Welding Tips and Tricks

Hello gang,

Anyone attempted to cut or grind a bevel on thick stock using a circular saw (skil saw) Im tossing around ideas to avoid carting a heavy piece of angle 1/2" x 5 foot long to a machinist. Its a 45deg along the long side. Not for welding, to form a knife edge for folding material.

Regards, Mick

There are particular blades and saws that do this neatly. For a small number of cuts, you can use a (good quality) carbide blade in a regular circular saw, but it won't last. The dedicated saws run at a much slower RPM.

...and wear your PPE! Shit will fly right in your eye, if you're not very careful.

Steve S

That cut would be close to 18 mm.
My blade struggles cutting straight in 8 mm steel (guided). There are better blades than the Rage I use but still difficult I would guess.

Pipe dream i Guess. I need to stop thinking too much and get it milled. It is for a paying customer after all.

Anders has a point. I didn't think though the actual throat of the cut, and the deflection you'd fight for it.

A cut-off wheel and a grinder is one "DIY" method. A good quality horizontal bandsaw is another option.

For your purpose, I suppose having it milled is best. It will be accurate, that way.

Steve S

Otto Nobedder wrote:
For your purpose, I suppose having it milled is best. It will be accurate, that way.

Steve S

This is the best way......where i work we have an old brake call a Roto-die. The top blade is knife edge cut
......it gets real inaccurate when the depth varies.

I have an Evolution 230 - with a newish blade it will do 35degree bevel on 1/2" boiler plate OK - also prep weld test pieces with it - feels slow when doing it but still way quicker than a mill & slab cutter on lengths - first saw died doing this at only a few weeks old - they eventually replaced it - 2nd one has been reliable - don't really use the thing now as most steel is import & has all sorts of inclusions in - blades may last close to 1/2 what Evolution claim or just a foot or less if you find a hard bit - like many new tools carbide saws look great on paper but in the real world plain don't work - certainly not cost effective - if you have a plasma cutter that produces an acceptably straight cut then it would be far better to use this on an old track cutter ( BOC pug )

I forget who the manufacturer is, but we had a sales rep in with a "new steel cutting saw blade that will cut through steel like butter".... He asked if he could demonstrate it and our purchasing manager said go ahead, here's some 1" bar stock. He put it in a standard Makita circular saw (ours) and as the purchasing manager was watching from behind cover he went through that bar stock like it was a pine 2x4. We bought 10 blades on the spot. I'll try to find out the manufacturer when I get back to work.