Concrete saw

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A concrete saw being readied for use. The man in the background is preparing the hose to deliver water to cool the saw, whilst the operator is moving the saw to the required position. A substantial engine powers the unit. Concrete saw2.jpg
A concrete saw being readied for use. The man in the background is preparing the hose to deliver water to cool the saw, whilst the operator is moving the saw to the required position. A substantial engine powers the unit.
Picture of kerf left by a diamond blade used to cut control joints in concrete. Saw Cut Control Joint in Concrete.jpg
Picture of kerf left by a diamond blade used to cut control joints in concrete.

A concrete saw (also known as a consaw, road saw, cut-off saw, slab saw or quick cut) is a power tool used for cutting concrete, masonry, brick, asphalt, tile, and other solid materials. There are many types ranging from small hand-held saws, chop-saw models, and big walk-behind saws or other styles, and it may be powered by gasoline, hydraulic or pneumatic pressure, or an electric motor. The saw blades used on concrete saws are often diamond saw blades to cut concrete, asphalt, stone, etc. Abrasive cut-off wheels can also be used on cut-off saws to cut stone and steel. The significant friction generated in cutting hard substances like concrete usually requires the blades to be cooled to prolong their life and reduce dust.

Contents

Blade choice

Choosing a proper diamond saw blade for the concrete saw is a necessary condition to perform a cutting task well. Apart from some basic aspects, for example, what diameters of diamond saw blades the concrete saw can accommodate, its arbor size and the blade's quality, there are some other important aspects which should also be considered:

Dust control

Highway road workers using concrete saws and generating dust. Highway work dust.jpg
Highway road workers using concrete saws and generating dust.

Stones, rocks, sands and clays can contain large amounts of crystalline silica and are used to make kerbs, flags, bricks, tiles and concrete. Cutting these materials produces airborne dust containing very fine respirable crystalline silica (RCS) particles. These particles are small and it is not always possible to see the RCS dust in normal lighting. [1]

Serious health effects, such as lung cancer or silicosis, can result from exposure to RCS. This is because fine RCS particles can penetrate deep into the lungs.

There are following ways to reduce or control the dust:

There are some other risks during the cutting process which will also need to be controlled to protect the operator and the passers-by, for example, noise, flying debris, hand-arm vibration, manual handling, electricity and refueling.

See also

Related Research Articles

Circular saw Power tool

A circular saw is a power-saw using a toothed or abrasive disc or blade to cut different materials using a rotary motion spinning around an arbor. A hole saw and ring saw also use a rotary motion but are different from a circular saw. Circular saws may also be loosely used for the blade itself. Circular saws were invented in the late 18th century and were in common use in sawmills in the United States by the middle of the 19th century.

A saw is a tool consisting of a tough blade, wire, or chain with a hard toothed edge. It is used to cut through material, very often wood, though sometimes metal or stone. The cut is made by placing the toothed edge against the material and moving it forcefully forth and less vigorously back or continuously forward. This force may be applied by hand, or powered by steam, water, electricity or other power source. An abrasive saw has a powered circular blade designed to cut through metal or ceramic.

An abrasive is a material, often a mineral, that is used to shape or finish a workpiece through rubbing which leads to part of the workpiece being worn away by friction. While finishing a material often means polishing it to gain a smooth, reflective surface, the process can also involve roughening as in satin, matte or beaded finishes. In short, the ceramics which are used to cut, grind and polish other softer materials are known as abrasives.

Woodturning Craft

Woodturning is the craft of using a wood lathe with hand-held tools to cut a shape that is symmetrical around the axis of rotation. Like the potter's wheel, the wood lathe is a simple mechanism that can generate a variety of forms. The operator is known as a turner, and the skills needed to use the tools were traditionally known as turnery. In pre-industrial England, these skills were sufficiently difficult to be known as 'the misterie' of the turners guild. The skills to use the tools by hand, without a fixed point of contact with the wood, distinguish woodturning and the wood lathe from the machinist's lathe, or metal-working lathe.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Miter saw</span> Mechanical saw used to obtain precise angle cuts

A miter saw or mitre saw is a saw used to make accurate crosscuts and miters in a workpiece by positioning a mounted blade onto a board. A miter saw in its earliest form was composed of a back saw in a miter box, but in modern implementation consists of a powered circular saw that can be positioned at a variety of angles and lowered onto a board positioned against a backstop called the fence.

Grinding wheel Abrasive cutting tool for grinders

Grinding wheels contains abrasive compounds for grinding and abrasive machining operations. Such wheels are also used in grinding machines.

Fiber cement siding Building material used to cover the exterior of a building

Fiber cement siding is a building material used to cover the exterior of a building in both commercial and domestic applications. Fiber cement is a composite material made of cement reinforced with cellulose fibers. Originally, asbestos was used as the reinforcing material but, due to safety concerns, that was replaced by cellulose in the 1980s. Fiber cement board may come pre-painted or pre-stained or can be done so after its installation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sharpening stone</span> Abrasive slab used to sharpen tools

Sharpening stones, or whetstones, are used to sharpen the edges of steel tools such as knives through grinding and honing.

Sharpening

Sharpening is the process of creating or refining 2 perpendicular axis into a converging "Apex" creating an edge of appropriate shape on a tool or implement designed for cutting. Sharpening is done by removing material on an implement with an abrasive substance harder than the material of the implement, followed sometimes by processes to polish/hone the sharp surface to increase smoothness.

Hole saw Cylindrical saw used to quickly cut holes

A hole saw, also known as a hole cutter, is a saw blade of annular (ring) shape, whose annular kerf creates a hole in the workpiece without having to cut up the core material. It is used in a drill. Hole saws typically have a pilot drill bit (arbor) at their center to keep the saw teeth from walking. The fact that a hole saw creates the hole without needing to cut up the core often makes it preferable to twist drills or spade drills for relatively large holes. The same hole can be made faster and using less power.

Wire saw Saw that uses abrasive metal wire or cable

A wire saw is a saw that uses a metal wire or cable for mechanical cutting of bulk solid material such as stone, wood, glass, ferrites, concrete, metals, crystals etc.. Industrial wire saws are usually powered. There are also hand-powered survivalist wire saws suitable for cutting tree branches. Wire saws are classified as continuous or oscillating. Sometimes the wire itself is referred to as a "blade".

Diamond tool

A diamond tool is a cutting tool with diamond grains fixed on the functional parts of the tool via a bonding material or another method. As diamond is a superhard material, diamond tools have many advantages as compared with tools made with common abrasives such as corundum and silicon carbide.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Diamond blade</span> Saw blade with diamond grit bonded to the cutting surface

A diamond blade is a saw blade which has diamonds fixed on its edge for cutting hard or abrasive materials. There are many types of diamond blade, and they have many uses, including cutting stone, concrete, asphalt, bricks, coal balls, glass, and ceramics in the construction industry; cutting semiconductor materials in the semiconductor industry; and cutting gemstones, including diamonds, in the gem industry.

Abrasive saw

An abrasive saw, also known as a cut-off saw or chop saw, is a circular saw which is typically used to cut hard materials, such as metals, tile, and concrete. The cutting action is performed by an abrasive disc, similar to a thin grinding wheel. Technically speaking this is not a saw, as it does not use regularly shaped edges (teeth) for cutting.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sandblasting</span> Method of marking or cleaning a surface

Sandblasting, sometimes known as abrasive blasting, is the operation of forcibly propelling a stream of abrasive material against a surface under high pressure to smooth a rough surface, roughen a smooth surface, shape a surface or remove surface contaminants. A pressurised fluid, typically compressed air, or a centrifugal wheel is used to propel the blasting material. The first abrasive blasting process was patented by Benjamin Chew Tilghman on 18 October 1870.

Concrete grinder Machine for polishing or grinding hardened concrete

A concrete grinder can come in many configurations, the most common being a hand-held angle grinder, but it may be a specialized tool for countertops or worktops. Angle grinders are small and mobile, and allow one to work on harder to reach areas and perform more precise work.

Polished concrete Concrete which has been mechanically ground, honed, and polished

Polished concrete is a multi-step process where a concrete floor is mechanically ground, honed and polished with bonded abrasives in order to cut a concrete floor's surface. It is then refined with each cut in order to achieve a specified level of appearance.

Diamond grinding is a pavement preservation technique that corrects a variety of surface imperfections on both concrete and asphalt concrete pavements. Most often utilized on concrete pavement, diamond grinding is typically performed in conjunction with other concrete pavement preservation (CPP) techniques such as road slab stabilization, full- and partial-depth repair, dowel bar retrofit, cross stitching longitudinal cracks or joints and joint and crack resealing. Diamond grinding restores rideability by removing surface irregularities caused during construction or through repeated traffic loading over time. The immediate effect of diamond grinding is a significant improvement in the smoothness of a pavement. Another important effect of diamond grinding is the considerable increase in surface macrotexture and consequent improvement in skid resistance, noise reduction and safety.

Disc cutter Power tool used to cut hard materials

A disc cutter is a specialised, often hand-held, power tool used for cutting hard materials, ceramic tile, metal, concrete, and stone for example. This tool is very similar to an angle grinder, chop saw, or even a die grinder, with the main difference being the cutting disc itself. This tool is highly efficient at cutting very hard materials, especially when compared to hand tools.

Jigsaw (tool) Type of saw

A jigsaw is a saw which uses a reciprocating blade to cut irregular curves, such as stenciled designs, in wood, metal, or other materials.

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