Are carbide saws really THAT limited?

[49degreesnorth]

Hey, Y'all,

I have a Makita carbide chop saw which has worked GREAT for a while now, but I recently had to get a new blade ($100 ) and observed on the packaging for the blade that there are restrictions on its use. Like you are supposed to use a different blade for stainless and a different blade for channel . Like, the thing is OK with angle but channel is bad?

By the way, I've been using the old blade to cut everything, which is probably, in hindsight, how I toased it.

What's the scoop with these saws?

Thanks,
Chris

[MAC702]

Haven't heard about the restrictions on angle v. channel before.

I've never cut stainless with my DeWalt yet, nor have I bought the blade for doing it either. I will not cut stainless with the normal blade.

I already learned the hard way that just harder-than-mild steel will dull it quickly, on accident, cutting angle that I got from a scrapped electrical power tower from Hoover Dam.

I also broke a blade when I was cutting a chain. That was just plain dumb, an old habit from the things you can get away with on an abrasive chop saw.

I've broken a few teeth from cutting bundled conduit, also. The ones in the middle spun when the teeth contacted them.

In short, I have a new respect for the instructions that came with the saw...

[precisionworks]

If you cut just what the saw is designed to cut, which is light guage metal, that is tightly held in the vise, the blades last a long time. Cutting thick sections is really hard on blade life. As Mac said, anything that moves will take out teeth.

If you look at Makita's web page, it states 4 x faster cutting in light pipe, angle iron, tubing, conduit and channel than abrasive cut-off saws. This is where the carbide blade saws shine.

The standard blade (A-90532) has 60 teeth. The stainless blade (A-90847) has 78 teeth, which means each tooth is taking a smaller bite from the work. My best Scientific Guess is that a 60 tooth blade might work for a short while, but the greater chipload per tooth, combined with a harder cutting material, will dull & microchip the teeth.

Probably worth the extra $$$ for the SS blade if you're going to cut more than one or two pieces.

[Cronatron Rep]

Mild steel has 66 teeth ($99)
Stainless has 80 teeth ($129)
Thin Metal has 90 teeth ($129)
Aluminum has 100 teeth ($109)

The only difference in the blades is the number of teeth.

We have found that some stainless actually cuts a little better with a mild steel blade due to it work hardening, but the rule of thumb is use the right blade for the right application.

[acmemetalfab]

lol, this is just too ****ed funny. i have the porter cable version of the saw. after breaking the first blade on just plain old foolishness (holding angle with my hand instead of using the vice, how could that be a bad idea?), i have completely dulled the ever living crap out of my brandy new blade on a stainless BBQ i just completed. i was going to post and ask what happened, and here i read this. looks like i'll be in touch with senor cronatron, lol.