Welding Tips and Tricks

Posted: **Mon Feb 26, 2018 9:20 pm**

: Evolution Rage 3 saw on my handmade stand; My new steel rage saw by Evolution.jpg (48.31 KiB) Viewed 3418 times

I was in need of a saw to cut some steel to thick for my usual hand held cutoff wheel method. This saw has a carbide tipped universal steel blade care must be taken or it will dull it quickly. I did a few cuts by plunging like anyone would with an abrasive disk saw, not good. They replaced the blade in a week so I am happy there. Once I watched the video they directed me to I learned plunging into a piece of angle was not wise. Any way on a scale of 1 to 10 for a hobbyist it is certainly a solid 8, and for $200 delivered worth it. Plus cutting wood and compound angles with the sliding feature has many uses.

Posted: **Tue Feb 27, 2018 7:14 am**

That's good stuff. Thanks for the info.

I have an EVOSAW230 9" circular saw that has been a good fit for my purposes. It has cut a boatload of stacked steel siding, angle iron and pipe and recently was used to make some cuts in 18-1/2" wide 1/2" mild steel plate. If Evolution ever gets around to making a large diameter bevel cutting miter saw, preferably a sliding crosscut one, I'd be on that like a bad rash.....

You do make a good point though; metal cutting saw blades don't like shock loads or long raking cuts where the teeth are cutting a long path through the metal. While our five sons were still young enough to be careless with tools in our farm shop I held off getting a metal cutting circular saw because I could easily see a few seconds of carelessness ruining an expensive blade.

Lance

Posted: **Tue Feb 27, 2018 7:27 am**

So this saw doesn't have a vise?

Posted: **Tue Feb 27, 2018 8:30 am**

LtBadd wrote:So this saw doesn't have a vise?

That's a scary thought.

Posted: **Tue Feb 27, 2018 9:42 am**

Nice little saw. When I got mine the original blade, a 20 something tooth proved to be as bad as the reviews suggested. I got the 62 tooth blue Evolution blade which is much better. A vice would be nice but probably pretty hard to do on a sliding compound miter type saws. I just make sure the work is supported securely and use a C clamp or whatever when possible. Whats nice is being able to cut miters on much wider stock than my 14in Evolution 380.

Posted: **Wed Feb 28, 2018 8:34 am**

make damn sure your blade is super sharp and is not missing or had chipped teeth with that setup.
craig

Posted: **Thu Mar 01, 2018 8:26 pm**

tungstendipper wrote:
LtBadd wrote:So this saw doesn't have a vise?
That's a scary thought.

Has clamp but I use my 11R vise grips against the fence to hold material

Posted: **Thu Mar 01, 2018 8:27 pm**

LanceR wrote:That's good stuff. Thanks for the info.

I have an EVOSAW230 9" circular saw that has been a good fit for my purposes. It has cut a boatload of stacked steel siding, angle iron and pipe and recently was used to make some cuts in 18-1/2" wide 1/2" mild steel plate. If Evolution ever gets around to making a large diameter bevel cutting miter saw, preferably a sliding crosscut one, I'd be on that like a bad rash.....

You do make a good point though; metal cutting saw blades don't like shock loads or long raking cuts where the teeth are cutting a long path through the metal. While our five sons were still young enough to be careless with tools in our farm shop I held off getting a metal cutting circular saw because I could easily see a few seconds of carelessness ruining an expensive blade.

Lance

Posted: **Thu Mar 01, 2018 8:29 pm**

They do make a 14 inch saw. This is a compound miter sliding saw so is more than adequate for me.

Posted: **Thu Mar 01, 2018 9:33 pm**

Yes I have one.

Posted: **Fri Mar 02, 2018 9:18 am**

The Evo3 saw is a cheap copy of a Bosch design, (see the photo). It has a hold down clamp but it is almost useless. The miter angles need to be checked for accuracy with test cuts, you can't rely on the scale. That said it does work and for the cost it's good for a hobby shop or light user. One of the things I find inconvenient is the blades with the 1" arbor hole cannot be sourced locally, I have to order online and wait for delivery. My horizontal band saw saved the day a few times when I ran out of sharp circular blades. I will eventually get a fluid cooled cold saw.

Posted: **Sun Mar 04, 2018 10:47 pm**

As I think I stated I am a hobby fabricator. If you notice you can flip the bushing over on the spindle and use 5/8 arbor blades your not stuck with 1 inch. I find the cuts very accurate and although the lazer light turns out to be useless the saw serves me well. I am sure there are much better saws out there for about 2 1/2 times the cost just not in my budget.

Posted: **Tue Mar 06, 2018 2:46 pm**

bruce991 wrote:As I think I stated I am a hobby fabricator. If you notice you can flip the bushing over on the spindle and use 5/8 arbor blades your not stuck with 1 inch. I find the cuts very accurate and although the lazer light turns out to be useless the saw serves me well. I am sure there are much better saws out there for about 2 1/2 times the cost just not in my budget.

I get where your coming from about the saw working OK for the price.
I am also aware about possibly using 5/8" arbor blades however that doesn't quite work that well on mine. The 5/8" part of the arbor shaft on the saw motor is actually oversize at .6275". Sure there are variations in the holes among blades but the ones I would have liked to use, the holes were a touch smaller, still over .625" but no go. No way do I have time to or want to modify arbor holes in saw blades.
Evo recommends 1" arbor blades, theirs of course but another brand I used was Oshlun. Nowhere do they mention anything about being able to use 5/8" arbor blades in the manual or anywhere else, at least from where I am. And you would think that would be a feature to brag about.
But you are correct, 5/8" may be possible. I would just caution anyone doing so not to force one on with the screw and the back-up washer. It would be hell to pull that blade off.

Posted: **Mon Mar 19, 2018 11:04 am**

Odd you should mention about "nothing stated in manual" as my manual clearly states the bushing has two usable sides one inch and five eights. Maybe mine is a next generation. I bought an Irwin brand 5/8 arbor blade and fit fine.

Posted: **Mon Mar 19, 2018 10:17 pm**

I do cut some wood and 5/8 arbour wood blade works fine. Can do some pretty funky angles in metal with the compound angle feature. Definitely not a production saw but with a bit of care it works well for the hobiest, like many of us.

Posted: **Wed Apr 25, 2018 4:00 pm**

I've had this saw now for about a year. I'm a home/hobbyist, and have used this saw for maybe a couple of dozen steel cutting jobs and a bunch more wood trim type work. Here's my thoughts:

The combo wood/steel blade that comes with the saw will cut steel just fine - I did a bunch of 1-1/2" 11ga square steel tubing and 1/4" plate cuts before it finally gave up the ghost (which I did get resharpened). I was pretty gentle on the pressure and let off when it sounded like the teeth were "bouncing" at all. I just let it cut at its own speed.

I did end up buying Evo's blue blade made just for cutting steel. With that blade I've got about a dozen heavier duty cuts on 10" c-channel, which is 1/4" (maybe more?) thick in the web, close to 1/2" thick in the corners. These were all angled cuts so the effective cut length was even longer. Used every bit of the sliding compound capacity. The saw handled the job like champ - again, I didn't force any of the cuts. The blade is still sharp and not missing any teeth.

Negatives: the clamping mechanisms are really designed for wood. Use c-clamps, etc... to get a proper hold-down. When I was doing the heavy cuts, the buildup of hot chips actually accumulated and started to melt the slotted plastic piece in the table where the blade enters. Something to pay attention to. This is definitely not a production-shop grade machine, but has been a great addition to my home shop. I'd definitely recommend the purpose-built steel cutting blade.

Putting 5/8" wood blades has been no problem at all for me. Easy on, easy off.

Posted: **Wed Apr 25, 2018 7:06 pm**

nb1234 wrote: When I was doing the heavy cuts, the buildup of hot chips actually accumulated and started to melt the slotted plastic piece in the table where the blade enters. Something to pay attention to.

Good review, thanks

Not sure what you're referring to here, the base has something plastic in it? Can you post a pic?

Posted: **Thu Apr 26, 2018 2:23 pm**

Not sure what you're referring to here, the base has something plastic in it? Can you post a pic?

If you look at the picture posted above by metalman21, you can see an orange plastic piece where the blade plunges into the swiveling base. It runs parallel to the blade and forms a "slot" of sorts. It's sort of like a miter-saw equivalent of the blade throatinsert on a table saw. This orange piece is what trapped the hot chips and eventually melted on me.

It's actually not really a structural piece, and I've just removed mine for now. As long as you're not cutting really narrow pieces that depend on that plastic piece for support (which is probably not safe to do on a miter saw anyway) - it actually serves very little purpose. The swivel base itself is metal.

Posted: **Thu Apr 26, 2018 8:08 pm**

nb1234 wrote:
Not sure what you're referring to here, the base has something plastic in it? Can you post a pic?
If you look at the picture posted above by metalman21, you can see an orange plastic piece where the blade plunges into the swiveling base. It runs parallel to the blade and forms a "slot" of sorts. It's sort of like a miter-saw equivalent of the blade throatinsert on a table saw. This orange piece is what trapped the hot chips and eventually melted on me.

It's actually not really a structural piece, and I've just removed mine for now. As long as you're not cutting really narrow pieces that depend on that plastic piece for support (which is probably not safe to do on a miter saw anyway) - it actually serves very little purpose. The swivel base itself is metal.

Got it!
When I made that post I was thinking of the EVO380 saw, not the Rage3, my bad

Posted: **Mon Apr 30, 2018 11:48 am**

LtBadd wrote:
nb1234 wrote:
Not sure what you're referring to here, the base has something plastic in it? Can you post a pic?
If you look at the picture posted above by metalman21, you can see an orange plastic piece where the blade plunges into the swiveling base. It runs parallel to the blade and forms a "slot" of sorts. It's sort of like a miter-saw equivalent of the blade throatinsert on a table saw. This orange piece is what trapped the hot chips and eventually melted on me.

It's actually not really a structural piece, and I've just removed mine for now. As long as you're not cutting really narrow pieces that depend on that plastic piece for support (which is probably not safe to do on a miter saw anyway) - it actually serves very little purpose. The swivel base itself is metal.
Got it!
When I made that post I was thinking of the EVO380 saw, not the Rage3, my bad

You are entirely correct. That is intended to be a zero clearance insert to prevent/reduce back side tear-out on wood. Not the best option for metal cutting as anything plastic will either be abraded away or melt, maybe both....

Lance

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