New Toy

[Anti-GMAW]

My blades are around 40 or 50 bucks, can't remember exactly. I had Lenox and now I have the Morse Metal Devil and all three have warning not to have them resharpened. That could be because they would rather sell a new blade or liability concerns. I resharpened the Lenox myself on a 8" grinder and it did pretty good. I only used it to get me through until my new blades arrived though.

About how long do they last?

[mikeswelding]

Is that a pipe track or cutting guide in your first picture? If so, do you have more pics and detail? Otherwise, does anyone have a cutting guide for extra-long cuts (other than just clamping a piece of angle or channel)?

I got a Milwaukee 8" about 2 years ago and love it! It's great for cutting bar grate as well.

I have had a couple of 8" blades sharpened, but I don't think it's worth it.

[ace4059]

I used one of those to cut AL and I was disapointed. It sucked because the main part the saw slides on across the metal kept digging in and would not slide across it smoothly.

I did try it on MS and it worked very well.

[Fishy Jim]

The milwaukee's baseplate is stainless and very smooth.

I haven't used it on AL yet though.

[Vicegrip]

You can tape or clamp a strip of Formica to any metals being cut that you don’t want to be damaged. Chips will get in between the base plate and metal and trash the finish even on plastic covered metals. Formica is nice and slippery and the saw will glide. Formica makes a good "folding" straight edge too. You can roll it up a 120 inch long 6 inch wide strip and tape it into a 2 foot loop. If you want to use it as a saw guide you need to add a thin strip of alauminioum angle to your saw base plate and let the Formica ride over the foot and run on the vertical leg. Two threaded holes to mount the angle is all you need. One strip under the saw, one as a guide and roll them both up together when done.

[HMW]

I used one of those to cut AL and I was disapointed. It sucked because the main part the saw slides on across the metal kept digging in and would not slide across it smoothly.

I did try it on MS and it worked very well.

We put down masking tape on the aluminum sheet we cut with it. Made it slide better and didnt scar up the aluminum. So far it works great.

[burninbriar]

About how long do they last?

It really depends on how you use or abuse it. I don't use mine enough to give a good answer but I think its fair to say that the life is short if you compair it to cutting wood with a circular saw. A cold cut cut off saw might be a good comparison but you don't have the lack of control damaging the blade like you do with a hand held circular saw.

You can tape or clamp a strip of Formica to any metals being cut that you don’t want to be damaged. Chips will get in between the base plate and metal and trash the finish even on plastic covered metals.

I have found that using something like you mention,(I never used formica though) I get a lot of chip buildup between the material being cut and the covering. Even when I spray glue patterns down I will get chips stuck between the pattern ant the metal, especially when using a jig saw.
Spray gluing butcher paper down makes for a pretty good level of protection and the paper and glue comes off easily with paint thinner.

[BigKid]

I use an old makita 7.25" circular saw and "bullet" carbide blades, works great and the blades are $12.
The blades are rated to .25" but I ripped around 10 feet of .375 plate before the blade started dull up, Definately want ear and eye protection though.
Gets pretty loud!

Also have the evolution 14" drycut saw, runs at 1500 rpm. I bought a couple replacement blades from evolution at $100 each but they didnt last all that long. Then I found out about Bullet Industries, they are selling 14" dry cut blades for $40! The blades are rated at 4400rpm and im running them at 1500 and so far they have out lasted evo tenfold.
Shipped to canada in 5 days also.

http://www.bulletindustries.com/carb...etal%20blades/

Just thought I would throw that out there

Cool tools Rule!