Slitting saw arbours

I made one which just relies on the clamp load but it was thin less than 0.5mm, my logic was better to let it slip than break.

Are you only expecting one person to reply, Carl?

**LINK**

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The general wisdom is that slitting saws are safer without keys.

However; if you run them that way, the retaining screw/nut can tighten up ... So remember to include spanner flats or a cross-hole on the arbor. ... I write from bitter experience with a small [1/4" bore] saw.

MichaelG.

The slitting saws i buy that are 5" wide with a 1" bore all have a keyway and although i have both a keywayed and non keywayed arbour i've never used it keywayed. I found that the load on the tool was rather minimal. Make sure you make the arbor long enough to take advantage of it because your collet chuck will need to take up some of the room and enough arbor to fill atleast 2/3rds of the collet, if you don't use this much room the consequences will be an arbor that spins out of round. (presuming this is an ER collet, where the makers of the ER system themselves give these guidelines).

Michael W

Edited By Michael Walters on 05/07/2016 00:22:35

If you use a Morse Taper on the arbour, it must have a draw bar, although if used in a lathe, support from a tailstock centre is possible.

Ian S C

If you use a thick washer with countersunk screw you will find that this limits what you can cut especially when it is held in a vice.

I prefer this style of slitting saw arbour:

http://mikesworkshop.weebly.com/slitting-saw-arbor.html

I agree with others that there is no need for a key.

Mike

The best design slitting saw arbour I have seen so far is Stefan Gotteswinter's

www.youtube.com/watch?v=bRQPv4AG2HQ and part two

but Robrenz comes a novel second with his superglued one when he made his micro-Ohm meter probes. If you haven't come across him yet, he is a perfectionist's perfectionist with attention to detail scales off the charts.

Carl, if you decide to do as you mention and finish turn the arbor whilst held in the mill spindle your mill head would need to be very well trammed in or else a taper will result. best if you did them in the lathe. A slight radial runout on the finished arbor is not so critical, but any Axial runout [wobble] is. Its the Axial runout that causes slitting saws to wander and jam up. There is no more than 0.005mm [Axial ] at the edge of a 100 Ø blade on these. They are made from EN24T steel, two are ISO 30 and one is straight shank. I have never need a key. Also you need to remember that when slitting deep, the mill head MUST be trammed in very very close to perfect in the X and Y because if not, in a deep cut the blade WILL jam up.