# Slitting Saws and Arbors



## 65arboc (Aug 7, 2014)

So I think I need a slitting saw for my ShopTask 17-20 XMTC Gold Series bench-top mill. What should I get to get started? I mostly cut aluminum but may want to slot some mild steel parts. I see MSC has a bazillion choices but where to start?:thinking:


Thanks,

Jim


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## Smudgemo (Aug 7, 2014)

I don' t know how much this helps, but I'd suspect your machine lacks the rigidity to use thicker saws (but I could be talking out of my hat and apologize if so.)  I mostly use mine to slot 4130 tubes for dropouts in bicycle building and I can turn .25" saws for one cut or thinner ones like .035" doing two cuts for this sort of thing.






The thinner blades are obviously easier to use with a less-rigid setup as the thicker sort will bounce a bit while cutting.  You also need to know how deep you're planning to go.  The arbor is going to take up a good chunk of depth.




Pay attention to feeds/speeds so you don't burn up your saw.  They need to run more slowly than something smaller like an endmill or drill.

You might want to take a stroll through ebay if you don't have a need for a specific size.  Seems like plenty of them out there.  Most of the ones I bought were still sharp and ready to work, and tons cheaper than MSC.  I'd also suggest a decent arbor like the sort that are MT2 or R8 (or whatever you need) as opposed to the one in the photos.  It does handle multiple blade sizes and has a .5" shank, but it can slip and the fixing screw is normally difficult to remove even though I kept it clean and oiled.  I seem to recall stripping a couple of cheap allen wrenches trying to loosen it once before.

-Ryan


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## ridgeway (Aug 7, 2014)

I have a Grizzly R8 arbor a d a few of their HSS blades.  Very nice stuff for the money...


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## TomS (Aug 7, 2014)

Ryan pretty much covered it.  I buy a lot of cutting tools, including slitting saws, from Victor Machinery.  They a good selection at a reasonable price.

Tom S


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## kd4gij (Aug 7, 2014)

I got these from HF. http://www.harborfreight.com/6-piece-hss-saw-blade-with-mandrel-set-67224.html I made an arbor and have been using them on my G0704 Cutting Al. and mild steel.


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## hvontres (Aug 8, 2014)

If you have access to a lathe, the arbor is pretty easy to make out of some CRS,

I posted a thread on mine here: http://www.hobby-machinist.com/showthread.php?t=23791


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## Skarven (Aug 8, 2014)

Martindale has a very good paper on saws.  It has a lot of info.
A good exaple is page 13 on cutting speeds and feeds.


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