Once again, I end up having a tool with a non-typical fit of something. This
Panasonic EY3530 cordless saw was cheap/almost free (with 7.2 to 24V smart
charger), but the arbor size for the blades is 20mm (.7874").
The Panasonic blades are some of the most expensive blades in the 5-3/8"
size.

Quite a few other 5-3/8" blades for other brands have arbor holes of 10mm,
so I'm pondering the likelyhood of enlarging the holes to 20mm, while having
the holes remain concentric.

In the past, I've considered trying to ream blade arbor holes, and that may
be good enough (for wood), but lately I wonder if a slight inacurracy might
cause rapid blade wear, particularly when cutting metal.

I expect the saw blade core to be relatively easy to cut, and I could grind
to the finished size if needed.

Clamping to a lathe faceplate, or to a rotary table, while indexing on the
original hole to center the blade, are the conlusions I've arrived at.

The blade tips are carbide for both metal and wood cutting blades, so
shimming away from a flat surface would preserve flatness.

I suppose that it's fairly safe to assume that other holes in the blades are
probably concentrically located to the arbor hole, but some blades don't
have additional holes.

--
WB
..........
metalworking projects
www.kwagmire.com/metal_proj.html

On Dec 5, 3:40*pm, "Wild_Bill" wrote:
Once again, I end up having a tool with a non-typical fit of something. This
Panasonic EY3530 cordless saw was cheap/almost free (with 7.2 to 24V smart
charger), but the arbor size for the blades is 20mm (.7874").
The Panasonic blades are some of the most expensive blades in the 5-3/8"
size.

Quite a few other 5-3/8" blades for other brands have arbor holes of 10mm,
so I'm pondering the likelyhood of enlarging the holes to 20mm, while having
the holes remain concentric.

In the past, I've considered trying to ream blade arbor holes, and that may
be good enough (for wood), but lately I wonder if a slight inacurracy might
cause rapid blade wear, particularly when cutting metal.

I expect the saw blade core to be relatively easy to cut, and I could grind
to the finished size if needed.

Clamping to a lathe faceplate, or to a rotary table, while indexing on the
original hole to center the blade, are the conlusions I've arrived at.

The blade tips are carbide for both metal and wood cutting blades, so
shimming away from a flat surface would preserve flatness.

I suppose that it's fairly safe to assume that other holes in the blades are
probably concentrically located to the arbor hole, but some blades don't
have additional holes.

--
WB
.........
metalworking projectswww.kwagmire.com/metal_proj.html

Custom punch and die, ala Greenlee would do it. Make the pulling
arbor a precision fit for both die and arbor hole. Otherwise,
faceplates are made for that sort of work. Won't take long to bore it
out, the time spent will be in centering it up to taste. Given the
short lifespan of most cordless tools, how many blades do you think
you'll go through?

Gotcha on a razor/blade deal, huh? Didn't know Panasonic did cordless
shop tools.

Stan

You may want to check how hard the the sawblade is first.

I needed a spacer for a dado blade and decided to cut one from an old
10" blade. I tried to drill a number of 1/8" holes near the desired
diameter but only 3 of 40 holes were able to be thru drilled. The
drill would cut well for the first .02" then hit a hard center
core. I finished the task with a cutoff wheel.
Perhaps the center is intentionally left hard?

OTOH have you looked at the Freud website? They do make a variety of
smaller blades.


Best of luck

I have enlarged holes in saw blades as follows:

First I clamped them in a vise carefully avoiding the teeth in the jaws.

Second I used a tapered reamer to enlarge to almost correct size from
both sides.

Third with leather gloves and a strong leather or canvas apron I use a
three cornered machinist scraper to enlarge to finished size while
rotating the blade by hand.

I have done this on several blades with good results.

CP

Wild_Bill wrote:
Once again, I end up having a tool with a non-typical fit of something.
This Panasonic EY3530 cordless saw was cheap/almost free (with 7.2 to
24V smart charger), but the arbor size for the blades is 20mm (.7874").
The Panasonic blades are some of the most expensive blades in the 5-3/8"
size.

I'd clamp it to the mill table via an aluminum backing plate, indicate
the spindle to the blade bore and then open it up using a boring tool.

--Winston


--

Congratulations Robert Piccinini and Steven A. Burd, WalMart Publicists of the Year!

Method :

Take a junk drill - chuck it in up-side-down.
e.g. grind off the drilling part and use an old shank.

Now where you want to drill - drive this blunt end into the
metal.

Friction heat the spot - turn it blue and go to the next.
Once all are blue - use a set punch to mark the hole and
drill with a normal drill.

Martin

wrote:
You may want to check how hard the the sawblade is first.

I needed a spacer for a dado blade and decided to cut one from an old
10" blade. I tried to drill a number of 1/8" holes near the desired
diameter but only 3 of 40 holes were able to be thru drilled. The
drill would cut well for the first .02" then hit a hard center
core. I finished the task with a cutoff wheel.
Perhaps the center is intentionally left hard?

OTOH have you looked at the Freud website? They do make a variety of
smaller blades.


Best of luck

Thanks, Stan. The new price of this saw with accessories and case was about
$400. Some of Panasonic's other tools are priced alike. The Panasonic
battery pack cells are some of the best money can buy. I sorta anticipate
good life from the batteries with the smart charger.

I saw Homier is selling a saw about the same size as this one for about $50.
Repair parts are still readily available for the Panasonic saw, at least.

I expect that enlarging the holes on a lathe will probably be the method
I'll use.

--
WB
..........
metalworking projects
www.kwagmire.com/metal_proj.html

wrote in message
...
On Dec 5, 3:40 pm, "Wild_Bill" wrote:
Once again, I end up having a tool with a non-typical fit of something.
This
Panasonic EY3530 cordless saw was cheap/almost free (with 7.2 to 24V smart
charger), but the arbor size for the blades is 20mm (.7874").
The Panasonic blades are some of the most expensive blades in the 5-3/8"
size.

Quite a few other 5-3/8" blades for other brands have arbor holes of 10mm,
so I'm pondering the likelyhood of enlarging the holes to 20mm, while
having
the holes remain concentric.


--
WB
.........
metalworking projectswww.kwagmire.com/metal_proj.html

Custom punch and die, ala Greenlee would do it. Make the pulling
arbor a precision fit for both die and arbor hole. Otherwise,
faceplates are made for that sort of work. Won't take long to bore it
out, the time spent will be in centering it up to taste. Given the
short lifespan of most cordless tools, how many blades do you think
you'll go through?

Gotcha on a razor/blade deal, huh? Didn't know Panasonic did cordless
shop tools.

Stan

Thanks for mentioning the difficult blade material. It sounds as if the
blade was stainless steel, and work hardening as you tried to drill.

The only other steel that behaved that way for me, was angle iron OBF old
bed frame, in random spots. In some places it drills easily though.

--
WB
..........
metalworking projects
www.kwagmire.com/metal_proj.html


wrote in message
...
You may want to check how hard the the sawblade is first.

I needed a spacer for a dado blade and decided to cut one from an old
10" blade. I tried to drill a number of 1/8" holes near the desired
diameter but only 3 of 40 holes were able to be thru drilled. The
drill would cut well for the first .02" then hit a hard center
core. I finished the task with a cutoff wheel.
Perhaps the center is intentionally left hard?

OTOH have you looked at the Freud website? They do make a variety of
smaller blades.


Best of luck

Thanks, I'll probably end up using the boring bar method on a lathe,
Winston, as my JOAM joke of a mill Smithy 3in1 machine is disassembled and
packed in numerous boxes.

--
WB
..........
metalworking projects
www.kwagmire.com/metal_proj.html

"Winston" wrote in message
...
Wild_Bill wrote:
Once again, I end up having a tool with a non-typical fit of something.
This Panasonic EY3530 cordless saw was cheap/almost free (with 7.2 to 24V
smart charger), but the arbor size for the blades is 20mm (.7874").
The Panasonic blades are some of the most expensive blades in the 5-3/8"
size.

I'd clamp it to the mill table via an aluminum backing plate, indicate
the spindle to the blade bore and then open it up using a boring tool.

--Winston


--

Congratulations Robert Piccinini and Steven A. Burd, WalMart Publicists of
the Year!

Wild_Bill wrote:
Thanks, I'll probably end up using the boring bar method on a lathe,

(...)


That'll work!

As an exercise yesterday, I sketched up a piloted punch to open up
the 5/8" hole in some circ. saw blades to 1" to fit my dry saw.

It would require a 20 ton shop press and I didn't see one
conveniently located. Checked my pockets, too.

--Winston

--

Congratulations Robert Piccinini and Steven A. Burd, WalMart Publicists of the Year!

I've used the panel punches that use a drawbolt, and they work fairly easily
if the bolt employs a good thrust bearing, but they can introduce some
distortion surrounding the hole.
Any distortion would probably be bad for a circular saw blade, particularly
ones with larger diameters.

I have a nice old all metal, heavy duty, corded saw (Skil brand, I think),
that requires the diamond-shaped hole in the blade. It uses a 6-1/2" blade
IIRC.
A diamond cutout would require some careful milling.
The diamond-shaped hub on the output shaft could be replaced with a machined
hub that would accept blades with round arbor holes.

Yep, always check pockets, justin case.

--
WB
..........
metalworking projects
www.kwagmire.com/metal_proj.html


"Winston" wrote in message
...
Wild_Bill wrote:
Thanks, I'll probably end up using the boring bar method on a lathe,

(...)


That'll work!

As an exercise yesterday, I sketched up a piloted punch to open up
the 5/8" hole in some circ. saw blades to 1" to fit my dry saw.

It would require a 20 ton shop press and I didn't see one
conveniently located. Checked my pockets, too.

--Winston

--

Congratulations Robert Piccinini and Steven A. Burd, WalMart Publicists of
the Year!

On Dec 5, 4:40*pm, "Wild_Bill" wrote:
Once again, I end up having a tool with a non-typical fit of something. This
Panasonic EY3530 cordless saw was cheap/almost free (with 7.2 to 24V smart
charger), but the arbor size for the blades is 20mm (.7874").
The Panasonic blades are some of the most expensive blades in the 5-3/8"
size.

Quite a few other 5-3/8" blades for other brands have arbor holes of 10mm,
so I'm pondering the likelyhood of enlarging the holes to 20mm, while having
the holes remain concentric.

In the past, I've considered trying to ream blade arbor holes, and that may
be good enough (for wood), but lately I wonder if a slight inacurracy might
cause rapid blade wear, particularly when cutting metal.

I expect the saw blade core to be relatively easy to cut, and I could grind
to the finished size if needed.

Clamping to a lathe faceplate, or to a rotary table, while indexing on the
original hole to center the blade, are the conlusions I've arrived at.

The blade tips are carbide for both metal and wood cutting blades, so
shimming away from a flat surface would preserve flatness.

I suppose that it's fairly safe to assume that other holes in the blades are
probably concentrically located to the arbor hole, but some blades don't
have additional holes.

--
WB
.........
metalworking projectswww.kwagmire.com/metal_proj.html

I usually do it on the wire EDM, being the hammer that's handy at the
time... Fast and dirty, and works the treat.

An EDM is a great way to get rid of unwanted metal. Even some of the
shop-built versions are said to perform well.

--
WB
..........
metalworking projects
www.kwagmire.com/metal_proj.html


"SSM" wrote in message
...
On Dec 5, 4:40 pm, "Wild_Bill" wrote:
Once again, I end up having a tool with a non-typical fit of something.
This
Panasonic EY3530 cordless saw was cheap/almost free (with 7.2 to 24V smart
charger), but the arbor size for the blades is 20mm (.7874").
The Panasonic blades are some of the most expensive blades in the 5-3/8"
size.

Quite a few other 5-3/8" blades for other brands have arbor holes of 10mm,
so I'm pondering the likelyhood of enlarging the holes to 20mm, while
having
the holes remain concentric.


--
WB
.........
metalworking projectswww.kwagmire.com/metal_proj.html

I usually do it on the wire EDM, being the hammer that's handy at the
time... Fast and dirty, and works the treat.

Wild_Bill wrote:

Thanks, Stan. The new price of this saw with accessories and case was about
$400. Some of Panasonic's other tools are priced alike. The Panasonic
battery pack cells are some of the best money can buy. I sorta anticipate
good life from the batteries with the smart charger.

I saw Homier is selling a saw about the same size as this one for about $50.
Repair parts are still readily available for the Panasonic saw, at least.

I expect that enlarging the holes on a lathe will probably be the method
I'll use.


http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...emnumber=46257
is a 5-3/8" blade for a 5/8" arbor

5-3/8" Alternate Top Bevel Design Combo Blade for Cordless Saw

For cutting natural wood, low density particleboard, plywood and
laminates.

* Heat treated high carbon steel alloy body with hard chrome plating
prevents pitch build up
* Precision ground C2 tungsten carbide tips for a keen cutting edge
* Ground, hand tensioned expansion slots for cooler running and less
binding


Arbor: 5/8"; Size: 5-3/8" diameter; Speed: 5000 RPM max.


ITEM 46257-6VGA

$1.97


--
Offworld checks no longer accepted!

Yep, the genuine Panasonic blades for cutting steel and metals are about
$40-$70 MSRP.
There are a large number of less expensive metal cutting blades (approx $10)
with smaller arbor holes.

Blades for wood and composites are even less costly, but the majority of the
arbor holes are less than 20mm.

--
WB
..........
metalworking projects
www.kwagmire.com/metal_proj.html


"Michael A. Terrell" wrote in message
...

Wild_Bill wrote:

Thanks, Stan. The new price of this saw with accessories and case was
about
$400. Some of Panasonic's other tools are priced alike. The Panasonic
battery pack cells are some of the best money can buy. I sorta anticipate
good life from the batteries with the smart charger.

I saw Homier is selling a saw about the same size as this one for about
$50.
Repair parts are still readily available for the Panasonic saw, at least.

I expect that enlarging the holes on a lathe will probably be the method
I'll use.


http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...emnumber=46257
is a 5-3/8" blade for a 5/8" arbor

5-3/8" Alternate Top Bevel Design Combo Blade for Cordless Saw

For cutting natural wood, low density particleboard, plywood and
laminates.

* Heat treated high carbon steel alloy body with hard chrome plating
prevents pitch build up
* Precision ground C2 tungsten carbide tips for a keen cutting edge
* Ground, hand tensioned expansion slots for cooler running and less
binding


Arbor: 5/8"; Size: 5-3/8" diameter; Speed: 5000 RPM max.


ITEM 46257-6VGA

$1.97


--
Offworld checks no longer accepted!

On Sunday, December 6, 2009 at 3:38:45 AM UTC+1, Pilgrim wrote:
I have enlarged holes in saw blades as follows:

First I clamped them in a vise carefully avoiding the teeth in the jaws.

Second I used a tapered reamer to enlarge to almost correct size from
both sides.

Third with leather gloves and a strong leather or canvas apron I use a
three cornered machinist scraper to enlarge to finished size while
rotating the blade by hand.

I have done this on several blades with good results.

CP

CP's technique isexcellent, I've done this many times and it works just fine.

In my case, I often (if not always) use American cordless tools of the DeWALT brand, but sometimes I have to do with European tools that are not always compatible so in the case of Wild_Bill I have to improvise.

Recently I only had available a cheap ALDI/TopTools bench saw with an arbor of 30 mm (( 1 inch) that I needed to use for cutting sheet metal and my available blade was an IRWIN with a hole of ~3/4 inch (not so sure). And it took me not that long to achieve the proper results (as a reference, using an XRP 18V took 10 min at low speed, that is gear position 1).

Just use some oil to cool down the tool and wear safety goggles. It will be just fine.

-
Best with that job you got to do.

On Saturday, December 5, 2009 at 11:40:10 PM UTC+1, Wild_Bill wrote:
Once again, I end up having a tool with a non-typical fit of something. This
Panasonic EY3530 cordless saw was cheap/almost free (with 7.2 to 24V smart
charger), but the arbor size for the blades is 20mm (.7874").
The Panasonic blades are some of the most expensive blades in the 5-3/8"
size.

Quite a few other 5-3/8" blades for other brands have arbor holes of 10mm,
so I'm pondering the likelyhood of enlarging the holes to 20mm, while having
the holes remain concentric.

In the past, I've considered trying to ream blade arbor holes, and that may
be good enough (for wood), but lately I wonder if a slight inacurracy might
cause rapid blade wear, particularly when cutting metal.

I expect the saw blade core to be relatively easy to cut, and I could grind
to the finished size if needed.

Clamping to a lathe faceplate, or to a rotary table, while indexing on the
original hole to center the blade, are the conlusions I've arrived at.

The blade tips are carbide for both metal and wood cutting blades, so
shimming away from a flat surface would preserve flatness.

I suppose that it's fairly safe to assume that other holes in the blades are
probably concentrically located to the arbor hole, but some blades don't
have additional holes.

--
WB
.........
metalworking projects
www.kwagmire.com/metal_proj.html

CP's technique isexcellent, I've done this many times and it works just fine.

In my case, I often (if not always) use American cordless tools of the DeWALT brand, but sometimes I have to do with European tools that are not always compatible so in the case of Wild_Bill I have to improvise.

Recently I only had available a cheap ALDI/TopTools bench saw with an arbor of 30 mm (( 1 inch) that I needed to use for cutting sheet metal and my available blade was an IRWIN with a hole of ~3/4 inch (not so sure). And it took me not that long to achieve the proper results (as a reference, using an XRP 18V took 10 min at low speed, that is gear position 1).

Just use some oil to cool down the tool and wear safety goggles. It will be just fine.

Best with that job you got to do.

-