Circular saw blade suggestion required.

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ashok

ashok

Member
2002-06-06 4:43 am
3RS
  • #1
    I plan to cut some 1 inch thick "rubberwood" . These are made from bonded strips of rubber wood. What type of blade would give me a clean cut ?

    This is for a Thorens TD124-AB turntable plinth. I'll be gluing two layers together . Will that be good enough ?
    I had thought of a combination of 19 MDF and 19mm marine ply. Two layers each type . MDF-PLY-MDF-PLY .

    Any suggestions ?
    Thanks.
     
    jneutron

    jneutron

    Member
    2004-01-16 4:54 pm
    In fear
  • #2
    I use a 10 inch dia blade with a honkin large quantity of cabide bits. I think it's 100 or 120 tooth.

    It makes cuts in woods and plywoods that is so smooth that I can bypass 200 grit paper entirely, and start with 400.

    Problem 1: It does tend to burn the wood if you dally in the cut or don't have the fence absolutely perfectly parallel to the blade. I tend to raise the blade enough so the teeth clear the top of the work, which is not your typical safety protocol....usually I have the teeth just break the top surface, that way the most I could do is cut my appendages the depth of the work...:eek: (use the guard of course!!!)

    problem 2. Dey's expensive..:bigeyes: a hundred bucks for a good one is not out of line.

    problem 3..tied to #2....if that blade even looks at a nail or staple, it's toast. :bawling:

    Cheers, John
     
    C

    Conrad Hoffman

    Member
    2007-03-20 4:28 am
    Canandaigua, NY USA
    www.conradhoffman.com
  • #4
    Rubberwood sounds a lot like maple according to Wikipedia. I'd avoid the high tooth counts, as they tend to burn unless razor sharp and just the right feed rate. Maybe stay with something more common like 40-60. I also keep my teeth full above the work, as that seems to reduce kickback. I use heavy Delta blades with high kerf loss that cost >$100 each. There are probably better choices :)
     
    KP11520

    KP11520

    Member
    2007-04-10 2:18 pm
    Long Island
  • #5
    When you say Circular saw, do you mean hand-held circular saw? If yes, then I wouldn't spend a lot of money on a blade for imperfect cuts,

    Table saws and quality Chop (mitre) saws will give you the precision you want with the proper blades.

    If all you have is a circular saw and don't want to invest in the others, bring the wood to a Lumber Yard with a wood shop and let them cut it, that is if precision is needed!

    I hope this is helpful.

    Regards//Keith
     
    dfdye

    dfdye

    Member
    2005-12-04 8:57 pm
    USA
  • #6
    Yea, I was reading all of this talk about table saw blades and I thought I missed the boat! If you want a 7.25" CIRCULAR saw blade, then just get a 40 tooth carbide blade--any brand will really do since they are typically pretty cheap. You won't be able to do much precision cutting with a circular saw anyway, but the 40 tooth vs. the typical 24 tooth hogs makes a difference.

    If you want a good cut, use a table saw at least, and not a circular saw!

    As for cut quality, I'll chime in with the Forrest WWII being excellent, but I have also had much luck with mid-range Freud blades. The aren't quite as nice, but the cost savings is there. For laminated sheet products, the higher tooth count blades definitely help to avoid splintering. I'm assuming here that you are laminating before you cut. If not, then no blade will help you enough to avoid extensive belt sander usage.

    Finally, whatever blade you use, the BEST thing you can do is to use a zero clearance insert on your table saw to avoid splintering of the sheet goods during cross cuts. Also, you can score the crosscuts first to further reduce tear out, but make sure your fence is up to staying rock steady or you will have a score mark on the edge of your work piece.
     
    dfdye

    dfdye

    Member
    2005-12-04 8:57 pm
    USA
  • #10
    No way! You are thinking of specialty saws that are designed to take larger blades, and yes, I have seen the 14" hand held circular saws too (insane!).

    Those are NOT available at your local Lowes/Home Depot/Sears and if you had one, you would NOT be asking this forum how to use it ! :D

    (Because you DARN SURE better know what you are doing before you drop the coin on those exotic bad boys--low production = high individual cost.)
     
    Cal Weldon

    Cal Weldon

    Administrator
    Paid Member
    2004-01-16 1:14 am
    Near Vancouver
    www.calweldonconsulting.ca
  • #12
    dave_gerecke said:
    You can fit a 10" blade on a hand held circular saw, if you buy the correct one
    Click to expand...

    Problem being that you still only get a 15 amp 120V motor (here anyway) and that's tough to turn a blade that big without extra motor stress.


    dfdye said:
    No way! You are thinking of specialty saws that are designed to take larger blades, and yes, I have seen the 14" hand held circular saws too (insane!).
    Click to expand...

    Ya, you need 240V for those or motor go bye bye in a couple of years.
     
    gareth

    gareth

    Member
    2008-01-31 3:38 pm
  • #19
    Hi,

    I think the Makita 5903 uses a 10inch blade, this is a hand held circular saw. I use a Makita 5904 with a 60 tooth tungsten carbide, this is a 6 inch circular saw and gives excellent results once you get a 'feel' for the feed rate.

    To get perfectly parallel lines I use an accurate 1000mm spirit level clamped at both ends to guide the machine for the cuts, this is far cheaper than the many parallel guides you can get.

    Make sure that you set your machine up properly, i.e. the 'riving knife' which if not properly adjusted can cause the machine to jump and you will ruin your cut from the start.

    If you want to mitre the edges of your enclosure then set the 45° with a pecision Tee or something similar.

    Again, if you don't want to splinter the edges of your cut the use 48 teeth or more and don't force the machine and let it do the work for you and everything should be fine.

    I hope this helps you somewhat.

    Thanks
    Gareth
     
    dfdye

    dfdye

    Member
    2005-12-04 8:57 pm
    USA
  • #20
    While on the topic, you can also make a zero clearance insert for circular saws that work quite well.

    I don't see a guide quickly scanning through google results, so I'll give the 2 second run down:

    Take a piece of hardboard cut just smaller than the plate of your circular saw, raise the blade as high as it will go into the saw, use good double sided carpet tape to attach the hardboard to the bottom of the plate of your saw (remember, shiny side of the hardboard facing away from the plate) and CAREFULLY plunge the blade of the saw through the hardboard with the saw running. I typically do this off the side of a piece of plywood.

    I have used this on many occasions and it has always worked great for me.

    After you are done, be careful to get all of the sticky off of your saw plate or it will hate you the next time you try and make a cut :eek:
    This is obviously easy to do with acetone, mineral spirits, or any other hydrocarbon based material you have laying around your workshop.

    Hope this helps!

    PS I like the idea of using a level as a straight edge, but I typically bang my "straight edge" around, which I don't really like to do with levels. Also, there isn't a self locking system that many of the purpose-built circular saw guides have now (which are quite nice!)
     
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