LarryS
freely admits to licking rocks
SoCal desert rats
Member since August 2010
Posts: 781
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Post by LarryS on Dec 29, 2011 13:00:32 GMT -5
Installed a BD 303C blade on my 10" Covington saw about 9 months ago. I've cut countless hundreds of very hard agate & jasper rocks while only using water & Lube Cool coolant. Oil is out of the question for me. The blade jammed a couple times recently and was starting to make much more noise. Figured it was time to swap it out. I'll keep the old one as a spare. I'm surprised this blade has lasted this long because I do abuse it sometimes. Purchased a new blade from JS Gems. I'm a happy camper. Larry
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Post by FrogAndBearCreations on Dec 29, 2011 13:13:27 GMT -5
the old one still looks like it has plenty of diamond on the cutting edge. I had two tile saw blades rated for very hard material - a $75.00 Ridgid blade and a $80.00 DeWalt blade that I purchased well over a year ago. I started with the Ridgid blade and it lasted about 4 months of cutting a wide assortment of stone, some soft but the majority was jasper and agate. It had tons of diamond left but felt like it was hammering through the cuts. I checked it for being out of round and sure enough it was wearing faster in one spot. So I changed to the DeWalt blade and have been using that one for about a year with doing mostly hard material cutting. The wear has been very even and slow - lots of life left in it. But I am going to retire it to back up blade and put in the BD I have to slab up a big box of various jades. I think that the jade would kill the DeWalt!
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Post by Rockoonz on Dec 29, 2011 14:13:18 GMT -5
I see the edge of your old blade is rounded. Your sintered edge has probably become wedge shaped, causing it to bind. The solution for that with the old blades was to lay the blade flat on your workbench and carefully and evenly hammer the edge to flatten it and make it wider, eliminating the wedge shape and causing it to stop binding. I use a small ball peen and make sure to hammer the edge square. I have always had good results but haven't tried it on a sintered blade. Maybe use it when you get into softer pet woods and rhyolites, I usually save soft messy stuff to finish off my old blades and coolant.
Lee
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LarryS
freely admits to licking rocks
SoCal desert rats
Member since August 2010
Posts: 781
|
Post by LarryS on Dec 29, 2011 14:54:56 GMT -5
Main thing is the noise. I'd like to keep the peace with my neighbor who just tolerates the noise. He even mentioned the saw was starting to get loud. With the new blade, all you hear is the hum of the motor and a hiss of the blade. The old blade sounded like a tile/trim saw. I'd gladly buy a new blade every 9 months for $55. If he pisses me off, I'll reinstall the old blade!
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Post by jakesrocks on Dec 29, 2011 15:22:38 GMT -5
Hey Larry, get Goober to bite the neighbor in the ass. So far no complaints from my neighbors when I fire up that 16" 303S blade.
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Post by deb193redux on Dec 29, 2011 16:50:25 GMT -5
you might get the old blade flat and back to round if you cut several fire bricks using autofeed..
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LarryS
freely admits to licking rocks
SoCal desert rats
Member since August 2010
Posts: 781
|
Post by LarryS on Dec 31, 2011 21:41:20 GMT -5
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Post by deb193redux on Dec 31, 2011 22:34:56 GMT -5
Yes, but better price if you order from ACE. $20 w/ free ship to store. www.acehardware.com/product/index.jsp?productId=1366795The slow steady auto feed is important because the parts with larger diameter need to get worn down while the smaller spots do not wear. This can bring it back to round if not too oval. If th eproblem is more pronounced, get a 6" alum ovide grinding disc and make some cuts in that, also with autofeed.
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LarryS
freely admits to licking rocks
SoCal desert rats
Member since August 2010
Posts: 781
|
Post by LarryS on Jan 5, 2012 18:05:57 GMT -5
My hero John of JSGems solved my problem. While at Quartzsite I bought some 60 grit aluminum oxide blocks from him. That did the trick! He did instruct me to be careful with it because it's pretty aggressive.
The sharpening stone that came with my 10" Covington saw is close to worthless. Going to stick it in the bathtub and see if it's good to remove callous off my feet!!!!
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