Hi guys,

Tomorrow I'm gonna weld up my DP and DT. I wanna use my sawzall, since I'm not going to be doing a lot of cutting. I'll probably just make 2 cuts on some 2.5" SS pipe, and 3-4 on som 1.75" mild steel pipe.

When I look a the blades for the sawzalls how do I tell apart the blades meant for cutting wood, and the ones meant for cutting steel? I think I read on here that the blades with smaller teeth close together are good for steel. I'll also get a hacksaw as a backup in case my sawzall starts acting up, which it did the last time I used it.

anyways any help would be great
Thanks

 

I jsut go to Lowes and get the Lenox or Milwaukee Bi-Metal blades. The package is marked for Metal or Wood. I use 24tpi blades for .125 wall thickness or less. I've also used 18tpi before when I ran out of the 24's and they work fine too just a little more aggressive. I've only cut Mild steel with the sawzall though so I dont know if they'll work for SS or not. I'll look on the package tonight and let you know. The Milwaukee blades are 5 for $14.

 

Everytime I have used a sawzall to cut stainless the blades get chewed up quick. So I went to using a chop saw, much better.

 

Well, I checked out ne of my local hardware stores and the one I went to didn't have any sawzall blades. So instead I got a hacksaw instead and 4 extra blades. I thought that was going to be enough but it wasn't.

They had a pnuematic die grinder with one of those 3" fiber woven cut off disks. That worked really good. I was able to make 4 full cuts on 2.5" SS piping with one 3" disk.

 

The sawzall will work well if you do it right. Heat makes stainless cut slower and dulls blades quickly. Therefore, having a variable speed sawzall is a good idea so that you can run the blade slower. Also, you can use a spray bottle to mist the pipe and blade while cutting it. Use a lot of water and keep it as cool as possible for best cutting and blade life. The same holds true with hole saws.

If possible, I will submerge a part in water and cut it (keeping the motor out of the water of course) and I find that it keeps the part nice and cool....making the cut faster and getting many more cuts from the same blade/hole saw.

 

I used a little oil, but I dont think it would have mattered. The hacksaw would have taken too long and if my sawzall blades hadn't been dull I probably would have made a crooked cut. I thnk when I cut the piping for the rest of my exhaust I'll just use a die grinder and a few fiber woven cutoff disks.