Power Hacksaw Guide
In industry, the hacksaw is a fine-tooth saw, which was originally mainly used for cutting metal materials and products. Correspondingly, the equivalent saw for cutting wood is often called a bow saw. Power hacksaws are called hacksawing machines, powered by their own electric motors or connected to stationary engines. Most power hacksaws are stationary machine tools, but there are still some portable types that can meet specific needs.Saw Blades
The length of a standard power hacksaw blade is about 250 mm to 300 mm. The blade can be as small as 150 mm. To make practical metal works more convenient, power hacksaws may use larger blades of various sizes, or small machines may use manual blades. In manual blades, the pitch of the teeth can be 14 to 32 teeth per inch. For high-power hacksaw blades, the pitch of the teeth can be as low as three TPIs. The choice of the blade depends on the thickness of the workpiece to be cut. There must be at least three teeth in the material.
Blade Pitches
Since the hacksaw teeth are so small, they are fixed in the wave set. Early blades were made of carbon steel and were called low-alloy blades, which were relatively soft and resilient. They avoid breakage, but wear out quickly and cause inconvenience to users. Now, this type of blade is not very common, unless it lies in cost-based cutting tasks. However, low-alloy saw blades are still the only type available for small hacksaws, resulting in lower practicality of such hacksaws.
Speed Matters
As the industry has evolved over the decades, the way people saw metal or non-metal pieces is different. The teeth of the power hacksaw blades are made of high-speed steel, which greatly improves the cutting performance and the life of the teeth. These newly-invented power hacksaw blades are in full-hard form. The blade can be cut accurately but the disadvantage is that it is very brittle, so it is more suitable for bench saws in practice.
At the same time, a softer high-speed steel blade is also provided. Although it is more resistant to breakage, its rigidity is low, so it cannot accurately saw. On the other hand, bi-metal blades are considered to have the advantages of the first two-blade forms without the risk of cracking. However, continuous improvement of the power hacksaw blades is imperative.
Solutions
The solution is that a high-speed steel strip along the teeth edge is an electron beam welded to the softer spine. Since the price of these blades has dropped to a level comparable to older blades, the use of them has been wide. The most common power hacksaw blades are 300 mm long. These power hacksaw blades have a hole at both ends that can be installed on the saw frame, and the 300 mm size refers to the center distance between these mounting holes.
Comparison with the Band Saws
Same to the powered hacksaw, the band saw is a powered saw. It is designed with a long, sharp blade consisting of a continuous band of toothed metal stretched between two or more wheels to cut material. Band saws are used particularly in metalworking, woodworking, and lumbering.
The advantages of the band saw include uniform cutting movement due to the uniformly distributed tooth load, and the ability to cut irregular or curved shapes like a jigsaw. The minimum radius of the curve depends on the width of the saw band and the curve. Most band saws have two wheels that rotate on the same plane, one of which is powered. In addition, some can distribute three or four loads to improve the distribution of the machine on the blades.
The band saw blades usually have various pitches and size scales, which makes the band sawing machine highly versatile and capable of cutting various raw materials, such as wood, metal, and plastic.
Today, almost all band saws are driven by electric motors. Although line shaft type saws were once common on the market, they are now antiques and are rarely used in practice.
Conclusion
Unlike the band saws and circular saws, most power hacksaws are relatively small in size and are not precise enough in terms of working tolerances. However, the great flexibility and easy-to-use nature make the powered hacksaw still popular in the market, especially for home use. In the field of machinery, there are no absolute winners across industries. Some users may have specific requirements for machine types, so once suppliers of metal power hacksaw or any other sawing machines can find their own market and work hard on this basis, their commercial results will still be very good.
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