Steve Lovelock
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| posted on 3/9/06 at 11:56 AM |
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What hacksaw blades to use
I bought a couple of expensive hacksaw blades recently and they have been really disappointing. I figure that I bought the wrong grade so I am
interested to know what hacksaw blades people recommend for general metal work / kit car building stuff?
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rusty nuts
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| posted on 3/9/06 at 12:12 PM |
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Haven't brought any hacksaw blades for best part of 15years. Got paid for a couple of jobs with 2 boxes of Sandvick? blades . Seem to last very
well . Suspect cutting technique sometimes shortens blade life ?
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Peteff
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| posted on 3/9/06 at 12:18 PM |
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Depends what you're cutting.
Coarse blades for speed, get a decent quality blade and use all the blade with not too much pressure. Kids tend to use the middle and go fast which
rips the teeth off so they stick. Put a spot of oil on the cut line and don't make it smoke.
yours, Pete
I went into the RSPCA office the other day. It was so small you could hardly swing a cat in there.
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JB
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| posted on 3/9/06 at 12:45 PM |
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Blades
You can get all hard which are quite brittle and tend to snap and shatter quite easily.
Bimetal are the ones I prefer, you can practically tie knots in these.
I use 24tpi for most jobs with a few 18tpi for thicker stuff and aluminium.
Prefered makes are Eclipse and Sandvik.
John
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David Jenkins
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| posted on 3/9/06 at 01:30 PM |
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You need to get at least 2 teeth on the work at any time, preferably 3. So, for thin work 32tpi is ideal. However if you're sawing soft
material you'll need coarser teeth (24tpi) as otherwise they'll just clog up with swarf.
All-hard blades cut the best, but need a very good hacksaw frame and good technique as otherwise they'll just snap. Bi-metal are the best
compromise.
With a good technique a blade should last months - a good stance, pressure on the push-stroke and ease off on the return, about 1 stroke per second
(ooer!) and maybe some lubricant (ooer again!) should do you well.
David
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Anglia66
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| posted on 3/9/06 at 01:59 PM |
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A good quality hacksaw helps as well.I've used a Sandvik one for decades and cut everything from 2mm aluminium right up to 6"
channel.
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Hellfire
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| posted on 3/9/06 at 02:17 PM |
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Bi-meatlic as stated allows flexibility and hard point teeth. Always have 2 teeth in 'cut' and do not pushdown on the blade much... this
will cause a curved cut and riskblade breakage.
Steve
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Gav
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| posted on 3/9/06 at 08:31 PM |
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I used thompson bi-metal ones 24tpi to cut all my chassis tube and some 3mm plate, went through about 10 doing the entire chassis i probably dont
have the best technique but at £1.25 each i couldnt really care making them last 
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Mark Allanson
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| posted on 3/9/06 at 09:00 PM |
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Screwfix do a great aerosol cutting oil, make cutting so easy and the blades last for ages. Stop corrosion as well.
If you can keep you head, whilst all others around you are losing theirs, you are not fully aware of the situation
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MikeRJ
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| posted on 5/9/06 at 08:43 AM |
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quote:
Originally posted by Gav
I used thompson bi-metal ones 24tpi to cut all my chassis tube
24tpi is a little bit coarse to cut 1.6mm RHS, unless you only ever cut along the sides of the tube, i.e. cut one side at a time (I tend to do this if
I need a very accurate cut). Cutting down the edges with 24tpi will break teeth of the saw fairly quickly IME, 32 is much more suitable.
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