Circular saw size

[JOHN908]

Year"s ago Craftsman made a 10" circular saw,what is the advantage of that?I have seen 6-7and 8"saw"s.What size would be best to put a metal cutting blade on?

 

[da-bees]

Larger blade=cuts thicker material (IF)the motor has ample power which is dubious with a hand held saw since it would be to heavy. A ten inch blade also requires speed reduction to prevent blade getting to hot. The most practical hand held size is 71/4. If the primary use is metal cutting,a band saw is much better. A 10 inch saw sounds like a gimick.

 

[Anonymous-0]

I can't speak for a 10 inch Craftsman but in the basement, left over from my days as a custom framer, is a 16 inch Makita hand held circle saw. No gimic, it worked great gang cutting rafters and joists. Sometimes a guy needs to cut through 2X10s the deep way.

 

[Slowpoke]

Milwaukee has a 10 1/4", Makita has a 16 5/16 " portable saw for beams and timbers.
What kind of metal are you wanting to cut? Corrugated steel? Aluminum? Sheet iron? Craftsman had a saw with 2 counter rotating blades for metal sheet goods. Ask Google for help.

 

[Anonymous-0]

Use a 71/4 metal cutting blade in a 71/4 saw is what I use.Metal cutting blades last much longer than they used to.Yesterday I cut four schedule 40 13/4" pipe and theres lots of life left in the blade.

 

[Anonymous-0]

for cutting metal like pole barn tin we use a 4 1/2 in angle grinder with thin cut off wheels for metal from [harbor fright] real cheep and they last will and you can cut curves with it some thing you will not do with a circular saw

 

[Anonymous-0]

I've had a 10" Milwaukee for more than 10 years... not any heavier than any good quality 7 1/4" saw... it does not have speed reduction and I've never had a problem with the blade overheating! ...D

 

[Jason the Red]

I don't know how much metal you'll be cutting, but Milwaukee makes a circular saw designed to cut steel.
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[WA-Hal]

If you are just cutting sheet metal, an old worn out plywood blade, mounted so it runs backwards works pretty good and costs nothing. I have cut sheet metal that way for years and it is fast and pretty clean. Extremely loud though--you need good ear protection. Cutting also produces molten metal drips and sparks, so you need to be ready to put out fires if they start.

For heavier metal, I have used metal cutting blades in hand held circular saws, but decided that it worked better to cut with my cut-off saw, which was much easier to get accurate cuts. The hard abrasive blades also seemed awfully hard on the circular saw, but maybe I was trying to work too fast.

I have never seen a hand held 10" circular saw. I would guess it would be pretty heavy, as it would need a large motor to be powerful enough to run that large of a blade. But I suppose there might be times when a deeper cut would be needed than a 7.25" saw could do.

 

[Anonymous-0]

How thick are you cutting, a jig saw with the metal cutting blade [hacksaw type-close set] otherwise the 4 or 5 inch angle grinder with the thin wheels as per Marlowe's post.

 

[Kevin2]

Seems like just about every day there is a good American made 7 1/4 saw from the 70's or 80's on Craigslist for $20. That's where I would start. My $30. Black and Decker has cut plenty of metal in it's 25 years.

 

[Ken Macfarlane]

If cutting tin, just use a regular cheap carbide blade. It won't burn the paint or galvanizing back like an abrasive. Wear eye/ear/hand protection.

Wear on the blade is barely noticed. Built the shop and cut about a 100 sheets of tin on the same blade that is on the saw now and still cutting fine.

It works great with 10-20 sheets stacked too. Only one sheet you need a guide because the saw will wander all over since there isn't a tendency to stay in a kerf.