Welding Tips and Tricks

I would like some info on these new slow running wet and dry carbide chop saws.

Thanks in advance.

The wet cut is liquid cooled the dry cut is not. Are you using it for high volume production work or less frequent use and what kind of material? Info on the type of usage would help.Does it need to be portable?

Don't have one yet.......I take it they run slow so as not to dull?

rahtreelimbs wrote:I would like some info on these new slow running wet and dry carbide chop saws.

Thanks in advance.

HERE is an older thread about metal saws that may be helpful

I've used one of these quite a bit for steel. Excellent cut quality and durability, but a little beyond a hobby type machine.

http://www.scotchman.com/cold-saws/

And a really nice Wegoma chop saw for aluminum that I can't even find any info on anymore.

Is it for garage/home shop or industrial? Or industrial home shop?

The dry cut saw is great for mild steel,aluminum, copper etc. (softer metals) and wood. Stainless and harder metals not so much so a cold cut saw could be a better fit. If price is an issue the cold cut (wet) saw will be more expensive to buy new.For versitility I just buzzed about a cord of limb wood up to 5" dia. with my Evolution 380 14" dry cut saw without it breaking a sweat. Just made a table with a couple of sawhorses and some plywood and removed the chip drawer and the drawer bottom. Worked as well as the old buzz saw we used when I was a kid in the 50's.

Because metal is harder than wood you need to be mindful that the blade teeth can be chipped or broken off by starting the cut too aggressively or not letting the teeth freely cut the metal and the allowing the gullets in the blade to carry away the chips freely. Metal cutting blades are expensive and are not the best choice for folks who are prone to abusing or being careless around tools.

Making contact with the metal too fast or pushing the saw in the cut faster than it wants to go will lead to quickly dull and damaged blades. Let the saw do the work and let it kind of nibble its way into the material at the start of the cut for longer blade life. And yes, the RPMs for a given diameter metal cutting blade are slower than for a wood cutting blade for these and other reasons.

With that said, some woodworking saws can be used to cut some metals. I used to make jigs and fixtures for local businesses and a lot of them were on thick aluminum or polycarbonate bases. I have non-ferrous metal cutting blades and specialized polycarbonate blades for my 5 hp Delta Unisaw and have cut 1/16" to 1-1/2" aluminum, brass and polycarbonate with no problems at all. Note that that saw has a triple belt drive and a totally enclosed motor. I would expect a open framed or direct drive motor wouldn't like the metal chips at all......

I have also cut some lighter (1/4" or less) aluminum with my 12" Dewalt miter saw but have only done so pretty rarely as it has an open motor and I have to be really slow with the feed speeds.

I bought an Evolution 9" circular saw when I had a project that involved cutting a lot of sheet steel. It has worked out well although with sheet steel (thin stuff especially) you really need a full face shield and a fairly heavy buttoned up long sleeve shirt or coat as it really slings the chips around. It seems to do less of that with thicker cross sections, though. At some points I will by a large metal cutting chop saw as I really don't have the floor space for a horizontal bandsaw. I'll buy extra saw base mounts from Dewalt and use it on my miter saw stand.


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