I've done that after seeing it done repeatedly. I was a bit paranoid but it worked fine, no kickback problem. The big but is that coarse toothed TCT blades don't last long doing that. Half a dozen cuts and it sure shows. So not practical for anything more than a 1 off.
That kind of bears out my fears. But you say you had no problems when you didn't use a disk with large gaps between the teeth. Which blade type was it that *did* work fine?
Thank you, John; I'll check out the links.
The circular blades have limiters (similar to those on a chain saw) and have the appropriately shaped teeth. Do your research. Look at videos. Look at the blades. Open your mind to the fact that you might be wrong. I've tried to help but am now giving-up the fight.
I'm always open to the possibility of being wrong. I may well be wrong in this thread. But I've decided to go ahead and purchase one of these saws anyway. If I don't get on with the multi-use blade it comes with, I'll just get one of the toothless ones they make for angle grinders and fettle it to fit. How hard can that be?
Indeed they do. For saw cutting hard or thin stuff, that can matter. For chopping mild steel, it does not particularly. The tooth profile on the carbide blades limits the amount of "bite" they can get - so successive teeth pare away at the surface, rather than trying to gouge great lump s out.
If they are designed for steel cutting, and you are cutting mild steel, they will enjoy a decent life - outlasting many hundreds of abrasive discs and cutting much faster.
Hard steels you will still be better off with an abrasive.
Thanks, John. That's the extra little bit of info I needed to clear up my misunderstanding. Phew! Got there in the end!
I had no problems using a regular TCT wood blade in a mitre saw, other than the blade dulling too fast to be practical.
It seems there are these new TCT blades with big teeth which have a novel profile and can handle mild steel. So I'm going to give 'em a try and see for myself. Fortune favours the bold and all that. :-D
You can use abrasive's in cut off saws, but they are slower cutting, produce much more heat, and create loads of dust. (the same as using an AG for any amount of cutting - of you are not wearing a good respirator you will soon know it!)
Check rpm rating of the blade and the saw. Most mitre saws have no load speeds well exceeding the metal blade rpm rating.
What kind of metal blades have lower ratings? I'd have thought something potentially dangerous like that would have been legislated against a long time ago.
You mentioned "these new TCT blades with big teeth which have a novel profile and can handle mild steel"? What is the rating for the blade of your choice?
I was thinking it's more about survivability of the teeth. Eye protection would be essential should bits of tungsten carbide go flying.
I wasn't going to reply again but ... do you mean that you're going to buy an Evolution saw, or just the blade to put in a wood-cutting mitre/chop saw? If the latter it's a bad idea. The cutting speed will be wrong (the Evolution saw has a reduction gearbox, I believe) and the wood saw will probably have ventilation holes around the brushes, into which the metal swarf will go. If the former then I think you'll be pleased with the result although, as I think I said earlier, the saws are a little unsophisticated.
In the day we sued to cut aluminium extrusions with a high speed saw with a wood blade.
I think its more complicated than that. In general the limiting factor is whether the material you are cutting melts, or slices. And that differs markedly even between grades of steel. A hacksaw will slide off a chrome alloy 'silver' steel shaft where it will slice through mild steel. The only way I have cut silver steel is with an abrasive disk of some sort.
All of them.
It isn't a danger, it just means that the blades wear out faster.
Didn't happen with the thin composite toothless metal cutting disks.
In the first instance I'll just go with whatever the manufacturer fits the saw with. Can't go far wrong with that safe tea wise I'd have thought.
There's no shortage of hazardous cutting discs that are still legal.
What I said.
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