Chopmaster Blade Tear-out

[Hans Braul]

I have an 80-tooth 12" Chopmaster blade on my Dewalt compound sliding mitre saw and am disappointed with the poor cuts.
Starrat tearout.jpg
The first cut was made by lowering in the extended position, then pushing through the material. The second was made by just dropping the blade down on the material from directly above. The second is better (as you'd expect) but neither provide the "like butter" results that I keep reading about with these blades, and the first is just plain unacceptable.

The blade had just come back from Starrat for repair and sharpening, and this was the first test cut. This tear-out has been an issue since I got the blade years ago. I hit a nail a few months back, hence the repair, but it should be good as new now that it's repaired. Is this consistent with your experience?

Thanks for your thoughts
Hans

[Ron Kellison]

I have a 60-tooth Chopmaster on my old Hitachi slider. It has always given me great cuts with little, if any, chipout even on Baltic ply. Have you every used another blade on that saw that gave you good cuts or have you had chipout with every blade?

Ron

[HANK METZ]

If this was a radial arm saw I'd say you have a heeling/ toe condition, does the saw allow for such adjustment?

[Hans Braul]

I've had the same issue with the blade that came with the saw, but I had expected the Starrat to make a big improvement.

[Hans Braul]

I don't know if I can adjust the alignment - will have to check tomorrow, but I don't think so. Also I could have a runout issue. I'll need a dial indicator to check that.

[scott spencer]

I'd expect a better cut. Somethings wrong with the saw or the blade or both....have any other blades to compare it to?

[Hans Braul]

The blade that came with the saw (which I assumed would be next to useless) gives comparable results. I'm thinking it's got to be the alignment or runout. I will continue to troubleshoot.

Thanks!

[Sam Puhalovich]

Check the run-out ... since you've had the problem from the start, the problem is most likely with the flange that the blade is tightened.
A dial indicator would help, but, not completely necessary to see the run-out.
Put a (perpendicular to the blade) pencil to the blade ... just touching the blade ... and carefully rotate the blade 360*.
When you come-around full-circle ... if there's run-out ... there will be a gap between the pencil and the blade.
'Lock' the pencil in-place with some tape ... use a feeler gauge to measure the gap.
Lacking a feeler gauge ... use pieces of newspaper = about .002 per piece.

[Hans Braul]

Very good advice! I'll do this tomorrow. Thanks for the help.

I'll report when I get to the bottom of this.

[glenn bradley]

Yep, you're on track now. If two blades give similar problems (even understanding the difference in quality of the blades) I would lean toward the saw. A quick alignment check should tell the tale.