

Try redoing the tightening of the blade. If you get them too tight sometimes they'll disfigure and warp. Had a plywood blade do that...

[hylourgos]

Trust me (and several others), it's the blade. For whatever reason--it's cheap, you hit a nail unbeknownst, or deus roboris doesn't like you--the blade is dull. Do yourself a big favor and buy a good thin-kerf Freud blade. They're only about $10 or so. Take the old blade off, put on the Freud, use it on some wood...you will be happy.

Tell us how it works out.

Regards, H

[jmyszka]

Thanks to everyone for their input.

I was inclined to just pick up a new blade, but Home Depot was quite eager to take their saw back and sell it to some other poor soul. So I picked up a dewalt jigsaw and that finished the job no problem. It takes about twice as long to make the cuts, but they are quite straight and clean - and no problems with the blades

Thanks again!

Joe

hylourgos wrote:

[Andrew Williams]

I was going to suggest looking at the sides of the saw teeth for pitch build-up.

[Jerry]

Could be the saw. I had an inexpensive craftsman saw that did just what you describe. Finally got fed up with it and threw it in the trash and went out and got a decent Porter Cable saw. Couldn't believe the difference -- cut true and cut like butter.....

[e-mail] wrote:

[Mike Marlow]

Just for the sake of discussion - what difference does the saw make? It doesn't. Assuming a couple of things that have not been previously qualified...

If the motor is not lugging down on a basic cut, then the motor has enough power. It will work.

If the shoe and the blade are not aligned it will only matter when using an edge guide. Free hand sawing will be unaffected. It will work.

If the blade is a piece of junk it will not cut and it will burn wood. It will not work, but this is not a fault of the saw - cheap or not. You can put a piece of junk blade on my Milwaukee and it will burn wood just like the cheap saw.

The saw may indeed be poorly built and it may vibrate a lot in your hand, it may not last very long as sleeves wear quickly, and it may be of really poor balance. Those are all good reasons to buy a better tool, but with a good blade even a cheap "piece of junk" will cut wood just fine. I've had to cut wood with too many lesser saws to be quick to blame bad cutting on the saw.

One of the best saws I ever owned was the cheapest Black and Decker 5 1/2 inch saws that I inherited. The thing was as poorly built as a saw gets. It certainly would not have stood up to the rigors of being bumped around, thrown in the back of a contractor's truck. Flat out, it was not a saw I would ever have given $5 for. But... I put a decent blade on it and it immediately became one of the handiest tools in my collection. Very maneuverable - much more handy to hold onto than my Milwaukee. Quick, clean cuts. In short, for a few years it was the handiest saw I could ask for. As it goes with cheap tools, it didn't enjoy the longevity of life that a good tool will and it's now rotting away in the land fill, but it sure was a good tool for a while.

[Jerry]

[Mike Marlow]

That's interesting Jerry - what do you mean by tuning it?

[Bob Moos]

I had a similar situation to the original poster's, which also involves a Skil circular saw and difficulty cutting things. Some of my problem was just getting the cuts set-up properly so that the wood did not bind. But ultimately the biggest problem was having crappy blades on the saw. I replaced what I had been using with the Freud 7 1/4" blade available at Home Depot and that made a world of difference. It made so much difference that it felt like having a whole new and different saw.