Concrete is a hard material to work with. If you were to try to cut concrete with a normal saw you will find that the teeth of the saw would become blunt very quickly.
Rather than concrete sawing with a standard saw, you need to use a circular saw with the appropriate type of blade made with a strong-enough material to be able to make a clean cut into concrete.
Let’s take a look at how concrete saws are made, and how they work:
Concrete Saws Usually Use Diamond Blades
Most concrete saws use blade made of diamonds, either natural diamonds that come from a mine and that were considered to be ‘not perfect enough’ to use in jewellery or lab-made/synthetic diamonds.
These small diamonds form near-indestructible cutting ‘teeth’ that can break down concrete and make a clean cut.
How the Saw is Made
The saw itself is a circular disk, usually made of steel, with a rim that is coated with diamonds. The diamonds are the substance that does the cutting.
They are held in place with a matrix – a metal bond that keeps the diamonds secure until they are worn away.
The saw rotates, and the diamonds use an abrasive action to cut into the material. Depending on what type of concrete you are cutting, you may want a different type of matrix.
If you are cutting green concrete then you would want a hard metal bond.
This means that the diamonds will hold together stronger for longer, so they can be used fully before the adhesive wears away.
In contrast, if you are cutting very hard, nonabrasive concrete then a softer bond is better because this means that the diamonds will shed quickly, and the dull diamonds will fall away to expose sharp diamonds, allowing for uninterrupted cutting.
Wet Cut vs Dry Cut Saws
Depending on where you are working (for example, whether you’re cutting a concrete wall inside a property or you are cutting construction materials outside) you have a few options for cutting.
If you are cutting indoors, then you may be restricted to just using dry cutting saws, but if you are outdoors and cutting large chunks of concrete, wet cutting is often a better option.
Wet cutting utilises water to help reduce the amount of dust kicked up by the saw, and also cools the blade, stopping the matrix from overheating.
Saws that support wet cutting spray a jet of water onto the cut, keeping the blade lubricated.
Many dry saws have a dust extractor that helps to collect some of the dust that is being kicked up by the vibrational movement of the saw.
This is an important feature that can help to protect the user of the saw from exposure to concrete dust and the potential health issues associated with that.
Choosing a Saw and a Blade
While just about all concrete saws work on roughly the same principles, you will find that if you choose the wrong saw for the job or the wrong type of blade, the job will take longer and the blade might wear out more quickly than you expect.
Make sure that you choose a saw that can spin at a suitable RPM. Too slow, and the saw may ‘chew’ through materials instead of cutting them clean. Too fast, and the blade might overheat.
Sintered diamond tools are a good choice for very hard materials because they rely on a metal bond.
Resin-bonded or electroplated blades can be useful for cutting softer materials, but the diamonds may wear away too quickly if you try to cut very hard substances with them.
If you are looking for a specialist concrete cutting company who uses only the best practices to get the job done right, then please call us at Megasaw on 1300 920 419 or contact us through our website.