ksskss

My normal instincts are to throw money at a problem and get the best the first time around, which isn't what I did with the saw. Hopefully I won't regret this, since I don't contemplate a full commercial level of heavy use. But splurging on a blade makes sense to me. It is kind of funny how the same blades get recommended for cutting most everything on that site. Let's see what tech support tells me re the glass blade's kerf size.

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Ken

angus242

Oh crap, I forgot you have the Ridgid saw.
I'm sorry man, I just don't like it. I've used that saw with an upgraded blade and I still had a lot of blade wobble. I don't care what the HP rating of the motor is, it bogs down pretty good with even 5/16" porcelain.
If at all possible, you should think about upgrading that saw someday. Even a used Felker, Target, etc would be heads and shoulders better than that thing.

__________________
"If you're good at something, never do it for free."

ksskss

Well, don't hold it against me Worst case it's a $300 mistake. Not a trivial amount, but hopefully I'll at least break even with it. In the meantime I'm looking at a serious grinder for knifemaking (and major sharpening work) and really getting a hunger for Baldor motors these days. So far the blade seems quite true, but, as per a lot of comments here, I'm hoping the motor bearings hold up on the Rigid. I'm just not ready to go with a 'beast' yet.

I went this route with a home mixer (I bake too) and wound up with a 20 qt mixer (250 lbs) ... My wife hates it, but I love it. Major 'cookie monster' and makes enough dough for ~ 10 loaves of bread without breaking a sweat.

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Ken

angus242

Wow, I guess we are opposite on the two. I bought a 5qt Kitchenaid mixer

Keep an eye out for Felker FTS150. They have recently been discontinued and you might find one for a smokin deal. Not quite in the beast category but a very very capable saw.

__________________
"If you're good at something, never do it for free."

ksskss

Well I'll feed it it's first brick sized piece tomorrow. If it's crap, it's time to rethink this one. I'd miss the miter and plunge cuts on the 150 (vs the Rigid), but guts are always attractive in a motor. Do you think I could get cuts (slices) consistently with less than a 1mm variation in thickness off of a brick on the Felker?

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Ken

mikeswoods

ksskss---How's your research going?

Any of the "BIG BOY" saws will give you the accuracy that you require.

Free Baldor motors can be scrounged from treadmills on the curb. Grabbed two for a friend in the last year,(Came with a nifty speed control too)

Love to see you put a "how to " article in the tool section..Sharpening or tool making,

Every one enjoys seeing a skill that is out of the ordinary.-----MIKE

ksskss

Mike,

I just got off the phone with a Ramondi 'person' - seemed more broadly knowledgeable than just tech support - nice guy. Anyhow he's checking out the width of the t3 blade when it gets thicker higher up and when it thickens. He estimated that it might be a good saw blade for stone cuts under about 1 3/4 inch thick that are below the thicker area. This blade thickness is thinner than the glass cutting blade. The glass blade apparently is a more dense matrix of finer diamond abrasive.

He's also checking if any blades will work on tempered glass too.

The true blue dressing stone sounds like it might be useful for some diamond lapping plates I use for sharpening and is a silicon carbide abrasive in a resin matrix.

I still don't know how accurate I can make a Rigid saw get

I'm going to start checking curbsides for Baldors hiding in treadmills. Might save me a chunk of change putting a belt sander together especially if it's a variable speed motor.

I post regularly over at knifeforums as ken123 and at foodieforum as ksskss, and occasionally on other blogs having to do with fountain pens and papers, and even sharpen knives with paper. But this is going way OT.

Once I get a few stones cut, I'll do some postings on knife sharpening here too and I'd be glad to add my opinions on any topics someone posts. I primarily do kitchen knives, but also pocket knives and hunting knives. Although not a specialty, chisels and other tools too. I don't do saw blades though. I've got a few other areas of interests, but I'm sure we all do. I like to contribute as well as learn and this looks like a fun place to do both.

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Ken

ksskss

Guess I got lucky. I spoke to Bill Russo, the company President and already got a response back. The t3 will cut to just 1/16 short of 1 3/4" or 1 11/16 inches. The other Razor blade should work for other cuts.

That reminds me. I sharpen straight razors too. Mostly for my own use.

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Ken

ksskss

Anyone heard of ukam blades? Their specs mention a really thin blade at 0.040 inches or 1 mm for a 10 inch blade with 7mm of diamond material on the blade. They are on their website at diamond_tile_blades.htm .

ksskss

Well I did a cut along the length of an approximately 7 inch long brick. The brick was over 3 inches thick. I used the stock Rigid blade and made NO adjustments from how it was set up when I got it. Instead of using the rip fence guide, I put a plastic right angle triangle on the table. I KNOW its a true 90º angle. It was a perfect fit against the blade. I cut off a slice of the stone one inch thick (slightly over). The thickness varied from 1.05 to 1.06 inches or one hundredth of an inch variation, consistent from the top to the bottom of the stone. NOT BAD! I measured it with a micrometer.

I used a slow cutting speed and started with a plunge cut and then slid the table through and then lifted the blade and shut it off rather than dragging it back through.

I was expecting the motor to labor through the stone, since it was over 3 inches thick. NOT AT ALL. Like a hot knife through butter.

I'm a happy guy. I didn't feel ANY slop in the bearings. Hope it stays that way.

I'm still going to go with a thinner blade but I know the stock blade - for my application - is working well.

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Ken

mikeswoods

Sounds good!

Bud Cline

ksskss,

You sound more like a hobbyist than someone in the trades.

A little experience would have told you that a very thin kerfed blade WILL NOT give you the quality cuts you are wanting to achieve. In most all cases the thinner the blade and the harder the material, the more the blade will experience "rotation-drift".: Crooked cuts will be the results. This knowledge comes with experience, not shopping saw blades on the Internet. You must differentiate sales baloney from real life experience.

How is it a "stone cutter" (like it says in your profile) doesn't already have this knowledge?

ksskss

Bud,

Perhaps a beginning stone cutter might be more accurate. I'm not trying to pretend that I'm an experienced pro that knows it all. I could list several other careers and skills as well, but they aren't relevant to why I'm here. I'm not looking at this as a hobby, but rather as a business. I'm not fitting the standard profile here, but what I don't want is a hobbyist's perspective on this - I want a seasoned pro's perspective. So gaining knowledge from the hard won experience of pros like you is exactly why I'm here. It's precisely the hard won opinions of people like you that will help separate the sales jobs from the real world knowledge.

So far the two cuts that I've made were with the SAME blade, so the accuracy wasn't simply a blade issue. Regarding the thinner kerf, I'm really not finding (at this point only from reading knowledge) that a thinner blade at slow feed rates should be a problem, especially with 'reinforced' blades like the T3 that Angus likes and recommended earlier, based on his usage experience. I'm not finding the stones particularly difficult to go through and not pushing feed rates, so I'm thinking a thin blade should hold up for my needs. Again my requirements are for a thin blade to minimize the loss from a wider kerf of material thickness.

So I'm real wet behind the ears here, but a reasonably quick study and here to learn. What would you recommend?

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Ken

mikeswoods

Geez back off Bud. He politely asked a question,He's not trying to steal any ones business ,subject some homeowner to shoddy work or any thing else.

He sharpens tools and makes knives.Personally I ,as a trim guy, use a tool sharpener.

He is welcome here as far as I am concerned.

We have website makers,business planners,and a host of others here.

Don't be a "Mrs.Cravets" -----------------------------MIKE

ksskss

Thanks, Mike.

Bud, if I get any offers to do a tile job in Nebraska, I'm sending them all to you

If I need tile work done in my house or even a friend, it won't be me doing it. I don't even want to lend my saw to anyone in case they mess up the alignment.

I have no interest in tiling beyond what it can teach me about stone cutting - and then only sharpening stones.

If I need tiling work done - I'll hire a pro. I have NO illusions that having a saw makes me a tile man, any more than someone with a scalpel is a surgeon. Or that someone who owns a sharpening stone is a professional knife sharpener. I see some pretty ugly knife sharpening jobs done by people with no skill, just like I'm sure you see crap jobs done by weekend warriors with a saw.

Ok, so now that I have a few posts in - here's my first cut.



The end near the top of the picture was damaged before I bought it, which reduced the price by half. I needed 6 inch long pieces, so this stone was perfect for my needs.

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Ken

mikeswoods

Looks like a success! Nice to have something work without spending a ton on untried equipment.

Good luck on the next cuts.--MIKE

ksskss

Well I thought I'd give you guys an update. The saw is working well. I've gone on to using an ultra thin blade and am (usually) getting cuts to within a couple hundredths of an inch accuracy. Here's an example of my work with stones that I'm selling ranging from 120 grit all the way up to 15000 grit. Send me a PM if this is of any interest to anyone here. Again thanks for your advice. I'm sure I'll have more questions.



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Ken

mikeswoods

You show a fine bit of work there. Glad to see it.

ksskss

Thanks, Mike. It's been an interesting learning experience. The people I've sent them too are finding that they are working out real well for their use.

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Ken

ksskss

Well, the saw was working quite nicely. Then I noticed that the blade wobbled a bit and the cuts started out sloppy, then more inaccurate, then it REALLY started to wobble - like about 1/2" of slop. And no, the blade was tightly mounted.

Well the good news is that I returned it with no questions asked. At this point, I figured I needed something serious and splurged and got a new Dewalt D24000. Nice Saw! The only comparative negative is that the cut depth can't be set as accurately, but the accuracy is far superior and the cuts - using the same blades - are much more precise. The table is also a much smoother, consistent travel. This is perhaps the most important difference to me. And no wobble. The blade washers are also more substantial.

I appreciate the comments about the blade wobble - I spotted it much more quickly than I would have if I hadn't read your comment on the Rigid. The Rigid turned out to not be rigid at all. It's a wobbler. Too bad.

I know I'm going to get a lot of 'I told you so', but if I didn't post this, I feel that my initial positive review would be misleading. You were right.

I hope the Dewalt holds up much better. Out of the box, it was spot on and each cut stayed very consistent - about 100 cuts in a row, through 1" thick stone. I also noticed less chipping - almost none. Noticeably cleaner cuts.

I also like the water flow better. You can adjust the two jets to where you want and this seems to improve the blade 'lubrication / cooling'.

I liked the cleanup on the Rigid better. The tray is removable, whereas the Dewalt saw just lays on the tray.

Still, for what I want in a saw, the Dewalt is a major step upwards.

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Ken

My server is down for the moment, so my pics aren't showing right now.