Best hole saws

[gotmud]

Getting tired of looking at the bent tubing and metal in my shop, so it's time to build my sliders. My design will use a lot of notched pieces of 2" x .188 wall DOM. I've gone through two hole saws to make four cuts. I could use the plasma to blow out the notches, but prefer to notch them properly if given the choice. Any advise on which saws to buy? I've used a BluMol and el cheapo delux from Lowes. As mentioned above, both only lasted two holes.

 

[climber8483]

I've had great luck with the lenox brand. Just be smooth and make sure it's not chattering, quickest way to detooth your saw.

 

[79fj40moneypit]

x2 on lenox had a set for 15 years now all have been resharpened at least 2 times and still going strong!

 

[Dirtsquirt]

Keep the speed down

Heat kills.

A coolant mister is reasonable at Enco
Enco - Guaranteed Lowest Prices on Machinery, Tools and Shop Supplies
heck Harbor freight may even have one.

 

[gotmud]

I always use cutting oil as a lubricant and cooling agent, but keep chewing up the teeth. I'll have to try the Lenox saws. I've used their blades in my Sawzall. Thanks...

 

[Dirtsquirt]

lenox bimetal hole saws are decent

I stick to my guns.
Slow wins the race. I did the calculation and to attain 60ft per minute cutting speed.
A drill RPM on a 2" cutter would have to be 114 rpm

If the steel was mild steel you could go to 125 fpm or roughly
200 rpm.

A 1/2 drive gear reduction drill like my milwaukee has a top rpm of
600rpm

Cheaper drill go faster. 3/8 drill generally spin upwards of 2500 to 4k
at full throttle.

Slow it down for tool life. and keeping it cool always helps.

anyway reading material here. Good luck finding the magic bullet.

Speeds and feeds - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

ps I work in a Machine Shop.

 

[Cookiemonster]

I use Milwaukee and Lenox. Either or.

 

[D'Animal]

Lenox

and

Bo-Max

 

[Tools R Us]

I stick to my guns.
Slow wins the race. I did the calculation and to attain 60ft per minute cutting speed.
A drill RPM on a 2" cutter would have to be 114 rpm

If the steel was mild steel you could go to 125 fpm or roughly
200 rpm.

A 1/2 drive gear reduction drill like my milwaukee has a top rpm of
600rpm

Cheaper drill go faster. 3/8 drill generally spin upwards of 2500 to 4k
at full throttle.

Slow it down for tool life. and keeping it cool always helps.

anyway reading material here. Good luck finding the magic bullet.

Speeds and feeds - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

ps I work in a Machine Shop.

X2. Also for metal sawing the rule of thumb is at least 3 teeth in the cut, hole saws are ~5 teeth per inch, courser than ideal. Cutting tube with a hole saw is an interrupted cut, some teeth cutting, most not, this tends to chatter, the saw flexing, moving around, leading to lost teeth. A solid setup will improve saw life, solid strong arbor, tube held solid, etc.

I find that used saws cut better than new, they have less tendency to grab/chatter. The tooth rake is more designed for softer material, wood, so if you run it backwards and touch it with sandpaper, the life and performance maybe improved?

But in the end, having a solid setup, finding the best speed and feed pressure combination will result in the best saw life.

 

[haystax]

If you are in a hurry you can clean up some ugly torch-cut notches with the heavy duty grinding burrs that will thread onto a 7" electric grinder. I was able to notch an extremely acute angle in my cage braces in no time.