Is there any technique to chop sawing?

[afroman006]

I'm building my winch bumper and have been using my Craftsman chop saw alot. It is taking me forever to cut tubing, and I think I must be doing something wrong. It'll cut well at first, but as soon as it has the sharp edge cut down, that is, cutting on a flat surface, it all but stops cutting. Am I doing something wrong? The saw has a flip over gate so I can move the tubing back and forth to give the saw a new edge to cut without messing up the angle but it's a royal pain in the ass and just doesnt seem right to me. Last night, while really getting after a piece of tubing, I threw a breaker. So, is there any real strategery involved? I'm thinking I just need a better wheel, the one it came with seems to get really rough every once in awhile, go right through one piece of material, then glaze over to almost uselessness. Is there a particulary good brand of 14" cutoff wheel? Thx

 

[u2slow]

Cut stuff on edge if possible. Stop and rotate the piece to achieve this if necessary - like on a piece of angle. Cutting on the flat seems to create lots of heat and not do too much cutting. /forums/images/graemlins/dunno.gif

Full diameter wheel cuts faster. Don't apply too much pressure. When you do it causes more load on the saw and pops your breaker.

If you wire up a 20A circuit with #12 wire and one of those t-slot plugs (NEMA 5-20R) you can avoid some of the nuisance tripping.

I have a buddy that skipped the chop saw entirely and went with a bandsaw... something like this:

 

[mrk5]

Get some cutting wax. Our guys use it in the shop on everything; porta-bands, band saws, sawzalls, and even grinders. You run the blade through it and then go to cutting and it makes a huge difference. It comes in a tube that looks like a tube of grease. We get it from places like Fastenal.

It's still gonna be difficult to cut the flat surfaces. Use a t-square to draw a cut line all the way around the tube so that you can rotate it. Cutting the flat surfaces is where the porta-band works great.

 

[afroman006]

I have been rotating the stragiht cut pieces but cutting angles is where I'm running into problems. Are there any local chain stores that carry that wax? Thx

 

[mrk5]

Fastenal is a chain. Here's a list of Fastenal locations in Texas, don't know which if any would be closer.

And here's what you're looking for; Accu-Lube Push Up Tube lubricant

Don't know for sure where else you could get it.

 

[afroman006]

Awsome man there's one really close to me thx! /forums/images/graemlins/waytogo.gif