Want to use diamond saw blade longer? You have to know 5 factors!

When we buy a diamond saw blade, we hope the blade can be used as long as possible, below are 5 factors affect the life of diamond saw blade.

Diamond Grit

Diamond Grit Size, normal diamond grit size ranges from 30/35#-60/80#. The harder material, the finer diamond grit should be used. The big diameter blade always require high cutting efficiency, better to choose core diamond grit, like 30/40#, or 40/50#; While the small diameter blades always used to cut tiles, stones or marbles, in order to make sure the smooth cutting surface, better to choose fine diamond grit, like 50/60#, 60/80#.

Diamond Concentration

Diamond concentration means the diamond density displayed in the metal bond(the diamond weight at unit area).According to the diamond tool design standard, the diamond concentration is 100% if there is 4.4 karat diamond at every cm3; When there is 3.3 karat diamond, the concentration is 75%.Except for the weight concentration, there is still volume concentration, the diamond concentration is 100% when the diamond volume occupies 1/4 of the total volume.

So, the blade life can be extended by increasing the diamond concentration, but there is a limit, if there is too much diamond, the cutting speed will be affected, because the diamond can’t be edged properly.

Metal Bond hardness

The harder metal bond, the better abrasion resistance. The metal bond should be harder if the cutting material is abrasive.

Force effect

Diameter above 300mm, all the blades need to do tension test before delivery. Because there are two main forces during cutting process: the axial force and radial force. The tension test is to eliminate the axial force, otherwise, together with the radial force, these two forces will cause the distortion of the blade, cutting performance will be affected and the wear out rate will be higher.

Overheat

Overheat is another factor affects the blade life. The overheat will cause two problems: too high temperature will make the diamond transform to graphite, at the same time, high temperature can also cause the diamond particle drop off from the metal bond easily.

How to choose the right diamond blade

Before you are looking to buy a diamond blade, it is necessary for you to take some time to reserch various options, as choosing the wrong one could result in decreased efficiency, increased cost and project downtime.

Choosing the right blade will make the process of cutting material smoother and safer as well as provide a seamless cut. Here are some advices for your reference

Please be clear about the material you are going to cut.

If you choose the wrong type of diamond blade for the materials that you need to cut, it could have disastrous consequences. You may end up wasting expensive material as the diamond blade does not give you a clean cut, and it can also cause safety issues due to the blade skipping and not effectively being able to cut the material.

Choosing the right blade will ensure that the process is quick and easy. When you are cutting materials such as concrete and asphalt, you should be aware of exactly what the mixture is made up of. Finding out what aggregate was used is the best way to match up a specific blade to your materials. If you deal with a professional diamond blade supplier, they will be able to help narrow down your shortlist when you provide the details of the material you need to cut.

What equipment will you be using?

Whether you are using a saw or a power cutter, you need to know the speed and power specs of the specific tool. This will determine what size blade you need as well as help determine what type of surface you need on the blade. The choice between a dry blade and a wet blade is determined by the capabilities of the tool.

Is the material you will be cutting wet or dry?

This is an important factor to consider when choosing a diamond blade. Dry blades are only to be used when cutting shallow material or making step cuts. This is due to the fact that dry blades need substantial air flow around them to prevent excessive heat from building up.

Wet diamond blades need to be used with water in order to cool it down and prevent it from overheating. It will also decrease the amount of dust that is generated. You need to ensure that there is a continuous water supply on the wet blade or else you will be putting yourself and fellow workers at

Useful guide on how to grind concrete floor more efficiently

Preparatory work for grinding

  1. Always keep in mind that “safety is the priority”. Do remember to wear the PPE (Personal protective equipment), including the dust mask, ear protection, goggle, foot and hand protection devices.
  2. Measure the size of the floor and choose the right equipment to do the job, is the satellite grinder, cub floor grinder or hand grinder is needed? Anyway, choose the right tool will yield twice the result with half the effort.
  3. Check the floor condition, to check if the floor is damaged too much or wear out too much. If so, patching or crack chasing will be needed before grinding.
  4. Measure the hardness of the floor to decide which type of metal bond diamonds should be used. The hardness of the concrete floor is normally classified by Mohs’ hardness, generally, the hardness of concrete floor ranges from 3 to 5. On the site, we can find some substitution to the durometer, the keys or iron nail for instance. If we can make scratches on concrete floor by keys or iron nails, then the hardness is below 5, otherwise it is higher than. Make sure to check several areas on the floor, because the hardness is different from slab to slab.
  5. If the walk behind floor grinder is needed to do the job, then take care to keep the grinder flat. Because the gouges will be generated if you hold the floor grinder on an edge. It is difficult to remove the gouges.
  6. Prepare the diamond grinding tools to be used in the whole grinding process. Generally below are the frequently used diamond tools: Diamond grinding cup wheels, grinding diamonds, polishing pads, grinding plates, PCD diamond tools

Equipment and tools to be used

Steps of Grinding

Step 1.

Connect the handheld grinder or walk behind grinder with the dust extraction system. Start the grinder machine and carefully grind around the perimeter of the working area. This is the testing process, on one hand, to check if the grinder machine is running well, on the other hand, we can check if the concrete is too soft causing excessive wear or the concrete is too hard and it is not grinding much at all.

Step 2.

Fix medium bond 30/40# metal bond tool to handheld grinder or walk behind grinder, Start at one side and grind from“west to east” across the entire concrete floor. Make sure to overlap the grinding pass as close as possible to the previous grinding pass.

Clean up the floor with vacuum or scrubber, this cleaning step is to clear up all the dust and residual diamond grit come off the tools, if the cleaning job is not done, the residual diamond grit will leave scratches on the floor.

Tips #1: 30/40# tool is for standard concrete grinding, usually the concrete is medium hard and there isn’t heavy sealer on the floor. However, if the concrete is extremely hard and there is sealer on it, pls choose the 14/16# to start this step

Tips #2: Running the grinder at a lower RPM, almost half the speed of the grinder. Because the main object is to expose the aggregate, lower the grinder speed can allow the diamonds to penetrate the floor without overheating too early. The sign of the optimum RPM is that there is a lot dust generated during grinding process.

Step 3

Change the direction and go “north to south” pass, still take care of the overlapping, make sure the grinding passes overlap one another as close as possible.

Do the same cleaning job as you did in step 2 after the “north to south” pass completed.

It is better to use grind the floor in swing style, in this way, the grinding passes can be blended. Also, take care of your pace during grinding, it is great if the grinder leaves solid grinding pass. However, if there is swirl grinding passes on the floor that means you push the grinder too fast, you need to slow down. Also, there may be the occasion that the grinding speed becomes slow suddenly, it is possible that the soft top layer has been remove off, the harder concrete comes out, so you need to replace the medium hard tooling with a more softer bond.

The Step 2 and Step 3 determine if the concrete floor has a good finished “looking”. So, after the “north to south” pass completed, have a short break, check the entire floor carefully. If the exposed aggregate doesn’t meet your expectation, then go back and repeat step 2 and step 3 until get the exposed aggregate as you want.

Step 4 (optional)

Patch or repair work can be done in this step. Also, if the floor needs crack chasing or filling, then arrange it in this step.

Step 5

Replace the medium hard 30/40# tool with Medium hard 60/70#, grind the perimeter of the floor as you did in step 1.

Step 6

Still use the 60/70# tooling, repeat step 2 and step 3, grind “east to west” first, and then go for “north to south”

The initial scratches left by the 30/40# should be removed in this step, if you still can see the significant scratches, then pls repeat step 5 until all the big scratches are gone.

Remember to vacuum the entire floor area before moving to next step.

Step 7

Change to the 120/140# diamond tooling, and then repeat step 2 and step 3. Vacuum the entire floor area carefully and check your grinding job so far. Do extra grinding job if needed.

9 Normal problems in using diamond saw blade

During the process of using diamond saw blade, there are always some problems will occur, some are the defect of the blades, some are caused by the improper use. Below are 9 normal problems caused by the improper use of blade, but not the responsibility of the diamond blade manufacturer.

1.SEGMENT LOSS

CAUSE: Blade burnd due to insufficient water, usually evident by dark blue steaks on the core beneath the segment, or heat(burn) marks on the segments, also by extreme side pressure, i.e., machine abor bent or operator neglect.

SOLUTION: Segment can be replaced. Normally blade doesn’t need to be re-blanked.

2.BLADE STOPPED CUTTING (LIFE STILL REMAINS)

CAUSE: blade too hard for application

SOLUTION: can be dressed on softer material, such as haydite block or silica brick.

CAUTION: Glazing will usually continue, unless softer material is intermittently cut or softer bonded blade is used.

3.VERTICAL HAIRLINE CRACKS APPEAR IN SEGMENTS

CAUSE: Normally, blade too hard for application, RPM too high.

SOLUTION: softer bond must be used if determined this is the problem occurs most often in concrete cutting where much harder & more abrasive-resistant metal bonds are used.

4. VERTICAL HAIRLINE CRACKS APPEAR IN CORE

CAUSE: possibly bond too hard for application, or due to unforseen circumstances blade does not have proper tension for r.p.m required.

SOLUTION: softer bond, if it’s determined the bond is too hard. Otherwise customer must review all circumstances,i.e.,r.p.m, machine, and material to be cut. Check holes can be drilled at base of crackes, depending on life remaining blade size, and steel core fatigue factors.

5. HORIZONTAL HAIRLINE CRACKS APPEAR IN CORE

CAUSE: blade doesn’t have proper tension for machine r.p.m and is wobbling, bond could be too hard, machine not tracking parallel to blade, etc.

SOLUTION: Blade must be reblanked

6. ARBOR HOLE OUT OF ROUND

CAUSE: Material excessively abrasive.

SOLUTION: Blade should be removed before segment loss and reblanked. If cutting is to be extensive in the same material and under the same conditions, then a special wear guard core is recommended.

7. UNDERCUTTING OF CORE BENEATH SEGMENT

CAUSE: Material excessively abrasive.

SOLUTION: Blade should be removed before segment loss and reblanked. If cutting is to be extensive in the same material and under the same conditions, then a special wear guard core is recommended.

8. CORE DISHED- BLADE LOST TENSIONING

CAUSE: Possibly bond too hard, r.p.m not proper for blade diameter, blade flanges not parallel or other machine problems.

SOLUTION: Blade can be retensioned depending upon the extent of damage.

9. MORE SEGMENT REMAINS ON ONE SIDE OF THE BLADE THAN ON THE OTHER

CAUSE: Insufficient water on worn side.

SOLUTION: check water ports to ascertain if water is flowing freely on both sides of blade. Remember, water around the blade does not mean it is being properly utilized.