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Cutting steel with a miter saw (lemmy.world)
submitted 7 months ago by to c/diy@slrpnk.net
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Is it safe to cut steel with a miter saw?

I have a small project and I need to cut 3/4" steel square tube. I already own a miter saw, and I don't have the space or otherwise a need for a dedicated tool for cutting metal. I was hoping to just pick up a metal-cutting circular saw blade and use that.

My googling seems to either tell me it will cut like through butter or it will explode in my face and set fire to the house and my wife will leave me and take the kids with her.

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[–] 6 points 7 months ago (1 child)

One thing that is overlooked here by the other posts is that the blade speed on a wood miter saw is too fast for the metal cutting blade. If you look at the fein slugger or evolution rages, they operate at lower rpms. It might work but you need to make sure you don't overspeed the blade.

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  • [–] [S] 3 points 7 months ago

    I believe my saw is locked to 5000 rpm.

    I know that chop saws and cold saws usually used for metal run a lot slower, but you can buy metal-cutting blades for regular circular saws. I understand that I would have to move very slowly compared to cutting wood, but I can't slow down the blade itself.

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