I bought this solid carbide slitting saw at the Midlands Model Engineering Exhibition in 2014 and have been using it for some time on various materials.
At the weekend I decided to use this blade to saw a mild steel bearing block into 2 parts. I had already drilled 2 vertical holes through the blocks to take the bolts that will fix the blocks together in use.
I pushed the cutting rate too hard and stalled the mill – the result when I backed off was that a tooth had broken off.
The blade had caught on the edge of one of the holes and stopped dead.
I managed to carry on using the saw and complete the job, but annoyed at my gorilla machining and lack of patience. Also, this is not the first time I have had a carbide tool just sheer this way and break.
These carbide slitting saws are great, but they cannot accept any flex. Be very careful changing the Z position of the blade. Even a second cut at a slightly wide position can cause the blade to flex. Any flexing of the blade and it will break.
Slitting Saw Mandrel
A slitting saw mandrel is quite easy to make. It’s worth taking your time as this will be the foundation required to get accurate cuts.
This mandrel works with an HSS or Carbide slitting saw.