The kiss of death for a spiral blade !

[Carl E Jacobs]

I am working on In memory:Eagle portrait ,following guide line rec,s 46 tooth
spiral blade ,first let me tell you ,I am four stacking 1/4 "ply wood ,over std. thickness ,double lube top and bottom ,I was smoking blades ,no teeth left ,one to two holes ,small ,I mean small ,running extreamely slow ,changed 788 speed
still smoking blades went thru 16 in 25 holes,I went to lowes ,no larger blades
bought 3 dozen more ,put in 1 st. same results ,checked table sq. O.K. the it
hit me like a rock ,I jacked the speed of the saw back up and cut for 15 minutes
about 9 holes ,same blade just starting to get dull,can any body tell me what the
only 1 thing I did not do to eliminate the problem completely ! by the way most of those were the largest cuts on the tail so I was cutting 40 times the material
then before without wearing out or breaking the blade !

I've never used that many spirals before ,after finding this out ,I kinda like them
,I always had breakage issues before so I avoided them .

By doing it this way I hoping to learn alot about spiral blades and cutting with them !

My very Best !
Carl

[stephenD]

Was the blade too loose?
Was the blade in up side down?

[Carl E Jacobs]

Was the blade too loose?
Was the blade in up side down?

No Sir Niether !
Carl

[Forester21]

4 layers of 1/4 inch plywood is a heavy load for any blade. Plywood in itself will make for using more blades. The glue used is hard on a blade. I would use only 3you layers next time at the most. Check out Mike's blades too -. A different brand might work better.
T

[Carl E Jacobs]

4 layers of 1/4 inch plywood is a heavy load for any blade. Plywood in itself will make for using more blades. The glue used is hard on a blade. I would use only 3you layers next time at the most. Check out Mike's blades too -. A different brand might work better.
T

Teresa ,You are correct ,I made matters worse as I increased the stack,so I doubled the lube taped top and bottom, I had no sign of any burning at any
point ,so I think The lube was working even under these overloaded conditions
I didn't mention ,I have seldom used spirals because of fast failure and control issues .I had 3 olson spirals ,and a new doz. H.D. brand ,all failed very fast,
went to lowes bought 3 doz. of thier brand ,first two failed same rate same way
I made the simple change ,and the problem went away ,I increased the speed
and the problem stayed away ,and control of course got better.Same load ,I
was hoping some of those who used spirals all the time would offer the ans.
with additional info.unique to the spiral blades.It appears to me that advantages of the spiral ,can be its down fall when used in correctly,The more I think about it ,It can effect all blades life ,and useability.
My Very Best!
Carl

[lucky788scroller]

If your wood thickness is so large that all of the teeth that enter the wood can fully exit the wood, you will have sawdust thats trapped in the cut causing the blade to overheat. an inch thickness is quite a bit of meat to cut through, but if running your saw fairly fast, and feeding the wood slowly it can be done, however, stick with quality blades either way.

[Carl E Jacobs]

If your wood thickness is so large that all of the teeth that enter the wood can fully exit the wood, you will have sawdust thats trapped in the cut causing the blade to overheat. an inch thickness is quite a bit of meat to cut through, but if running your saw fairly fast, and feeding the wood slowly it can be done, however, stick with quality blades either way.

I totally agree ,but the conditions of the material thier thickness Has not changed nor the blade type or brand ,from utter failure to usable stable ability
to work under adverse over load conditions ,save one minor change in operation of the cutting process. after further cutting on same project under same blades & conditions I believe has bearing on life and sharpness of all blades to a lesser degree and is confirmed by tips related to std style blades posted here in
many articles ,had I not overloaded this project ,I probably would not have
the dramatic results ,causing me to prosue the actual cause ,which would allow
higher stacking ,reducing dramaticly time and cost especially for those of you
in the commerical end of scrolling !Has any body got any feed back on flat end fd new scroll blades ,before I order !
Thank you for your response !
My very best to you !
Carl

[ubgoofy2003]

Carl, I would have to say 2 things. First, I would use a quality blade & not those from Lowes or H Depot. You have to remember, the wood is so thick, it takes a lot more cleaning of dust as you cut or it will get hot. I would not stack cut that much. Reduce the thickness & see the difference. I use spiral blades a lot, but, not on that thick of a project. Good Luck

[mcdowb]

Use flying Dutchman blades from Mike. You will be amazed.

Barry

[Messman]

I am working on In memory:Eagle portrait ,following guide line rec,s 46 tooth
spiral blade ,first let me tell you ,I am four stacking 1/4 "ply wood ,over std. thickness ,double lube top and bottom ,I was smoking blades ,no teeth left ,one to two holes ,small ,I mean small ,running extreamely slow ,changed 788 speed
still smoking blades went thru 16 in 25 holes,I went to lowes ,no larger blades
bought 3 dozen more ,put in 1 st. same results ,checked table sq. O.K. the it
hit me like a rock ,I jacked the speed of the saw back up and cut for 15 minutes
about 9 holes ,same blade just starting to get dull,can any body tell me what the
only 1 thing I did not do to eliminate the problem completely ! by the way most of those were the largest cuts on the tail so I was cutting 40 times the material
then before without wearing out or breaking the blade !

I've never used that many spirals before ,after finding this out ,I kinda like them
,I always had breakage issues before so I avoided them .

By doing it this way I hoping to learn alot about spiral blades and cutting with them !

My very Best !
Carl

I don't think it is you, I think it is the blades you are using. If I recall correctly the blades that lowes sells are the Vermont brand (or omething like that). I started off using them and had the same basic problem. I started using the Flying Dutchman blade and will never buy blades from lowes again. I think that you will find Mikes blades will last much longer.

[Carl E Jacobs]

I am about to do just that,However ,I won't swear to it but ,I think the first two or three,were fd , Christmas ,has delayed ,a lot of things ,including ordering extras,at this point ,backing up straight seems to be the problem causing the problem,I suspect the the extra height of the stack especially ply wood ,may be the culprit ,there seems to be a "V" in the cutting stroke ,slide a stack sideways and just touch the blade to just bare start a cut ,remove and see the V ,at this point ,I believe going back wards severly dulls and supper heats the blade
because of the depth of the stack caused by the V ,If I do not backup ,but turn the work piece no problem ,if I shorten the stack ,it doesn't really effect it if I backup !Going to order
FD'S any way ,want to try straight end spirals should load and change easier .I also need more other blades too.I might call and talk to mike about this too.I let you know if I find out anything new.Thanks everybody,Carl

[Jim McDonald]

On an inch of any wood, I would probably be cutting with a #5 (#3 minimum) and most of the spirals I have seen are smaller than that. The amount of load you are putting on such a thin blade is probably the main cause of you failures.

Between the glue holding the plies together and the very cross grain nature of the building a "wood sandwich" will also contribute to your problems.

Mike is a good source, but he can't change the nature of the problem--too much cut with the wrong blade.