Slitting Saws

[aliva]

OK here's my fist newbie question concerning slitting saws.

I see there are different types of saws on the market, some with a straight through bore and others with a keyed bore.
My question is ,why the different designs.?
I haven't purchased any yet, but I would like to have some on hand.
Which type would you recommend and why?
Is there any advantage to buying an arbor that accepts several size bores of saws, or just stick with one size, keyed or not keyed?

Thanks

 

[yugami]

many horizontal mill arbors came with a keyway. The keyway for the slitting saws is designed to be used with these arbors.

However in practice almost no one uses the keyway when using the mills. Just make sure the spacers are clean and the nut tightened down properly.

 

[Tony Wells]

I have used an arbor in a horizontal (sans key, as Rick alluded to), a dedicated size arbor in the bp, and ended up using as a favorite, of all things, a cheap imported multi-stepped-spring-loaded saw arbor. I don't do a lot of slit saw work, but after a little tuning, that arbor does a nearly perfect job for me.

 

[Hawkeye]

My slitting saw slipped on the arbor this morning. Just backed it out and refed it. No harm, no foul.

I would tend to make a different sized arbor for each size of blade. The main reason is that a larger arbor would allow less depth of cut on the smaller blades.

The biggest issue with slitting saws is, as always, speed. Aim for 70 - 100 Surface Feet per Minute (SFM). With my 2 1/2" saw, that averages out to 130 RPM. Slower is usually better.

 

[atwatterkent]

Slitting saw for dials

I tried using a .010" thick slitting saw today at a speed of 220rpm and a depth of .012", with lots of oil and I'm very happy with the results.

 

[HSS]

That looks really good Kent. Thanks for the tip hawkeye, always wondered what speed to run the slitting saw at.

Pat

 

[Tom Griffin]

That looks really good Kent. Thanks for the tip hawkeye, always wondered what speed to run the slitting saw at.

Pat

Pat,

A good rule of thumb for any high speed steel tool is four times the cutting speed of the material divided by the diameter of the tool (or work if it's on a lathe). Cutting speeds for common metals is 100 surface feet per minute for mild steel, 60 for tool steel and 250 for aluminum or brass.

For example: If Kent was using a 3" diameter slitting saw on brass, the RPM would be 4X250/3 or 333 RPM. So he could have spun it a little faster if he wanted without hurting the saw. It's always better to favor the slow side so you don't burn the cutter.

If using carbide tooling you can run 4-5 times as fast as HSS.

Tom

 

[8ntsane]

OK here's my fist newbie question concerning slitting saws.

I see there are different types of saws on the market, some with a straight through bore and others with a keyed bore.
My question is ,why the different designs.?
I haven't purchased any yet, but I would like to have some on hand.
Which type would you recommend and why?
Is there any advantage to buying an arbor that accepts several size bores of saws, or just stick with one size, keyed or not keyed?

Thanks

I have never used a keyed arbour on a sliting saw, and never found a need to really. I did buy one of those multi stepped arbours that will take a few different sizes, but it had bad run out and scrapped it. I just made up my own arbours for the sizes I use, I have three of them.

With a saw, there is a few things to be aware of. The saw blade can be mounted either way. Depending on the way you mount the blade, under load, it will either try to tighten, or loosen the abour. So keep that in mind. If your machine will run the spindle in either direction your fine. Other wise you would need to use a keyed setup to keep it from unscrewing. You should have the blade orientated so under load, it tightens if anything.

For home shop type of work, I wouldnt think a keyed arbour is ness. Maybe in a production envirment,yes. Or the Horzontal mills, that would take deep cuts and generally worked harder. Your still a newb at slitting. I would recommend, slow speeds, and I do mean slow. Easy on the depth of cut, slow feed,and lots of cutting oil. That otta keep you out of trouble.

Fine tooth, or coarse
Well depends on what your trying to cut. The coarse toothed saw blades with take more chip load than fine. I use mostly coarse toothed for slitting, but you should pick up a few, experament and see what your more comfy with.

 

[aliva]

Thanks for the great responses.
I certainly have a better idea as to what I should buy.
Thanks again.