I need to cut a lot of 16 ga., and so thought I would put the tablesaw to
work with a chopsaw blade. It didn't seem such an awful idea, but I sure
wasn't ready for the spark show. Thought I would take a break and see if
prevailing wisdom has a commonsense reason why this is a bad thing to do.
The fire extinguisher is close at hand...

"Mike Young" wrote in message
et...
I need to cut a lot of 16 ga., and so thought I would put the tablesaw to
work with a chopsaw blade. It didn't seem such an awful idea, but I sure
wasn't ready for the spark show. Thought I would take a break and see if
prevailing wisdom has a commonsense reason why this is a bad thing to do.
The fire extinguisher is close at hand...

a recent project, cutting up some grating, didn't want to use O/A torch, too
cheap to buy a dry cut saw, just bought a dry cut saw blade (milwaukee 10"
from amazon.com) put it on my table saw (rpm's were substantially lower than
my circular saw). worked, what for me was, OK. i use a sliding plywood
miter box on top of the tablesaw bed. one thing though, with grating,
towards the end of the cut the already cut pieces could/would pinch the
blade, which sucked, i broke/chipped a few (BRAND NEW) teeth that way. dry
cut blade was more expensive i'd imagine than an abrasive cut off saw blade,
less sparks though i'd imagine. don't know if you can cut sheet metal with
it though, i'd guess you'd have to feed it slowly but more importantly very
steadily.

b.w.

"William Wixon" wrote in message
...
"Mike Young" wrote in message
et...
I need to cut a lot of 16 ga., and so thought I would put the tablesaw to
work with a chopsaw blade. It didn't seem such an awful idea, but I sure
wasn't ready for the spark show. Thought I would take a break and see if
prevailing wisdom has a commonsense reason why this is a bad thing to do.
The fire extinguisher is close at hand...

a recent project, cutting up some grating, didn't want to use O/A torch,
too cheap to buy a dry cut saw, just bought a dry cut saw blade (milwaukee
10" from amazon.com) put it on my table saw (rpm's were substantially
lower than my circular saw). worked, what for me was, OK. i use a
sliding plywood miter box on top of the tablesaw bed. one thing though,
with grating, towards the end of the cut the already cut pieces
could/would pinch the blade, which sucked, i broke/chipped a few (BRAND
NEW) teeth that way. dry cut blade was more expensive i'd imagine than an
abrasive cut off saw blade, less sparks though i'd imagine. don't know if
you can cut sheet metal with it though, i'd guess you'd have to feed it
slowly but more importantly very steadily.

The cutting action is OK, as far as that goes. I just can't get a straight
cut out of it. And I don't know why I'm surprised it makes that
burnt-grinding smell. (The woodshop is in the basement; the metal shop is in
the garage, for that very reason.) Planning and daydreaming sometimes leaves
out the details of the other senses, I guess.

The price for the abrasive blade is right: $4 and some change. Run-out and
warp is what you'd expect for that: god awful. About .030 warp on the face,
and front to back is out .010 mil. (That is kinda weird. I dialled in the
trunnions and a Forrest blade to just about 1 mil not that long ago. It's
the blade, not the arbor.)

The size of the work doesn't lend itself to clamping to the plywood sled,
and I can't find a 1/2 bolt this moment to clamp things to the miter gauge.
I'm glad to call it quits. Should maybe think about getting a shear and
press brake for this kind of work. It's a simple job if you have the tools
for it.

In article , Mike

Better figure in the cost of new bearings for your table saw. Ask me
how I know.

Chuck P.

"MOP CAP" wrote in message
news:071120051722230165%Pilgrim6nospam@mindspring. com...
In article , Mike

Better figure in the cost of new bearings for your table saw. Ask me
how I know.

Hmmm. It sure does vibrate quite a bit. Is that what you're talking about?

Nope, abrasive dust really kills the bearings.

Be sure to clean out the sawdust before doing this again. You do not
want to mix sawdust and hot sparks, it can smolder for hours.

Mike Young wrote:
"MOP CAP" wrote in message
news:071120051722230165%Pilgrim6nospam@mindspring. com...

In article , Mike

Better figure in the cost of new bearings for your table saw. Ask me
how I know.


Hmmm. It sure does vibrate quite a bit. Is that what you're talking about?

Mike Young wrote:

I need to cut a lot of 16 ga., and so thought I would put the tablesaw
to work with a chopsaw blade. ...

The table saw will work fine, but you need a Tennyru style blade (C6
carbide). You can get a 7 1/4" Matshu****a for $35 from Medford Tool:
http://www.medfordtools.com/matsushi...elcutters.html

It will fly through 16 ga & the cut will be clean and straight. Yeah,
kinda noisy and the chips are VERY hot. I have a small dedicated TS
with one of these blades, just for steel.

Bob

I see now that Harbor Freight has "metal cutting" blades. 7.25", 10", 12",
and 14"
http://order.harborfreight.com/EasyA...20PST%202 005
They are mail order only it seems, and I have not put an order together to
get one to try. They are quite a bit cheaper than any of the other "name
brand" blades that I have seen.
I have a Matsu****a 7.25" that works great, but have abused it too much and
so there are some teeth chipped or missing.
The abrasive blades are hard on saws, I've burnt up the bearings in one
skill saw, and now I will only use them on cheap, throwaway type saws.
The vibration in the abrasive blades can be improved greatly by dressing
both the diameter, and the sides, which is really not recommended since it
weakens the blade.


"Bob Engelhardt" wrote in message
. ..
Mike Young wrote:

I need to cut a lot of 16 ga., and so thought I would put the tablesaw to
work with a chopsaw blade. ...

The table saw will work fine, but you need a Tennyru style blade (C6
carbide). You can get a 7 1/4" Matshu****a for $35 from Medford Tool:
http://www.medfordtools.com/matsushi...elcutters.html

It will fly through 16 ga & the cut will be clean and straight. Yeah,
kinda noisy and the chips are VERY hot. I have a small dedicated TS with
one of these blades, just for steel.

Bob

On Tue, 08 Nov 2005 01:06:13 GMT, "Mike Young"
wrote:

Should maybe think about getting a shear and
press brake for this kind of work. It's a simple job if you have the tools
for it.

Those tools take a lot of floor space -- nice if you have the space.

I use a throatless shear. Mine is a Beverly B-2 but I see that HF has
a knockoff for about $79. They don't automatically cut a straight
line like a stomp shear does, but it is possible to cut along a line
quite accurately with a little care. Gentle curves are also
possible. 30 seconds with a sanding disc in a diegrinder cleans up
the edge to "tits".

My shear cuts 16 gage steel like it was paper. 14 gage is no problem
and it'll do 11 gage. It also does 24 gage well. I've even cut 50
feet of chicken wire with it -- keeps the sharp edges away from my
hands. It's "footprint" on the bench is about 5" x 6". It's easy to
take outside and clamp to a trailer or a board in the bed of a truck.
That was useful for cutting semi-disk fender walls out of 16-gage
steel that I then welded to the inside lips of the trailer fenders
to keep mud on the road and off the load.