Diablo metal cutting blades-anyone use them?

[Badfish740]

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They're a little pricey at $40 or so but I'd like to give it a shot on some upcoming projects for the woodhauler. The specs for the blade say "up to 1/4" steel." I have two lengths of 3 x 3 x 5/16" thick angle iron and two lengths of 6 x 2 x 1/4" wall box channel. I'm wondering if cutting thicker steel might be possible if the cut was done in stages, ie: setting the blade depth at 1/8", then a 1/4", then 3/8"? Here's a guy cutting through 3/16" plate with one:

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It might be worth the $40 to give it a shot. Seems like a better option than putting an abrasive wheel in the circular saw. As you can see from the videos these Diablo blades don't generate a lot of heat (no sparks)-they chip away at the metal like a cutting head on a milling machine would, so it shouldn't be nearly as hard on the saw itself. Still, I have a $5 yard sale saw I'll try it with. Here's the project I'll be using it for:

I need a better bed for my truck. I've beefed up the rear springs and the brakes (upgraded to Toyota T-100 discs/calipers in the front), but you can only carry so much in a 6.5' bed that doesn't have very high sides. So I decided to build a flatbed. The bed will be about 7' 6" which is kind of long, but it will be mounted up high so I shouldn't have any departure angle problems. I'm going to make it 63" wide which is basically as wide as the widest part of the cab so that I have as large a bed as possible.

I'm going keep the spare right behind the cab old school style-that way it's up out of the muck and easy to get to. Plus I'll still be able to carry 4 x 8 sheets of plywood to the right of the spare mount (4' 2" to the edge of the bed). I'll also be cutting in stake pockets so that I can put 24" tall stake sides on the sides and rear. I should be able to carry a decent heaped load of wood that way.

The bed itself with all of the steel, 3/4" oak decking, and the spare tire (265/75/16 Treadwright Guard Dog on a 16x7 Tundra steel wheel) should come in at just over 500lbs which from what I've seen is about 200lbs heavier than stock, but I have 200lb helper springs on my rearend that can handle quite a bit of weight. I'm hopefully going to be making a deal on some 5.71 gears I found on Craigslist later this week so those will help get the load moving. I'm going to make my own mounts out of UHMW polyethylene-that's what a lot of better body lift kits use so it should work well. Eventually I'll add a backrack because I need a place to mount a high lift jack, chainsaw, and some other stuff, but I just want to get the basic bed built for now. Hopefully will be starting on it soon.

 

[Hearth Mistress]

My BIL builds trailers, this is all he uses. He does make several cuts when cutting thicker than 1/4" because when he tried to do it all in one shot, it ripped a tooth off flinging it clear across the shop into the wall like a throwing star. He sharpens them too, but not sure how.

Good Luck!

 

[Dune]

When cutting steel ( or any metal) with a circular blade you want as much blade exposed as possible. The simple reason being that the steeper the angle of the blade in contact with the metal, the smaller the cut the saw is forced to make.
If you need to cut thicker than rated metal, use less pressure and a slower feed rate. Raising the blade dramatically increases the length of the cut, in other words, the amount of blade engaged in cutting action. This is very bad for the saw motor, the operators fatique level and the blade, as well as increasing friction and raising the likelyhood of heating the work.

 

[Heatsource]

yes we use them for cutting steel, i recently had to cut down a customer's 3/8" thick baffle plate, it cut like butter!

 

[pyroholic]

Don't force it and you'll get a beautiful cut at least through 3/8" without throwing a tooth. Let the blade do the work and it will last awhile. Well worth the money.

 

[btuser]

I've had very good luck with them.

 

[lukem]

Never used the metal cutting blades, but Freud blades are good stuff. I have them on my table saw and compound miter saw.

 

[EastMtn]

yes we use them for cutting steel, i recently had to cut down a customer's 3/8" thick baffle plate, it cut like butter!

X2. I thought they were just a gimmick until I tried one. It's my go to brand for demo work.

 

[JOHN BOY]

Excellent blade ! Pretty much all i use .

 

[CUCV]

I use the 14" version. The blades work well but don't last as long as the Dewalt metal cutting blades. However the Dewalt blades cost 3x more. I'm usually cutting 1/4" + so if I was cutting thinner metal the Diablo might last longer.