Abrasive blade in small table saw?

[Goucester]

I have a small table 8"saw I am thinking of putting a 7" abrasive blade on. I think I can then cut plate stock square with the fence
and cut repetive lenghts with proper stop blocks. Has any one done this or are there any comments? Thanks

[Brad-Man]

I've done it.

Be sure you don't have any plastic blade guides like my Ryobi did - (I had replacements - but the melting plastic got on the metal)

I was cutting 1/4" mild steel plate that was ~7"X9" into 6-7" triangles for gussets, and some 3-4" ones.

I used a Norton disk (10") on my 10" Ryobi.

You can do it on yours, but make sure your saws' RPMs are lower than the rated rpms for the disk.

[vtecrx]

Beware! Table and circular saws don't take kindly to cutting metal with abrasive blades. All the dust produces wreaks havoc with with the woodworking tools.

Andy

[Supercharged S10]

Originally posted by vtecrx
Beware! Table and circular saws don't take kindly to cutting metal with abrasive blades. All the dust produces wreaks havoc with with the woodworking tools.

Andy

i was thinking the same thing. perhaps a shop vac focused on the blade would help.

[hankj]

S-10,

If your saw is direct drive, you'll wind up with metal chips in the motor, no matter what you do. You have a better chance if it's a belt drive saw, but at 8", I doubt that's what you have.

Be well.

hank

[Goucester]

The table saw I listed in my first post here is 8" and came from AMT back in the 60's. I haven't used it for 20 years and will now only be used on metal if it works. It uses a belt and there are only steel and cast iron parts in the arbor assembly, no plastic, the motor will be about a foot behind the blade. I almost have it ready to try. I will post my results in a few days.

[JoseJump]

You're nuts... but go for it... I would be concerned about the RPM and the blade... if you are using abrasive, I would do it from behind a bullet proof shield, or you are liable to be a candiate for Darwin... This is the same reason you don't use a miter saw with an abrasive blade... I suppose you could if you used a router controller and slowed things down a bit... I still wouldn't though.

Good luck.

[Zrexxer]

I would be concerned about the RPM and the blade...I suppose you could if you used a router controller and slowed things down a bit... I still wouldn't though I'm not sure why you think you would need to slow the speed down. You'd need to increase it if anything.

A 14 inch chopsaw runs about 3800 rpm. A woodworking tablesaw typically will do 3000 rpm or so. Translated to surface feet per minute, an abrasive chop saw runs at about 14,000 sf/m. An 7 inch abrasive blade in a table saw would be approximately 5500 sf/m. So why would you want to slow down something that's already cutting at less than half its optimal speed?

[glfredrick]

I have used both a radial arm saw and a hand (skil) saw with abrasive blades to cut steel at times, and both work well.

Take care to go SLOW (don't force the cut - you are not cutting wood!) and don't go deep... especially if you are trying a table or radial arm saw. I have found that it is better to take out a pass at a time, than to try to cut through a piece in a single pass.

I originally tried the radial arm saw when I needed to cut through a tractor drawbar in a precise manner (and didn't have a cut-off saw). I tried several different kinds of hack saws, and they wouldn't even touch that steel (I think it was forged), I just took the teeth off on the first pass, so I was up against the wall.

It did burn the board for the saw somewhat (I later replaced that anyway) and it did melt a little bit of plastic that was near the shield, but otherwise, no harm done. I now keep a Skil saw setup just for cutting metal, and I use it when I need a long cut in a plate. It works out pretty good until I can afford plasma...