How To Work With A Hand-Held Circular Saw

How to use a circular saw correctly How to use a circular saw correctly Thoughts about purchasing a circular saw arise when you need a lot of work to cut a bar or board along the material. Of course to dissolve

How to use a circular saw correctly

Thoughts about purchasing a circular saw arise when a large amount of work is required to cut timber or boards along the material. Of course, you can use a hacksaw or jigsaw to loosen the boards, if desired. The masters will masterfully cope! However, if cutting with straight lines is required, then a circular saw is required for such work. This power tool is used for cutting wood as well as plastic and soft metal.

It would seem that the question of how to use a circular saw is quite simple and the answer is clear. However, not all so simple.

What you need to know about a circular saw?

Circulars are simple. They consist of a base plate and the actual saw. The base plate is constructed from aluminum alloy or stamped steel. There are three types of circular saws: stationary, hand-held and combined.

Before starting work, the maximum cutting depth should be determined. This moment is the main criterion when choosing a hand saw. It makes sense to ask for what purpose a tool is needed: for professional or for household needs?

Also in this case, the size of the tool matters. In general, a medium-sized circular saw is preferred for its agility and ease of use. For a significant amount of work associated with clapboard and thin boards during the construction of a house, a stationary large-sized circular saw will be required. The smallest tool is suitable for thin rods.

A single-phase circular saw with a power of 220 watts can easily cope with summer cottage and household work.

For large volumes, three-phase instruments (380 W) will be required. According to safety regulations, they must be grounded.

A little about the available teeth

Circular saw dimensions.

When choosing a saw for the job, the characteristics of the teeth must be taken into account. This is necessary because a specific material requires its own type.

Circular saw blades with standard teeth are used for softwoods and plywood.

For hard rock or chipboard, special carbide teeth are suitable. In addition to the special shape and more, they have victorious soldering.

For chopping work, such as ripping boards, a disc with a small (up to 24) number of teeth is suitable. The smaller there are, the larger their size. Accordingly, the blade will cut faster, but the cut will be rough.

For fine cutting, discs with teeth up to 36-48 units are suitable. Working with hardwood material or planks with nails will require 54 trapezoidal discs.

The inclination of the teeth can be positive, such that it cuts wood. A disc with a negative tilt is used for clean cutting of aluminum and plastic.

How to work with a circular saw

Start with a good drive

For clean cross-cuts in solid wood, decorative plywood and other sheet and panel materials, replace the standard 24-tooth blade found on most models with a 50-60-tooth blade. And for most cuts where quality requirements are not too high, use a 40-tooth blade. And only for ripping solid wood, reinstall the standard 24-tooth blade.

Get rid of chips in one of three ways

The saw blade teeth rotate forward and upward. The underside of the workpiece, where the teeth enter the material, is almost always clean and free of chips. On the contrary, the top side is usually so chipped that it cannot be used in visible parts of the product (compare three photos with different degrees of chipping). Therefore, if possible, always lay the sheet or strip face down for cutting. And if you have to cut to the right side, use one of these techniques to keep the cut edges clean.

1. Pre-pruning

Cut two times instead of one. The first shallow cut will cleanly cut surface wood fibers so they will not be ripped up in the final cut.

2.Use an anti-splinter pad

Attach a hardboard plate to the base of the circular saw to clamp down on the surface wood fibers, especially on materials covered with firewood veneer, and to prevent chipping where the teeth of the blade come out of the material. Smoothly plunging into the rotating blade and sawing through it, you get an anti-splinter pad, the width of the shed in which will exactly match the thickness of the saw blade. It will help minimize chipping.

Attention! Be extremely careful when working with such a pad, as it prevents the protective cover from covering the disc from below.

3. Make a guide bar

This guide bar will not only help to deal with chipping, but it will also simplify your cutting work without having to resort to calculations. Make it as shown in the figure. Adjust the width to match your saw. We made a guide rail with a mine about one and a half meters for cutting plywood sheets. The distance between the edge of the base and the stop should be 10-12 mm more than the distance from the saw blade to the edge of the sole of your saw. File the edge of the guide bar while pressing the sole against the stop. Now one edge of such a tire will act as a splinter pad, pressing the fibers from above. Before cutting, put the tire on top of the future part, since chips will appear on the other edge of the cut, where the fibers are not pressed.

Types of jobs

The scope of the circular saw depends on its size and type.

Stationary models

The use of circular machines has its own operational features. To cut wood you need:

1. Set the switch on the equipment to the off position. Only then can the cable be connected to the electrical network.
2. By lifting the handle, adjust and fix the cutting height of the disc according to the dimensions of the material prepared for cutting.
3. Check the position of the guide bar and saw blade. Their arrangement must be parallel to each other.
4. Start the circular saw and make a longitudinal cut of the wood material. Sawing one board should be done in a single approach.

Using a stationary circular saw

After processing all the material, turn off the switch on the equipment, which stops the rotation of the blade, and disconnect the tool from the mains.

Nuances of additional functions

Modern models of circular saws are safe equipment with high technical parameters. Many devices are equipped with additional features that make your workflow much easier:

1. Slip clutch. Such a device avoids injury if the disc is jammed. The clutch can significantly reduce the shock when the rotating mechanism stops.
2. Smooth start. This feature allows the disc to pick up speed without jerking. Soft start protects the mechanism from jolts, which has a positive effect on the engine’s operating life.
3. Overload protection. When the engine reaches critical indicators, the mechanism is automatically turned off.
4. Support for the required disk rotation speed. Power is automatically added under load when cutting dense materials. This function protects against a decrease in the disc speed.
5. Accelerated braking. When you press the shutdown button, the disc stops abruptly.
6. Lock start buttons. This function prevents the instrument from turning on if the switch is accidentally pressed. It is usually installed by simultaneously pressing two keys.

Circular saw table

When working with a large volume of sawn material, it is not always comfortable to hold the tool in your hands for a long time. It is much more convenient to fix the tool on a special table, so the cut will be more accurate and faster. All craftsmen prefer to use:

After making your own table, it is important to know how to properly secure the hand-held circular saw to the table. Here are just a few rules:

1. The instrument is placed inside a prepared compartment that is exactly the right size for the instrument.
2. The foot of the saw is bolted securely to the table.
3. The disc should fit freely into the slot.

How to choose a circular hand saw?

When buying a tool, you should focus on a number of specific parameters:

1. Engine power. The higher it is, the faster and with less effort you can cut. In addition, large-diameter cutting blades can be installed on powerful saws (from 3 kW).
2. Cutting depth. There are 4 standard sizes that you need to select based on your needs.
3. The hand-held circular saw for wood can have an adjustable cut tilt.
4. Stationary chip removal system or the ability to connect a vacuum cleaner. A very convenient option that allows you to work with virtually no dust and debris in the workshop or at home.
5. The start lock is an important safety feature to prevent the tool from being switched on accidentally.

Circular saw blades

An important consumable in the sawing tool is the cutting blade. Each model has its own characteristics:

• Height and number of teeth;
• Cutting profile geometry.

Conventionally, all circular saw blades are divided into:

1. Consumables for soft materials such as wood or plastic. They have a positive sharpening angle, the number of teeth is about 50-100, which ensures an even cut.
2. Discs for hard materials are produced with a negative sharpening angle and fewer teeth. They are capable of sawing harder materials, but the edges will be more “ragged”.