Replies

1. 
   KARLSTER | Sep 08, 2003 07:20am | #1

   DLB, I replace my diamond blades when:

   I have worn away all the diamonds and there is nothing but bare steel left to try and cut the tile

   When the blade has worn excessively on one side and as a consequence won't cut straight anymore.

   I hear people complain that they had to buy three diamond blades to finish a small tile job like a kitchen.  What they don't realize is that their blade isn't worn out it is just dull.  The last one I talked to was using porcelain tile (very hard, not very abrasive) and was buying whatever tile blade their hand happened to land on.  They were using a tile blade designed for soft, abrasive materials and the porcelain was dulling the exposed diamonds but not abrasive enough to wear away the diamond matrix exposing new "sharp" diamonds.

   If your blade performance goes down, take a concrete paver and make a series of cuts in it to wear down the diamond matrix and expose new diamonds.  I have been told turning the blade around (reversing rotation) will "sharpen" the blade but it seems like too big a production compared to dressing the blade with an abrasive medium like concrete.

   Dress it frequently when cutting hard materials as it seems less effective if you wait too long and you may end up with a blade that tries to cut more on one side than another.  Once the blade starts cutting lopsided it is usually best just to replace it.

   The most important thing to remember is to match the blade to the material.  Have a blade for hard materials such as porcelain and granite (soft diamond matrix), another blade for concrete and soft tile (Hard diamond matrix), and maybe an electroplated blade for cutting limestone or marble.

   Karl

1. 
   dlb | Sep 08, 2003 03:17pm | #2

   Thanks for the great response, Karl.