Tips on Maintaining your Coldsaw Blade

Cleaning your coldsaw blade is a part of your maintenance routine to ensure the longevity and efficiency of the blade. But cleaning your blade isn’t enough, there are other maintenance routine you could do that will surely help your blade reach its potential.

1.       Cleaning

When mounting the blade, remember to clean both flanges and blade. A single chip between the blade and flanges can lead into excessive side run out. It can also reduce the stability and cutting quality of the machine.

2.       Fluids

Fluids are used for cooling, flushing away excess dirt on the blade and lubrication. Follow the manufacturer’s guide and use only the recommended fluid products. Sawing is a “hard” machining process and demands a mixture of 6-10%.

Fluids should be applied generously on both sides of the coldsaw blade during cutting. The nozzles should be directly pointing at the cutting point. The cutting process must never start without fluids. If you do, the tooth tips will burn or “pick up” may occur and will reduce the life and efficiency of your coldsaw blade.

3.       Stability

Stability is one of the factor to get good cutting results. The machine must be stable through its main bearings, column and vice. Lack of stability leads to vibration in the machine and blade. This vibration can lead into substantial loss of blade life or at worst, blade breakage.

4.       Sharpening

In order to save money, some woodworkers would go and have their blade re-sharpened as part of their maintenance procedure. Re-sharpening your blade is a lot cheaper that getting a new one. Click here to learn more.

5.       “Running In”

Always use the run in procedure for re-sharpened blades. Gradually increase the feed until the normal feed is reached. Before you used re-sharpened blades, make 6-8 cuts with normal speed but lower than normal feed. The run in procedure hones the tooth tips, removing the sharp fragile edges created during sharpening, thus lengthening the blade life.