Welcome to the Carbide Processors Blog
Popular Tools Combination and General Purpose Saw Blades
Posted on Tuesday, February 21st, 2012 at 10:26 am.
The Difference Between Combination and General Purpose Saw Blades
Roughly, roughly
- Combination saw blades are contractor level blades.
- General purpose blades are handyman, homeowner blades.
- Serious hobbyists and production facilities use special blades for the tools and materials (e.g. rip, crosscut, melamine, plywood. etc.)
- Top End Professionals use custom blades generally with 20 extra teeth (as in 60 instead of 40 for ripping and 100 instead of 80 for cross cutting.) These are specifically designed for the machines, the materials and the overall use. They are generally about the same price as top end retail blades form big box stores.
The following descriptions are from Popular Tools Saw blades. These are sold only by professional level shops and are intended for extended use where cut quality is extremely important. Other companies may describe things differently
Popular Tools Saw Blades – Combination
Combo saw blades are designed for all around use, when acceptable rips and crosscuts must be made with one saw blade. The larger gullets allow deeper cuts and efficient saw dust escape on rip cuts.
Two blades offered
40 and 50 tooth
ATB+R Grind
Both 15 degree hook angle
Popular Tools Saw Blades – General Purpose – Alternate Top Bevel Grind
These general saws are designed for every day sizing and cutting of natural woods. A higher number of teeth provides a finer edge to the cut, but should be used only on thinner material. The saw blades designated by the prefix GAM contain Micro-Sheen C-4 sub-micron carbide, which provides longer tool life. The blades designated by the prefix GAL have laser cuts in the body to help reduce noise.
Nine blades offered
All alternate Top Bevel Grind
40, 60, 80 and 100 tooth counts
All 10 degree hook angle
Popular Tools Saw Blades – General Purpose – Triple chip grind
These saws are designed for high production cutting of natural woods, plywood, chipboard, and MDF. The TCG teeth offer less wear than the ATB with nearly the same quality of cut. Blades designated by the prefixGTMcontain Micro-Sheen C-4 sub-micron carbide, which provides for a longer tool life. The blades designated by the prefix GTL have laser cuts in the body to help reduce noise.
Ten Blades offered
All triple chip grind
40, 60, 80 and 100 tooth counts
All 10 degree hook angle except a melamine blade which is -5 degrees
We sell Tenryu, Popular Tools and World’s Best(R) Saw Blades
800 346-8274
Why We Take Phone Orders
Posted on Monday, February 20th, 2012 at 4:09 pm.
Emily just talked to a gentleman and took his order for router bits.
He told Emily that he was 74 years old and didn’t know how to work his computer. He did know how to work his router table.
I’m not sure why but that just seems to explain the whole thing.
Phone orders are more expensive for us than online orders but we are very happy to take them.
When I started this business I was dead broke with two small children to feed. I was incredibly grateful for anyone that would let me do something for them and I still feel that way today.
An incredible video on saw and router safety.
Posted on Friday, February 17th, 2012 at 11:46 am.
An incredible video on saw and router safety.
http://www.newwoodworker.com/basic/kickback2012.html
Go to the bottom and scroll over the big “Work Safely” square.
Wiha Tools and German Quality
Posted on Thursday, January 26th, 2012 at 10:24 am.
Wiha Tools Quality and Lucky, The Old Dog
Wiha Tools – Excellent Quality at Great Discounts
The Germans are famous for the engineering and the quality they put into their manufactured products. Wiha tools are certainly an excellent example of wonderful engineering and beautiful quality.
The problem with explaining the quality of Wiha tools is that there are a great number of competitors out there who are copying them down to the colors used and even the shape of the handles.
In order to give you an idea of just how good Wiha tools are I’m going to talk about a brand-new, German designed and manufactured tool I just found.
The new tool is a carpet and fabric brush which I bought at Griot’s Garage. They are an online store of automotive accessories and they just built a store that is right between my business and the bank so I pass it twice a day.
The new brush actually takes the dog hair out of the carpet in the Jeep.
I have an old Golden Retriever named Lucky. He is a pretty good old dog but he has a lot of long, fine hair and he sheds like crazy. I put some imitation Astroturf in the back of the Jeep for him. His hair works its way down into the Astroturf as well as getting all over the fabric and the carpet of the Jeep.
I tried a lot of different brushes and even some sort of goofy, sticky paper stuff to get the dog hair up. Nothing worked until I got this brush from Griot’s garage.
The bristles on this brush look like rubber but they’re not. They’re a special material made out of the sap from different kinds of trees. The bristles have a special ‘V’ shape. And it works. And it works beautifully.
The first reason this is an example of German engineering and manufacturing is that the tool works extremely well. Then you get into something like the added squeegee blade on the side of the brush, which is nice but not essential. This added bonus feature is typical of German engineering. And the handle swivels. You can swivel the handle either 90° left or right and it locks in place. I have squeegees. I do believe this is the first brush I have ever owned with a swiveling handle. This is sort of over-the-top but I love the idea.
The concept behind this brush and German engineering overall is that “If we are going to make something, let’s make it the best in the world and better than anything that came before.”
This is why we love the German dedication to superior engineering and magnificent manufacturing.
You can see this same thing in the Wiha pliers and everything else Wiha manufacturers.
Wiha Products at Great Discounts
sales@carbidep_carbideprocessors.com
800 346-8274
Tungsten Carbide Prices
Posted on Wednesday, January 25th, 2012 at 3:51 pm.
Tungsten Carbide Raw Material (APT) Prices 2003 through 2011
The Tungsten Carbide Mess
China owns most of the world’s supply of tungsten ore. Decades ago they sold the ore at a very low price so the mines in the rest of the world shut down. Then China started raising the price. After years of price increases the US protested so China restricted the supply and the US government backed down.
In the meantime China also went from selling just the raw ore to selling finished tools.
Raw material from China went from $50 / ton to $460 / ton and is now down to $420 per ton. This is much the same as the price of silver which went from $5/ troy oz to $50 and is now down to $30.
There has been a lot of consolidation in the carbidep_carbide industry. The current Ceratizit and Kennametal companies are both result of a great number of acquisitions and mergers. With fewer companies there is less competitive pressure on price.
Tungsten carbidep_carbide parts, especially those such as saw tips and router inserts for wood working, have always been a less profitable market for the carbidep_carbide companies. Coated inserts seem to be the highest profit items. For uncoated applications it seems as though metal machining, especially steel, and mining are more profitable than woodworking. So the carbidep_carbide companies are less worried about how competitive they are in the woodworking area.
It is possible to buy less expensive carbidep_carbide from overseas but the quality and delivery can vary greatly even from the same supplier. When you wait 4 to 6 weeks and then get a partial shipment of products you cannot use for quality reasons the desire to reorder from a low price, overseas supplier diminishes.
Carbide Processors sells carbidep_carbide, braze alloy and flux. We buy a great deal of carbidep_carbide so we get great prices. We add a small mark-up and resell. We are a primary supplier for smaller shops and a secondary supplier for medium sized shops. We use over 26 different suppliers to keep prices low and quality high. Our minimum order is 100 parts.
Save Money on Carbide Saw Tips
Save Money on Carbide STB (Standard Tool Blanks)
sales@carbidep_carbideprocessors.com
800 346-8274
How to Prepare for an OSHA Inspection
Posted on Tuesday, January 24th, 2012 at 2:52 pm.
Dealing with OSHA Inspectors
They have always been fair to me. The one time I did get gigged it was over paperwork.
Have your posters and accident records up in the lunch room or by the time clock.
Make sure all chemical containers are labeled. We wrap a label on squeeze bottles then cover it with clear packing tape.
Make sure you have all your MSDS sheets. Make sure your employees know about them. Post area specific warning signs in all danger areas. A great site for that is the SIRI MSDS Index.
We use Wisha in Washington State. I have two binders full of regulations in official safety green. Sitting next to my desk is a file cabinet and the top drawer is outlined in official safety green tape.
When the inspector comes in the first thing I do is show him the paperwork. I mention that I even have MSDS sheets for hand soap. I want the guy to know I have made a real effort to comply.
Make sure all your tools are in good repair. Especially check electrical hand tools.
Great Quality, Fully Compliant, Hand Tools
sales@carbidep_carbideprocessors.com
800 346-8274
Why Saw Tips Come off Saws
Posted on Friday, January 20th, 2012 at 10:30 am.
Good and Bad Saw Tips
Carbide Surface Prepartion is Critical
I have been working on this issue about thirty years and, in my experience, the number one reason saw tips come off saws is bad surface preparation of the steel or the carbidep_carbide.
Laser cut steel makes flat, high quality saw plate but the heat affected zone needs to be ground back on the areas to be brazed. In my research it looked like 0.005” to 0.007” stock removal was enough. The current, common manufacturing standard seems to be about 0.010” which is a nice, safe figure. Then the steel needs to be free of oils and greases preferably by cleaning with a caustic product resulting in saponification. (The caustic reacts with the grease to make soap which is easily rinsed off.)
The carbidep_carbide typically needs to be tested for wetting.
Above is a picture of sample tips. They were sent to me by someone who wants to be a new supplier to me. The top row shows that the braze alloy (golden color) flowed evenly and completely cross the tops of the tips. This is good “wetting”. The bottom row shows that the braze alloy balled up and had minimal flow. This is a relatively “non-wetting” surface. In other words, braze alloy sticks well to a wettable surface and not at all to a non-wetting surface with a whole range of surfaces between the two conditions.
If the braze alloy does not stick to the carbidep_carbide then the carbidep_carbide will not stay on the saws.
If the carbidep_carbide comes off clean (comes off without breaking) then the most likely cause is poor surface preparation.
No matter how well the part is brazed it is still possible to break a tip.
We Sell Great Carbide
800 346-8274
Brazing or Silver Soldering Strength
Posted on Thursday, January 19th, 2012 at 11:01 am.
Brazing Question
i am brazing (silver soldering) machined 01 tool steel parts together, and/or tool steel parts to 302/316 stainless parts. the solder i have is harris safety silv 56, with a melting point around 1200°, and i use lots of the stay silv black paste flux while soldering. a typical situation would be soldering a 1/4″ 302 stainless ball with a 1/8″ hole drilled into it to a depth of 5/32 onto the end of a length of 01 drill rod (1/8″ diameter rod at lets say 2 inches long). i do this by filling the hole in the ball with flux, applying a few bits of solder to the hole, placing the ball onto the end of the rod, which is secured to a vise, or some sort of rigging. i cover the entire ball and top of the rod with flux as well. while keeping pressure on the ball (steam buildup) i will heat the ball/rod to the soldering temperature and solder the two parts together. i make sure not to overheat the ball, and the copious amount of flux keeps the parts fairly clean.
here is the question: have i made the rod brittle just by heating it to 1200°, and should i now allow the hot metal assembly to cool to room temperature slowly (on a hunk of metal) or is it safe to quench the assembly in water to speed up my workflow? frankly i have done both, but i don’t know enough about the reality of what is actually happening to the internal structure to know which way will give me a stronger part. in use, these parts are put under a great deal of stress, so obviously strength is the goal. i would rather the rod bend than snap. i have done some totally unscientific “testing” but the results have been… well, useless.
Answer
Your liquidus point on the 56% is 1205 F. You should be getting it about 50° hotter than that to provide enough energy to complete the phase transformation. (Additional time at 1205F will also work but is typically harder to measure.)
You do effect the steel. You can temper the steel if you wish.
We have found that joints are stronger if they are allowed to air cool. However this is usually an issue based on the difference in coefficients of expansion. Obviously, this is a huge problem with carbidep_carbide to steel. In your case I would think that the coefficients of expansion are close enough that it should be very little if any problem.
The 56% alloy you’re using is a very popular alloy because it is very easy to use and it is a pretty good color match with steel. However it is a relatively weak braze alloy.
Braze Alloys
BAg is the American Welding Society (AWS) prefix for silver-based braze alloys.
1. Bag-7
The 56% is a Bag-7
2. Bag-3
There is a 50% with Cadmium that is a Bag-3 that is much stronger but cadmium is a proven carcinogen and, if you use it, you will probably be inhaling the fumes.
3. Bag- 24
Bag-24 is a 50% cadmium free alloy. Most industry used to use Bag-3. Much of it is switched to bag 24 which is about 30 to 40% weaker than the Bag-3.
4. Bag-22
Your strongest braze alloy is going to be a 49% silver with manganese BAg – 22. It has a liquidus point of 1290 and it is gummier and slightly harder to use but it is much stronger than any of the other cadmium free alloys.
If you are really concerned with strength I would use the Bag-22 braze alloy.
We typically sell the 56% for hobbyists, eyeglasses etc. It works well and is easy to use. For tool manufacturing we typically sell the 50% cadmium free or the 49% with manganese.
For the tools we manufacture we use the 49% with manganese and purified flux because nothing is better.
Flux
If you are using standard black flux you probably have something like 10 to 20% inert material in it. There is a new standard EN – 1045 for flux purity and effectiveness. If you use a purified flux it will be all active materials and you will eliminate voids from inert materials in your braze joints.
We sell Flux and Braze Alloy (Silver Solder)
800 346-8274
How to Use a Refractometer
Posted on Thursday, January 19th, 2012 at 10:42 am.
Refractometer Problem
We have a refractometer at our shop. I have calibrated it with water. It doesn’t seem to be giving a reading on a coolant i am testing it with. The scale reads from 0-20%. I figure it should read something on this coolant but it doesn’t. The coolant came from a cut-off unit that runs a white milky semi synthetic liquid.
Thanks
Refractometers deal with refracted light. (Think of a beam bending.) What you have is diffused light. Think of a beam spreading out.
Refractometers work on clear liquids. You are trying to look through a fog.
You cannot use a refractometer on all coolants.
Contact your coolant supplier and ask them.
Mix up a brand new batch of coolant to specifications and see what that reads. If it reads at all it gives you a half assed starting point.
Machine Coolant Testing Instruments
Machine Coolant Maintenance
We Build Filter Units for Machine Coolant
800 346-8274
Tenryu Saw Blade Quality
Posted on Friday, January 13th, 2012 at 9:11 pm.
Tenryu Saw Blade Quality - Even the Packaging
Tenryu Saw Blade Packaging
We have a theory that any company that really believes in quality practices quality in everything they do.
Tenryu makes incredibly good saw blades. There also an incredibly easy company with which to work. When we send an order into Tenryu we get confirmation and an invoice promptly, sometimes within minutes. Their billing is always correct. I always get a prompt answer when I asked for tech support. And I always get an answer that actually helps the customer.
Another example of Tenryu quality is the information they put on their packages. It tells you what cuts to make with the blade, on what kind of machines, in what kind of materials and it tells you what kind of cut you can expect. They have three little boxes labeled semi-smooth, smooth and super smooth. They also have complete blade description on the label so that your sharpener knows exactly how to sharpen the blade.
I suppose, technically, the packaging really does not have much to do with the quality of the saw blade. However, in my experience, somebody who is going to take this much trouble with the packaging is going to be credibly fussy about the saw blade inside.
Incredibly fussy, in the best possible way, is a pretty good description for the folks at Tenryu and pretty well anyone who really believes in quality.
We Proudly Sell Tenryu Saw Blades
sales@carbidep_carbideprocessors.com
800 346-8274
