"Tom Gardner" wrote in message
. com...
Oh great! Now your going to start ANOTHER religious war!

Seriously, the last time I bought blades for my vertical I told my
supplier
to ship six of each style he had. The bill was maybe $200 but that was
one
situation that totally went away. I have a welder and have also bought
partial stock spools when the suppliers are running a clearance sale,
usually at about 25 cents a foot. (the old rule of thumb: "3 teeth in the
work min.")

"Chris" wrote in message
. ..
On Thu, 26 Jan 2006 22:21:53 +0000, Chris wrote:

Thanks for the replies, didn't mean to start another war I'll get a
couple of blades welded up, and see what happens. How many TPI should I
get, one for cutting ali plate / blocks, the other for (say) 1/8 inch
mild
steel plate? Thanks for all the answers and the laughs


What Tom said, but keep in mind that speed plays a big role in how a blade
performs. For example, you can saw thin aluminum very successfully with a
4 pitch blade, assuming you're running the blade quite fast. If you run
within recommended surface speeds, the blade you select should always have
three or more teeth in contact with the material at one time, otherwise it's
possible for the material to overfeed, shearing teeth from the blade. That
happens easily when sawing materials like sheet stainless steel, but common
sheet steel will do it as well.

The other thing to keep in mind is the size of the material being sawed, or
the length of the cut. When you use a blade that has way too many teeth in
contact, the blade loads to the point where the gullet can no longer
accommodate any more chip, then it floats the blade. Not only does your cut
slow way down, but you wear the blade prematurely, because it's not cutting,
but dragging instead. With a carbon steel blade, you risk warming the blade
to the point of annealing it under that condition. In the case of a long
cut, use a coarse blade, even one as coarse as 4 TPI, even in steel.

If you're sawing shapes (angle, channel, pipe or tubing), the thin sections
will dictate the pitch of the blade. If you expect good performance from
your saw, have various blade types at your disposal, and change the blade
when the cut isn't within reasonable parameters. You'll be much happier
with how your saw performs.

Harold