To lube or not - and other interesting stuff

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HB

HB

SGF, Supreme Grumble Framer
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Should we use lube? My blades are not lasting as long as I would like. I use a 10" 120 tooth non ferrous blade on mostly wood but also the occassional alluminum frame. I only have one saw to do them both. I have tried using wax on the blade for the alluminum cuts but it seems to "dull" the blade quicker. What have you found to work?

Thanks to you all.
 
HB,

What works for me best on metals is to order all of them chopped! I don't do metals on saw blades that cost 10 times the cost of resharpening the blades.

My theory is, let the distributor tear up their blades on that nasty stuff. I have a few occasions where the metal frame must be precisely fitted to a wood frame or require a special cut that I have designed and, for those few times where the frame must be cut inhouse, I change to another set of lesser quality blades. I keep a set of Delta commercial blades on hand for this purpose. It is a bit of a hassle changing back and forth on the blades but I don't use alot of metals and don't have to do this often.

I have found the wax sticks don't do much more than make a real mess on the saw blade guards so I use my wax stick to lube screws and remove unwanted hair only.


Framerguy

[ 05-06-2003, 10:46 AM: Message edited by: Framerguy ]
 
The best lubricant to use is a plant based lubricant called ACCULUBE. It was developed about 25 years ago by Boeing Aircraft when they were trying to figure out how to cut millions of pounds of aluminum environmentally safe and hazardous free. The lubricant is not toxic and the MDS sheet for the product does not list any harmful ingredients. Eventually the person who developed the system retired and Boeing gave him permission to market the lubricant and delivery system. It was eventually picked up by the ITW conglomerate.

If you are using a double mitre saw then you would use a specialized pump delivery system that delivers miniscule amounts of the lubricant with high volumes of air only as the saw cuts. So little lubricant is delivered a saw running for a full 8 hour shift and constantly cutting would only use 1 ounce of the liquid. The lubricant is expensive, but since so little is used and there is really nothing to clean up afterwards it is very cost effective.

There is so little lubricant delivered that you can leave the lubricator on when cutting hardwoods such as Oak and Maple and you get a much better cut and do not get a buildup of pitch and gunk on your blade. It will eliminate that burning you get when cutting these woods and you definitely prolong the life of your blades and reduce the cost of sharpening.

The ACCULUBE site will give you more information and show the type of pumps they use.

http://www.itwfpg.com/index_acculube.htm

Their air delivery pump systems are installed as OEM accessories on Pistorius and CTD double mitre saws. They are also available as add ons to older saws and I have done numerous upgrades to older saws with this system.

For those using a single blade chop saw we have discovered that the best delivery system is the PREVAL hand spray gun. You can see it at

http://www.prevalspraygun.com/

This will last for about 8 ounces of lubricant sprayed. These units are readily available at paint or craft stores and after searching for three years we found this was the best manual delivery system for the lubricant. You can purchase refill propellant units when the first unit that comes with the bottle is used up.

The spray bottle sold by ACCULUBE shoots the liquid out like a kids squirt gun and is suitable for machine shops but not cutting frame material.

Once you try it you will never go back to wax lubricant sticks. The only thing that the wax lubricant sticks do is gum up the inside of the blade cover with wax. These sticks need more wax than lubricant in them to hold them together and do not hold up when compared to ACCULUBE.

We sell both the PREVAL units and the ACCULUBE. If you want more information give me a call.

Alan Sturgess
 
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