Chop saw safety

[hankj]

Hi, everone.

Just got a new Milwaukee 14" cut-off machine - my first one. 3.5 hp - real bad boy! Read the manual, and it advises to run the tool for over one minute prior to cutting, and for over three minutes when changing blades. I know I don't want to be standing in front of this thing if the blade comes apart, but I also know there are plenty of these tools in use, so I wonder how often blades self-destruct. I always wear a leather welding apron, safety glasses (magnifiers 'cause I can't see), and a full face shield whenever I use any abrasive tool. I also wear leather gloves. I'd guess that those are adequate precautions. The big question is, has anybody ever been using one of these things and had the blade come apart? What can be expected?

Any info will be appreciated.

Be well,

hankj

[Paul Seaman]

Hankj: I've never seen a chop saw blow apart, but a grinder disc at 10'000 rpm I have and it is pretty ugly. The disc left part on the grinder and one side came off it didn't do much damage but I was glad there wasn't a car present lots of small pieces that my jacket and gloves stopped and using a face shield is imparitive like you said.

With a chop saw there isn't as much jarring and side loading like on a grinder so I don't think this is as frequent of a problem although it is worth a thought. Congrats on the new saw and have fun with it, I am glad safety is in your thought process.

Keep up the good work.

[H80N]

hankj
has not happened to me personally... but saw the aftermath... a friend had one of the chinese blades grenade on him about a year ago.. on one of the HF 2hp chopsaws.. he was lucky and was standing off to one side... amazingly the guard contained a lot of it...(wish I had taken a picture) apparently a chunk came out of the rim.. threw it off balance at speed.... and it tore the center out of it near the spindle... lots of energy there... all I can say is that he was lucky.... good quality blades are fiberglass reinforced and are tested.... he got a new saw and went right back to using the same blades...and has not had a problem since... he is a nice fella but sometimes I wonder about Darwin in action... for me... I would buy good quality blades.. manufactured to ANSI standards... am too old to die this young.... Personal opinion is.. the chinese blades of dubious pedigree are ok on small air powered cutoff tools if you are careful.... but the available destructive energy in a 16 or 20 inch chopsaw spinning at 3450rpm .... is more than I care to chance
hope this helps
Heiti

[H80N]

BTW!!! a 6inch triangular piece embedded itself in the siding of his house 20ft away... it penetrated about 2inches... bet it would have smarted had it contacted his noggin...

Heiti

[timw]

I have one of the Milwaukee saws and have used others, I have never seen a blade come apart on it's own. But I have had my work come loose and bind the blade and break it. I always stand off to the side when cutting for safety.
On the same note here's one that is not widely told. If you have a blade that is for steel and use it for Alum, Brass, or other soft metal, heat can build up in it and it can explode!! I read an article where a guy was using a bench grinder when this happened. How many times have you come behind someone else and the wheel is covered with Alum and clogged?

[ridgeview]

I had a bad experience with a 4.5" angle grinder and a cut off disk. While cutting mild steel the disc shattered and even with all guards in place a large piece flew up and gave me 12 stiches in the face. It cut clean through my upper lip and into the gum above my teeth almost deep enough to sever the tooth roots. Thanks to some skillfull work of the plastic surgeon, things don't look too bad these days, but I guess I have a life long reminder about using full face shields. Hope this inspires others to use all protective equipment avaiable.
Thanks

[DDA52]

Hankj
I've blown many blades to bits. 90% of the time they were "new " blades the office wanted to try out ... meaning they were dirt cheap! I used to weld metal studs for many moons. Had to frame with them too. I probably used nearly 100 to 150 cases of blades per year. The name brand blades always held up. Yea, we'd blow a few of those.. but usually because we were pushing them too hard. If you're careful not to push too much and keep your gaurds in place, you'll be just fine. The worst I ever got was a few cuts on the hand ( nothing worth mentioning). Grinder wheels are different. Still bear the scar below my left eye from one of those babies letting go! Impacted just below my safety glasses! Hate to think of the damage those glasses prevented!
Just use your safety gear and apply common sense. You'll figure out what you can and can't do. If you are carefull, it won't hurt!
Don

[DDA52]

Oh yea,
Another reason we fragged blades was because we weren't using the work clamp! Crank that puppy down so the work won't wiggle and you'll keep the blade and what you are cutting in one place!

[arcdawg]

when i first started welding i had a 7 in angle grinder kick back and SLAM me in the chest!!! the wheel just tangled up my LOOSE sweatshirt!!!!

being smart and your head can save your @##

two years earlier my teacher said that she had some kid do the same thing but had only a t shirt on and he got tore up pretty good, but nothing serius,

and i have seen a bench grinder stone blow up too !!!

point being is using common sense and not RUSHING can keep you together !!!!

brian

[Blondie_486]

Hankj and everyone else,

I've had a 14" abrasive blade explode while I was using a cutoff saw. Fortunately it was an old saw with a heavy cast blade guard on it and it caught the fragments, well most of them anyway. I caught a few to the leathers and broke my face shield but other than that I was unharmed. I do know of a man who was using an angle grinder and the wheel exploded on him. He wasn't so lucky he has about an 18" zipper going diagonally across his mid section and he's missing a few feet of intestines.

The rule of thumb here is always buy quality blades and wheels, use caution and be sure the guards are in place and in good condition and don't hog the work let the machine do the work. Most abrasive wheel/blade explosions come from trying to force the tool through the work or not having it clamped securely. When I shattered the abrasive blade my supervisors were pushing me to get an order of tubing cut that they waited till the last minute to get for a job we were working on in Florida and it had to be on a plane that evening, along with myself. Well I ended up getting on the plane and part of the tubing got on the plane the rest had to be shipped on Monday. The part that angered me is when I got there the job was still 2 weeks away from needing the tubing!

Well let's be careful with our abrasive tools, they can be a timesaver or a lifetaker depending on how we use them!

Blondie

[Paul Seaman]

Blondie: thanks for the personal experience its definently an eye opener or eye closer if someone doesn't take advise well!

[hankj]

The Brethren have Spoken.

Thanks, Gents.

Didn't expect this much feedback, but I'm glad to have gotten it. I had planned to stick with made-in-the-USA first-run blades for this tool, and that's all that I use for my angle grinders, too. That said, sometimes even your best sources sneak in an import on you - lately a TON of made in China stuff. You have to look for the source, and I believe it to be well worth the extra buck in the case of anything that moves as fast as these type tools.

Thanks again,

Be well.

hankj

[H80N]

hankj
THANK YOU for the wakeup call!!!! ....... over time one can get lax on the safety aspects... it would not hurt me one bit to take an extra moment to don a face shield before grabbing the air cutoff.. and making that one "quick cut" .......
take care
Heiti

BTW there are ANSI standards for all of these blades... and I will start to doublecheck the fine print to make sure that the ones that I purchase and use meet those standards.. thanks again..

[Rob]

Anybody tried the new saws offered by DeWalt and others? A small metal supplier I sometimes use had one in use the last time I stopped by. It had a 12" carbide tipped blade, and cut mild steel tubing in about 1/3 the time of my abrasive chop saw. I found them on the Dewalt web site, with a suggested retail about twice that of an abrasive unit, but didn't know about expected life of the blade, etc. to get an idea of long term operating cost.

Would appreciate anybody's experience with one of the carbide units before I go buy one.

Rob

P.S. - The carbide saw should cut aluminum like butter.

[Blondie_486]

Rob,

I've seen one by Porter Cable and have considered it myself. I've never tried one yet but I'm sure it'd be a lot more cost efficient in the long run as the abrasive wheels don't seem to last too long considering what you have to pay for them. At least in my opinion anyway. For myself though I'd look for another brand than Dewalt, it's a personal preference thing for me since I smoked a brand new Dewalt drill in less than 5 minutes and had a hard time getting it warranted. Dewalt is actually merged with Black & Decker. Both were good tools in their time but quality in my opinion has gone downhill. I prefer Milwaukee and Porter Cable and my chop saw is a Milwaukee, it has a cast iron table as opposed to the other manufacturer's stamped sheet metal tables. I can't remember the pricing on the Porter Cable unit but I'm sure it was more than an abrasive saw.

Blondie