Chop Saws

[BUDH]

I just picked up a 14" Dewalt chop saw today, and need a little feedback on these. I'm cutting some 1.25" angle iron that's at least 1/8" thick, maybe thicker. When I am cutting the vertical side, it's nice and smooth. When it gets to the flat side, the sparks start diminishing and it takes forever to cut through the stock. In fact, I've thrown the breaker a few times, but that's another story.

I purchased another blade and did swap it out, to no avail. Is this just the norm for chop saws, or is it just the nature of cutting angle iron? Do I need to upgrade blades? I'm at a loss.

[crf250x]

I'm not an expert on chop saws but from my experience, it's normal. I usually let the RPM's build up, make a cut til it starts to bog down, and repeat.

[BUDH]

May have some of it figured out. The fence can move fore & aft. If you position it in such a way that you are cutting from the edge, inward or outward, and not coming down in the middle of the flat side, it cuts pretty quick, with lots of sparks. Another thing that helps is a thin blade. 7/64 vs 1/8 isn't much, but it helped.

I would still like to try one of the metal blades on this saw, as opposed to the abrasive style. Supposedly a steady, clean, and faster cut. I guess the best thing to do would have been purchasing a plasma cutter, but that's down the road.

[duramex]

Originally Posted by BUDH

May have some of it figured out. The fence can move fore & aft. If you position it in such a way that you are cutting from the edge, inward or outward, and not coming down in the middle of the flat side, it cuts pretty quick, with lots of sparks. Another thing that helps is a thin blade. 7/64 vs 1/8 isn't much, but it helped.

I would still like to try one of the metal blades on this saw, as opposed to the abrasive style. Supposedly a steady, clean, and faster cut. I guess the best thing to do would have been purchasing a plasma cutter, but that's down the road.

i have one of each they all have there draw backs

[heymccall]

Abrasive blades suck for cutting steel, after having bought a carbide bladed steel circular saw.

I love my Milwaukee

from here http://www.milwaukeetool.com/tools/s...aw-kit/6370-21

[duramex]

Originally Posted by heymccall

Abrasive blades suck for cutting steel, after having bought a carbide bladed steel circular saw.

I love my Milwaukee

from here http://www.milwaukeetool.com/tools/s...aw-kit/6370-21

yes those are nice but the blade goes dull quick

[Diesel52]

What I have figured out over the years is to cut angle with the open side down. When cutting( I ) beam the same way, you always want any flat to be above the base! With the vertical side up you can cut too fast with to much wear. What you always want to consider is to have more then, what would be ( 3 teeth for steel AL ??? ) Apply enough force to cut the sound will tell you that. Might you have along wire / cord to the chop saw ? this will have more voltage drop, if you have a multi meter measure the voltage at the plug. You will find some time that your blade will glaze over to fix this lift and firmly press (bounce) from about 1/2" about every 2 seconds . Angle iron to is always? less then 90* so you will have to compensate for this. It is good to be designing things.

[BUDH]

I finally got it all chopped up. It was all 1" angle iron that was about 1/4" thick. They were all 45 degree cuts, and so long as the blade was only cutting on one side, all was well. Add the dual cut, and it slowed down quite a bit. Also, never realized how much these blades will flex and run out. just gotta be careful with it because I'm sure wou don't want to catch a chunk of the blade @ 4200 RPM...