Abrasive wheel on miter saw

Ron M. · 2004-12-22T15:50:02+00:00

I want to put an abrasive metal-cutting wheel on a miter saw, to cutmild steel angle with. Most of this will be 3/32" or 1/8" 1-inch angle.Some say, "sure, no problem!" while others say, "the horror, thehorror..." The purpose is to cut a few pieces for some weldingprojects. For example, cutting some angle steel at 45 degrees to make atable top.Now, before this goes any further, please do *NOT* tell me to "go buy achop saw" or "buy a used band saw" or whatever. I'm talking about amiter saw ONLY, OK?There are supposed to be two main issues with doing this:First, it overloads the motor. But I don't think this would happen, ifyou just use very light pressure and take your time and go slow.Second, the shavings/sparks can damage the fence and/or the motormechanism (bearings). There may be some truth here. The fence shouldn'tbe a problem, and I can always cover it with something. Particles? Somesuggest removing the vacuum. How about attaching the nozzle of my shopvac just behind the blade and letting it catch them? Or maybe putting abig magnet there, perhaps.This isn't something I'll be doing often. Maybe once a month I'll make3 or 4 cuts, at the most, no more. As I said, 99% is going to becutting 45 degree ends in 1/8" X 1" angle, so I can join them togetherto make a square corner. That's it.I use an abrasive blade in my circular saw for straight cuts, but it'shard to cut accurate angles with it. I also have a Porter-Cable Tigersawzall, I don't think that would work well for this kind of cutting,although I've never tried it.Please give me a tip here, especially if you've actually done it, andaren't just repeating what you've read or heard. And PLEASE don't tellme to "go buy a chop saw"!!!Thanks,Ron M.

Dec 22, 2004 42 Replies

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Duane Bozarth 21 years ago

Mike Marlow wrote: ...

My point was intended more that after using it for metal-cutting extensively it wouldn't be much good for precision woodworking any longer...

The metal-cutting chop saw isn't Al and after the years of use it has, if it were built like the miter saw it might still suffice for a chop saw but it certainly wouldn't be an accurate miter saw...

But it gets farm repair use, not just the rare cut one light piece of metal that a strictly woodshop saw might get...but I don't think the miter saw would have held up even to some of the work the chop saw has done in its life...

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RoyJ 21 years ago

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Lulu 8 years ago

replying to Ned Simmons, Lulu wrote: Hi, I've done it tons of times, for heavier metals, no problem whatsoever and my saw still runs like a new.

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