Welding Tips and Tricks

whats up guys!
i love my angel grinder 90% of metal i cut is with it. other than setting my pants on fire its all good. working at home(not main job) and dealing with space and money i would like to know what kind of blades can you get to cut stainless- aluminum

it depends on what your're cutting. I use a sawzall for about 75% of all my angle/bar/tubing cuts, and now that I've got a chop saw, I use that a lot for the simple angles. both will work for mild or stainless. I haven't tried any alu in the chop saw, but I'd suspect it will gum up without cutting wax.

for sheet, I use a HF knockoff beverly shear, an air shear, an air 'body saw' reciprocating saw, angle grinder, 3" cutoff wheel, and, of course, the sawzall. just depends on what you're cutting and why.

heavy stuff that doesn't need to look pretty I usually just hack through with 1/8" 6011 @ 200A AC. one of these days I'm going to buy a carbon arc rod, I swear... if it needs to look decent I'll drag the welding trailer inside and use the oxy/acetylene.

thanks ogorir
my problem is with stainless! what kind of blade do you have on your chop saw for small work

I just got the chop saw 2 weeks ago. thus far I've been using a 3/32 'stud cutter' blade for everything. I think it's 30 grit, but it's a harbor freight dandy, so who knows. I plan on doing some experimentation once I burn through a blade or two, but thus far this blade has cut through everything I've thrown at it ( not a lot, and not stainless. I'll see if I can find some today). mostly just some 3"x1/8" strapping, 1.5" 3/32" wall sq tubing, 2" 1/4" wall tubing, all mild.

It's a harbor frieght chop saw. if anyone else buys one, don't even bother with the wheel it comes with. it took 10 minutes to cut through the 1.5" square tubing. I made a downfeed by hanging a 10" weight off the handle and wiring the switch on all the time, so I just left it there. the new blade cuts through in about 40 seconds. it actually cuts a little too fast for the machine, it loads down a bit more than I'd like. I might also just need to reduce my downfeed weight to 7.5lbs

You can get a TCT blade for your chop saw that will supposedly cut real good. Pricey, but its not consumable like a regular abrasive blade. Link to a thread about em here-
http://forum.weldingtipsandtricks.com/v ... f=2&t=1239

In the field we usually use a portaband for stainless steel. Kinda pricey, but works great and will cut anything. Dewalt makes a trick one with a light and adjustable speed, Milwaukee does too but of course there going to be a bit more.

Personally I like a bandsaw for the versatility and portability. If you take the time you can cut almost anything, not nearly as fast as a chop saw, but the versatility/portability make up for it in my opinion.

Or, if you have the money, I'd buy both :):)

edit-How well do those abrasive chop saw blades stand up to thicker metal, like over 1/8 inch?

Any carbide tipped blade will cut aluminum. If you have a wood cutting chopsaw with a carbide blade it will cut aluminum too. You just have to go a little slower. A table saw with a carbide blade will cut sheet aluminum and diamond plate aluminum. You might want to get at least an 80 tooth blade for a nicer cut and use a stick lube like CutEase on the blade. Don't cut steel with a carbide blade, it will break off the teeth.

The nicest and best cutting tool anyone could ever want (imo) is a plasma cutter. It will go through anything. Don't waste your money and buy one with built in air, they won't cut s@#%, spend a little more and get one that uses shop air (an external compressor).

kerm, I'll have to cut some of the 4" heavy C channel I have to really tell, but the 'stud cutter' blade I have in mine right now cuts through 3/16" fine. 1/4" is a little slow, but with the downfeed I made, you aren't there to get impatient and force the saw. seems that if you let the blade do the work, they don't hardly wear at all.

I have a glass rack to make next week, so it will be getting a LOT of use (about 14 windshields, 10 back glass, and 25+ side glass/qtr windows). that will all be 1/8" thick angle stock, but... I'm lookin at around 150 cuts, all told.

Im all for takin my time and lettin the blade do the work, Im just wantin to know if I'm gonna have to change the blade out after every cut. Im curious to know how long those 40 dollar TCT blades last too, but I think im gonna buy a couple of the abrasive blades and try em out, cause they are a HELL of alot cheaper.

hah, yeah... a 5-pack of the blades I'm using cost $20 at harbor freight. that TCT blade would have to last a hell of a long time to make it useful. I'm not sold, personally, becuase it looks like a cold saw blade. cold saw blades need flood cooling, low RPM cutting, and heavy downfeed pressure to last. and they DO last.

Exactly my thoughts on it-If it looks like a cold saw, and cuts like a cold saw...it better have liquid cooling like a cold saw.

Yes the TCT blades are great for aluminium, I have a few for my angle grinder. I don't know how much they cost, but a single blade used every day for 8 hours would last about 2 weeks. So a hobbyist would be set for a long time.


Good luck! And remember to hold on tight to those things, they can take you for a dangerous ride!

-Rick

Seriously, they are very dangerous.

TCT angle grinder blade? Holy moly! Do you have a picture? Sounds amazingly dangerous. But, you've got me curious.

I saw some of those at homey depot last time I was there and was thinking about one too. Might pick one up for the peanut grinder if you give em a good word

so, an update on those stud cutter blades... they only have abrasive around the outside 1/8"

in short, ripoff. I was getting about 15 cuts/blade on 1" 1/8" angle. oddly enough, I cut at least that many pieces of 1.5" 3/16" sq tubing with the first blade I had on there. so, back in search of a good abrasive blade. too damn bad, too, 'cause those blades cut really well while they still cut.

Which blades are you using? When I think stud cutter blades I think of these-
http://www.homedepot.com/Tools-Hardware ... ogId=10053
You can use those things almost all the way down like you can with an abrasive cutting wheel on a peanut grinder.

harbor freight 3/32" 14" chop saw blades, sold in a 5-pack. they LOOK like they're abrasive all the way through, but they stop cutting once the outer edge is gone.

I need to go to lowes and buy a few brand name blades and maybe a TCT blade. see how long they last.

I know we cut cast iron sewer pipe on the job using the same chop saw blade for weeks, cause our company was to cheap(or the foreman couldnt remember to put one on his god damn requisision form). Imma pick up a couple abrasive blades at homey depot and slap em on my saw next time i stop by there and see how they do.

no TCT blades at lowes, guess I'm going to have to order one.

I picked up a dewalt XP stud cutter blade and a regular 1/4" blade. the stud cutter is built the same as the HF models and lasted about 5 cuts 45 degrees across 1" angle. part of it, i know, is the harbor freight chop saw has a little bit of chatter, but not blade destroying chatter.

the 1/4" only saw 3 cuts yesterday, but it looks to be abrasive all the way though. I'm building a cart for the I-mig today, so, we'll see.

1/4 inch thick? Holy smokes thats a bad mother right there. I dont think the ones we used are even and 1/8 inch thick.

edit-is that 1" thick angle or 1x1x? angle.

the angle I made the windshield rack from is 1"x1"x1/8". in short, not shit. should've been able to build 2 on one blade, but read on, I think I found the problem.

1/4" seems to be the standard chop saw blade, at least in 14 inch. the thinner ones are for lighter gauges. are you thinking of smaller skil-saw sized blades? those are thinner. so are the 3" deals for an air cutoff saw, I usually use 3/32" or 1/8" in the air cutoff saw. the 1/8" 3M #01990 green corps cutoff wheels are amazing, but equally as expensive.


I bought some norton 7/32" blades(same thickness as the dewalt XP stud cutters) at the local welding supply today, $20 for 5(same as the shitty ones at HF)

lasted through about 12 cuts, mostly through 2x2x 1/8" angle, then it stopped working worth a shit. I took a close look at it, and one half was really smooth, the other was slightly rougher. I took a file and knocked some chunks out of the smooth part and it cuts as good or better than new now, so they're a winner. I'll have to go back and rough up the HF stud cutters and the dewalts and see if there is any difference. I think the problem is the HF chop saw's arbor is just slightly out of round and is not powerful enough to cut through the side of the angle. it stalls out(not literally, just stops cutting) when it reaches the bottom of the angle. it cuts a hell of a lot better if you put the angle in like this: ^ . the only problem with that is you can't do any angle cuts that way, which the windshield rack I did was all 15 degree cuts.

I'll try to remember to grab the number off those norton blades, they're definitely a lot better than the others I've tried thus far straight out of the box.

I looked long and hard, but I couldnt find the tct angle grinder blades I took of my last job(i wanted to take a pic of them).....hmmm.

I don't know where to buy them, since my employer bought them.

Sorry

But anything with a carbide tip should work.

did about 75 cuts or so with the norton blade on friday, 2 through 2" 1/4" wall sq tube. as long as you keep dressing the edge, it keeps cutting. I might try some cutting wax if I remember to pick some up at the welding supply. I think I've burned up about 3/8" off the blade so far. not bad for $4.

Food for Thought,

Are you sure the TCT blades are for a chop saw?
The speed of a 14" Abrasive Chop Saw is between 3600 and 3900 RPM (Milwaukee=3900).

There is another type of chop saw called a dry cut saw that uses the TCT blades exclusively.
The speed of a 14" Dry-Cut Saw is between 1400 and 1600 RPM (Milwaukee=1500.
They use 72 or 90 tooth TCT blades.

Wob