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Post by stoner on May 9, 2006 16:20:05 GMT -5
Hey everyone, just thought I'd try and save others some money by telling you my experience with cheap sawblades. Shortly after I got my 18" slab saw, I decided to buy a new blade for it. I searched the web for the best price and found one for $139+ shipping. I ordered one and put it on my saw and although it worked, it was much slower than my old blade and I continued to use it. A couple of weeks ago I cut some large pieces of jade for Tony and after that, the blade would not cut through anything anymore. So I took an old SC grinding wheel and tried dressing the blade but it still would not cut. Next I took a file and tried that to expose fresh diamonds and it cuts a little better, but still nowhere near the way it should cut. To eliminate any other cause, I put on my old blade and I was cutting rocks again, in half the time it took me with the new blade when it was new. So, the moral of the story is "you get what you pay for". For you people with larger saws, when it comes time to buy a new blade, just bite the bullet and spend the money, I know I will.
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Post by snowdog on May 9, 2006 17:36:46 GMT -5
I'm with you there!!----a hundred dollar blade can't have 300 dollars worth of diamond on it --I've seen some small blades too that come out of china that only have maybe 5/10 specks of diamond in a couple of inches of blade---takes forever to try and cut with those---but they are cheap
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Post by deb193 on May 9, 2006 20:54:46 GMT -5
I notice Lopacki.com has 18" X 3/4" X .040" for $149.00. He usually has reputable stuff even if it is not top premium.
But if I can get 50% faster cutting for abother $80 bucks, I would do it. Call me impatient.
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Post by gemkoi on May 9, 2006 20:58:40 GMT -5
good point Ed, thanks for sharing, as it is across the board on what size blade can be effected. My experiance is like yours, cheap can be nice on saving, but its exactly what you get.
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Post by deb193 on May 9, 2006 21:09:26 GMT -5
I have kept my old saw blade that was cutting a bit crooked. I put it on when I take off the vise and use it to block larger rocks.
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Post by stoner on May 9, 2006 21:20:22 GMT -5
Daniel, I saw the blade that Lopacki sells, and I'll tell you just from the thickness of the kerf, don't buy it. The new one I bought I think was .060 and it is thin compared with my old blade.
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Post by deb193 on May 10, 2006 10:23:32 GMT -5
Good to know. I know he specializes in thin kerf, but that has to go out the window when the blade diameter gets large.
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