Do you know the chills that you get when someone runs fingernails on a blackboard? That's how we feel when we hear a cold saw referred to as a chop saw.
There are many differences between the two saws that most people do not know.
The cold saw gets its name from it's cutting process. A flood of coolant transfers the heat from the metal being cut to the chips produced, carrying the heat away from the material and leaving it in a cold state.
A chop saw, on the other hand, wears away at the metal creating a large amount of heat in the process.
Cold saws run at a very low RPM (around 22 to 88 RPMS) but will cut your material faster than a chop saw that runs at around 4000 RPMS.
The wide range of RPMs and bade tooth options that a cold saw offers also makes it capable of cutting most ferrous and non-ferrous material. This gives you many capabilities with one saw.
The cold saw has a toothed, high speed steel blade where a chop saw only has an abrasive wheel. The best part of an HSS blade is that it can be re-sharpened.
If the sharpening process is done correctly, you can get one blade re-sharpened 15 to 20 times before the diameter shrinks too far to be used on your machine. When an abrasive blade wears down it gets filed in the trash, tossing money away.
Precise, clean, milled finish cuts are made with a cold saw eliminating the need for deburring the material after it is cut. A chop saw may wander and give you a finish that requires a secondary operation to deburr and square up the material after the initial cut is made.
While a cold saw may not be as much fun as a chop saw, it will leave you with a smooth cut that will allow the job to be completed right away. The need to wait for your material to cool down after it is cut is eliminated.
You should take care to choose the correct saw for your application. Our experts can help you answer any cold saw questions that you may have and help you to determine the best saw and blade for your needs.