February 2025 Volume 7

EQUIPMENT & TECHNOLOGY

TIPS ON SPECIFYING A CARBIDE-TIPPED BAND SAW BLADE

• Blade solutions for degating in a foundry typically involves the removal of heads, runners, gates, risers and sprues from castings to prepare parts for post processing machining and finishing operations. One of the most common and efficient solutions is the band saw blade due to its precision and versatility. Thinner kerf blades are ideal for contour cutting, while wider blades offer greater stability and finish for straight cuts. Look for blades that are specifically designed for degating applications such as Starrett Advanz FS series for foundry use. • Pay attention to factors such as pitch, blade width, tooth set and rake angle design.

T ungsten carbide or simply “carbide” is three times harder than steel, and when placed on saw blades, cuts cleanly through steel. Tungsten carbide is one of the hardest compounds and used to produce a long wearing, heat and scratch resistant material when combined or cemented with other materials. While the benefits are well known, what should you look for when selecting the best carbide-tipped band saw blade for the application at hand? Starrett Advanz™ FS Carbide-Tipped Band Saw Blade shown degating an engine block.

Blade pitch , defined as the number of teeth per inch (25 mm), needs to be properly selected. The number of teeth that come in contact with the work can affect both blade performance and dura bility. Too few teeth in contact with the work can lead to early tooth strippage. Contrastingly, too many teeth can pack the gullets, greatly reduce cutting rates and ultimately make the material impos sible to cut. At lower cutting rates there is less penetration per tooth, causing more rubbing than cutting, which can result in substantial work hardening of the mate rial. While there are exceptions from appli cation-to-application, the rule of thumb is to have no fewer than three teeth per inch in the material at all times. For Carbide-Tipped blades are ideal for cutting hard, abrasive materials.

• Blade solutions for difficult sawing are useful for addressing cutting challenges such as harder materials including cast iron, hard and abrasive steels, stainless steels, compacted graphite iron (CGI), high-nickel and special alloys. For example, for very hard materials, a carbide-tipped blade with a multi-chip grind and high-low sequence produces more chips spread out over more teeth, and offers faster cutting to maximize productivity and blade life. In addition, look for blades that offer a “backgrind” technology. For example, AMP technology available from Starrett features a custom back edge enhancement on the blade which generates a rocking motion while cutting, further enhancing tooth penetration while reducing feed pressure. This cutting motion also serves to minimize surface contact area, increasing the blade life on hard-to-cut alloys.

MC7 (Seven Multiple Chips)

AMP

Starrett Advanz™ MC7 carbide tipped blade has a progressively ground four-tooth trapezoidal design that creates seven chips and is available with AMP technology.

FIA MAGAZINE | FEBRUARY 2025 15