Subject: Re: Where can I get a cut off wheel for a circular saw?

From: [email-masked] (John Jeannette)
Date: Sun, 19 May 1996 16:55:50 GMT

On 18 May 1996 03:16:07 GMT, Brad Meiners <[email-masked]>
wrote:
>Where could I buy such a wheel for a circular saw?  A seach in my town and on the Net has 
>yielded nothing.
They are very common. Go back to the hardware store or building supply
store and ask the guy in the saw blade dept. for a abrasive saw blade
for metal. One kind is made for metal and the other is made for
masonry. While you are there also buy some wraparound safety glasses
or you are guaranteed to blind youself.
>I have some scrap lawn mower blades that I would like to cut into crude garden tools.  I have a 
>old (and powerful) table saw and thought that with a couple of cuts it should be possible.
This sounds like a bad idea. A radial arm saw or miterbox saw would be
OK. The work should be clamped in place and the saw moved over
it.Using  a handheld circular saw is OK but dangerous and slow for
thick metal.
-John
>Thanks for any help,
>Brad

---

From: [email-masked] (Michael Edelman)
Date: 20 May 1996 19:33:49 GMT

John Jeannette ([email-masked]) wrote:
: On 18 May 1996 03:16:07 GMT, Brad Meiners <[email-masked]>
: wrote:
: >Where could I buy such a wheel for a circular saw?  A seach in my town and on the Net has 
: >yielded nothing.
[snip]
: This sounds like a bad idea. A radial arm saw or miterbox saw would be
: OK. The work should be clamped in place and the saw moved over
: it.Using  a handheld circular saw is OK but dangerous and slow for
: thick metal.

Agreed. An abrasive cutoff wheel in a hand-held saw will very likely shatter
into a large number of pieces of high-speed shrapnel.

--mike

---

From: Anthony EPucillo <[email-masked]>
Date: 22 May 1996 00:43:13 GMT

>into a large number of pieces of high-speed shrapnel.

   Having once managed to cut about 250 feet of corrugated sheet metal 
roofing precisely this way, I can attest that it is _noisy_, throws 
sparks in every direction, is slow and wears out wheels rapidly.  Never, 
however, did I have a wheel come apart or even crack.  I think the issue 
is what the wheel is made of and whether it is designed for a _saw_ or a 
bench grinder (believe it or not, there are some intended for one but 
used for the other and some intended for either).  The ones I've used for 
a saw had a good, embedded matrix of some kind of fiber and didn't seem 
terribly inclined to break even with some abuse.

    Either way, _do_ stabilize the metal.  A short cut in a mower blade 
shouldn't be too bad, but these things will kick back harder than you 
expect when they get pinched in a shifting metal cut. Holding a 90 degree 
angle is important.

    However, as a possible solution, I think the handheld saw is 
realistic.  I assume if the writer had more elaborate equipment 
he wouldn't be asking.

    P.S.  I've used an angle grinder with an abrasive wheel (not 
"cut-off" -- abrasive as in grinding, only thinner than a bench-grinder, 
without embedded matrix) to sharpen my blades for years without removing 
them from the mower.  About 15 seconds and done.  I feel confident I 
could cut one off just as easily in about a minute.  My experience in 
that they aren't very hard metal and even the Florida Bahia grass wears 
them away.

---

From: "Jeffrey R. Trites" <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 21 May 1996 23:51:50 -0700

Bill Rudolph wrote:
> 
> I did it a couple of year ago and the grit thrown off while cutting
> ground the bearings out of my saw in short order. A couple of months
> later I had major maintenance problems on my saw.
> Bill

I have also heard of this, but two years ago made a chopsaw from a
Makita which had a broken guard. It works great, have used it on metal
1/4" and smaller. Never had a problem.

Jeff Trites