Evolution TCT blade

I want to buy a large TCT blade to cut steel. I found the Evolution brand and I wonder if it is any good. There are many positive reviews but also cases when people complain that after a few cuts the blade didn't work anymore. Or are there better alternatives?

What sort of steel section are you cutting and with what?

I have only cut metal with industrial machines and personally wouldn’t use anything in my workshop other than a band saw. Most blade manufacturers can supply metal cutting blades but are specific for material being cut and speed of machine.

I've certainly cut through hidden nails and suchlike with no ill effects, but haven't tried sheets or bars of steel.

I want to be able to cut mild steel plates up to 10mm thick. Or square bars up to 20x20mm. Speed is adjustable up to 1400rpm.

Edited By Sonic Escape on 31/07/2023 14:44:14

I have an Evolution chop saw with a TCT blade. I have successfully cut steel bar and angle with it.

BUT there are a lot of red hot chips flying everywhere. So much so that I invested in a small bandsaw which is a far more civilised way to cut metal.

Usually these saws run at much slower rpm than the max allowed for this blade. In the low hundreds and with coolant, plus the work must be really well clamped.

I think that is a cold saw. It cuts at speeds as low as 20-80 rpm.

Why there is a different blade for stainless steel? I want to cut both stainless and mild steel. But I don't want to buy both  Does it really matter?

Edited By Sonic Escape on 31/07/2023 17:00:02

That 14" blade in the picture will take some considerable power / torque to drive it through mild steel, let alone austenitic stainless.

Different blades - because the tooth rake angles are different.. ..I'd guess the stainless one is aggressive to reduce the risk of work-hardening the stock during the cut...

..deeper gullets / bigger chip clearance..?

Makita say their 305mm blade in the LC1230 will cut ferrous & stainless steel

Edited By DiogenesII on 31/07/2023 20:09:51

Edited By DiogenesII on 31/07/2023 20:16:43

We cut a lot of stainless pipe where I used to work and the go to tool for the larger sizes was a bandsaw. For smaller tubes we used a Pedrazzoli Brown chop saw (two speed, always on low speed) without coolant to avoid contaminating the tube with oils or washing chips into the bore. This meant that the saw blades needed regularly changing because they lost their edge or clogged up with chips in the gullets. We had a pile of used blades and a pile of fresh blades and just changed them over as required. When the pile of used blades was somewhere between 20 and 40 we sent them off for resharpening which also cleared the gullets. Since they only needed minimal sharpening when used like this it was cheaper per blade to get them sharpened in large batches. We had a lot of money invested in all those blades but it was worth it when compared to the cost rate in the department and the potential cost of delays to workflow.

Martin C

I cut up to an inch (25mm) with the grinder by using 115mm blue spot stainless discs 1mm

Edited By Ady1 on 01/08/2023 13:40:29

The saw shown in the link is good for 1/2" (13MM) steel plate, but how will you feed the plate. It sounds more like a plasma cutter job.

I use the evolution rage blades, I recently cut a 3" x3" large slab of 1" hot rolled steel. Most probably some sort of carbon steel as the laser cut edge seemed hardened, (scrapyard offcuts). Anyway with plenty of wd40 and a slow cut it made a nice job. Made all the difference when I tried my fly cutter on the myford. Strickly speaking the blade is on rated at 6mm for steel but the unconventional blade pattern seems to prevent stalling or grabbing issues.

Could you clarify what machine your Rage blade was fitted to, Jon? Presumably not an Evolution Rage mitre saw, unless by a "slow cut" you mean a slow rate of downfeed.

Edited By Bill Phinn on 01/08/2023 23:09:32

It was an evolution chop saw, most likely the mitre saw and my chop saw have similar universal motors. Mine runs at high speed but I didn't force the blade, so yes slow down feed. Got through plenty of coolant, but no red hot shavings thankfully.

I have no ideas on blade life as I don't use it much on account of the noise.

Naive question from me - what are metal-cutting chop saws for?

I own a mitre saw for woodwork, where it is extremely useful for quickly cutting largish sections of wood - up to about 2 by 4" Skirting, cabinet frames, pelmets, floorboards etc. Never done it, but I guess it would do plastic barge boards and soffits a treat. Not bad for PVC drainpipes. On the other hand it's not good for fine work like picture frames and PVC guttering didn't go well.

I imagine a metal chop-saw to be useful in much the same way. They're for cutting bigger box section, pipe, and sheet rapidly to size for structural work rather than making small numbers of precision parts. So not much use in my workshop, where a band-saw is about the right size for most work, and it runs quietly and doesn't make much mess. For larger lumps I've started using an angle grinder - outside only, because it's so noisy and messy.

The tools I buy are decided by the type of work I need to do, and at the moment I don't think a chop-saw is worth having. Maybe if I ran a busy workshop and got my metal from a shed full of chunky scrap. I'd definitely buy a chop-saw if I wanted to build a 40 metre antenna tower, where a few hundred cross-braces have to be cut to size. But I don't.

Am I right to think a chop-saw isn't for me?

Dave

Hi Dave, I dont know what sort of model engineering you do.... Perhaps if your interested in building a 1/4 scale Sherman tank replica or need to chomp through largish lumps of steel from the scrap yard? They do make quite nice flush cuts in quick time compared to a horizontal bandsaw.

However it is difficult to make a case for buying one for cutting 1/2 steel bar or similar.

Buy the way I cant claim the fame for building any large scale tank models, but perhaps some day in the future.

Jon

Look up 'project farm' on youtube - he tested lots. I remember makita coming out OK but... I have a bad memory.