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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Dec 2001
    Location
    Between a rock & a hard place (vic)
    Posts
    898

    Angry CMT / Irwin Blades

    I've a couple of questions for anyone who can answer them:

    1. is there any measurable difference between the CMT and Irwin in their trade/prof. quality blades?

    2. I've had trouble in the past getting correct size bushes for Irwin blades. The bushes they supply are not wide enough, even if you use two side by side !

    Compounding the Irwin problem, the hole in the Irwin blade is not standard, but around .4mm smaller than most other blades and bush sets, meaning existing bushes that do actually ensure the blade stays centred wont fit Irwin blades

    Find a supplier of variable size bushes and stick to Irwin or give'em the and go to CMT ?

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  3. #2
    Join Date
    Jul 2000
    Location
    Drop Bear Capital of Gippsland (Lang Lang) Vic Australia
    Age
    74
    Posts
    6,518

    Post

    My only beef with CMT is the price, twice that of Irwin. Having said that they are a good blade and I have had more life from the orange one than the other, same with the router bits.
    Stupidity kills. Absolute stupidity kills absolutely.

  4. #3
    Join Date
    Jun 2001
    Location
    South Australia
    Age
    51
    Posts
    201

    Post


    Not sure where you are, but here in Adelaide , there is a place called Australian Saws and Blades Industrial Cylinder Blade sharpening service(ASBI). They supplied me with a high quality (250X30X24) table saw blade and fitted a bush for around $65.00, also under $10.00 to get a blade sharpened.

    I believe that the blade is made in New Zealand, and works fine,and is about 3.2 mm thick.

  5. #4
    Join Date
    Jun 2000
    Location
    Western Australia
    Age
    77
    Posts
    3,679

    Arrow

    Arbor Bushes for saw-blades by some manufacturers are specifically produced to be of a lesser width than the saw blade.
    Apparently the idea is that the arbor collars/washers are designed to hold the blade central to the riving knife/splitter and in a manner so no slippage occurs as may well happen should a bush be of the same width.
    The Bush is designed as surface friction extension of the blade giving communication between the arbor and the blade,whilst the collars give vertical support to the blade.
    Given that there are a vast array of saw blades produced in Metrical/Imperial depending on where you source them there are bound to be some that require some adjustment.
    Saw blades produced with the correct arbor intact,ie. machined as one may well be a costlier alternative but give less problems in downtime where the ill fitting arbor bushes may!
    Just my 2c worth.
    Cheers

    ------------------
    Johnno
    Johnno

    Everyone has a photographic memory, some just don't have film.

  6. #5
    Join Date
    Apr 2002
    Location
    Brisbane
    Posts
    5,773

    Thumbs up

    I have a good variety of blades of several brands. Irwin & CMT among them. The Irwin bladex I run on my 7 1/4" hand held machine and I have several diferent CMT blades for my table saw.
    The Irwin blades were real cheap like $25 for a pack of 3 and as such I can't complain I don't expect too much of my hand saw and there too cheap to bother sharpening.
    The CMT blades on the other hand are a joy, but so should any good quality blade be. Some of the blades I have cost over $100.

    My advice is buy the best blade you can afford if you want to enjoy the results.

    There may be some difference in the quality of blades within a brand. The same brand may have cheap and good quality blades.

    The give away is the size of the carbide tips, the bigger the better usualy

    Its better not to use bushes if you can avoid it. Some manufacturers make a range of hole sizes.

    I too have found some of the saw services to supply good quality blades at a good price.

    I have had good service form KOYO, and a kiwi brand the illudes memory at the moment.

    Cheers, happy sawing, keep your fingers.
    Any thing with sharp teeth eats meat.
    Most powertools have sharp teeth.
    People are made of meat.
    Abrasives can be just as dangerous as a blade.....and 10 times more painfull.

  7. #6
    Join Date
    Dec 2001
    Location
    Between a rock & a hard place (vic)
    Posts
    898

    Post

    Problem solved - finally got hold of some wider 25/16 bushes.

    Interesting though, the two collars that sit either side of the blade (I'll call them plates) are as it happens plate shaped - i.e. concaved. When assembled with a blade this creates approximately 8mm between the 'plates', with the blade centred by the inward formed plate lips (picture putting two dinner plates face together with a saw blade in between).

    Now if a spindle was placed through the centre of the plates and the arbor of the blade is bigger than the spindle, bushes would be needed.

    Obviously if the saw uses these concaved 'plates', the bushes would need to be at least equal to if not wider than the blade, otherwise with little effort the bush could move sideways and potentially out of the blade arbor - bingo - one lose flying off centred blade spinning at 2000+rpm.

    I'm still uncertain as to why, if it is stated on the packaging that a blade set is compatible with a certain saw model, correct sized bushes are not supplied ?

    I guess they haven't been sued, yet.


    PS. the product in question was the 80 toothe, $100 irwin blade. Surely they could do their research and include the correct bush I bought this in Melb and did not discover the problem until some 400km away leaving me to work for the weekend with a blunt saw

    [This message has been edited by Eastie (edited 24 June 2002).]

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