hole saw??

Fastenal's store brand, I think it's Black Forest, is a good blade and fairly priced. When I bought mine, it was several bucks cheaper than the Lenox, and looked like it was built better.
 
A bit more money but starret has been the best I've used hands down.
http://www.wttool.com/index/page/pr...ct_name/FastCut+Bi-Metal+Hole+Saws+(Starrett)

Watch out for the new style lennox saws. They decided to make a big vent hole in the side of them, I assume for cleanout and cooling. It's just large enough for a piece of the notch to fall through and catch on the tube. I've almost broke my arm a few times now with my 1/2" drill and everytime it happens it destroys the hole saw. Which really pisses me off!!! Especially if it's a new saw.
 
MarsFab said:
A bit more money but starret has been the best I've used hands down.
http://www.wttool.com/index/page/pr...ct_name/FastCut+Bi-Metal+Hole+Saws+(Starrett)
Watch out for the new style lennox saws. They decided to make a big vent hole in the side of them, I assume for cleanout and cooling. It's just large enough for a piece of the notch to fall through and catch on the tube. I've almost broke my arm a few times now with my 1/2" drill and everytime it happens it destroys the hole saw. Which really pisses me off!!! Especially if it's a new saw.
Click to expand...


The new lennox holesaws SUCK, but not as bad as dewalt. I've had dewalts loose all their teeth in less than 10 notches.

As for oil, I never use it. Usesd to be able to get 150+ notches out of lennox and have the table on my drill press buried in blue chips. On my last old style lennox now. Have heard the new "ice" milwaukees are good. Never tried starrets.
 
New Lenox saws are Poo...not THE poo. One lost all the teeth in 3 notches, the other got through 5 and I had the same issue MarsFab did with it catching the notch. I work at lowes and bought the last 3 1.75" hole saws we had in stock for stupid cheap when we clearanced out the old style Lenox saws. Trying to make them last as long as possible. Used the new ones just for the hell of it and wont ever use em again.

Might have to give those Starret's a try next time around.
 
Scott "oljeeps" mentioned using rotobroaches in another thread. The way my notcher is set up I cant back the cutter up enough to fit a annular cutter like that, but I'm designing a new notcher that I'd like to use an R8 collet on so I can chuck up whatever I want. I'm also working on a clamping system that will clamp the tube in a bend, Kinda outta the box like the tn250 but IMO better. I build a lot of my own tools, I've found that if you want it right build it yourself lol. There are too many gimmicks in the fab world.
 
The rotabroach bid would be nice but is NOT cheap and rpm control is key or it'll burn up or chip a tooth... Control it and I'm sure it would work really well!
 
speaking of the new-style lenox bi-metal units... I have one that I picked up from lowes that has the teeth are reversed on it . I've never seen another one like it
 
Tried some Morse saws. Got them off ebay. Looking at the box they could have been 2 or 20 years old. They sucked. Dug an irwin out of the back of the tool box. It lasted about 100 notches and stripped the threads out. Still had most of the teeth on it, still fairly sharp. Got three more of them to try, we'll see how they do.
 
kinda off subject but thought i'd share. I've never hole sawed steel, but a long time ago I used a huge, right angle hole saw, Milwauke i think, doing new apartment construction plumbing. I was way up a 10' stepladder, drilling a 4 or 6" hole, up through the wooden girders/wall plates, to the next floor. The drill found a nail and counter-rotated and I punched myself ( in my right cheek ) off the ladder when the drill spun!! , shiner :eek:ops: , I fell/landed on a pile of framing debris and looked up to see the drill spin some more and then fall as I scrambled out from under it :eek: ......It would have landed on me! That drill whooped my ass! o_O be carefull in tight quarters w strong powertools.
 
I use hole saws to drill bar tops and walk-in coolers. ( 3-4") The Lenox hole saws do great for what I do but the problem I have is with the 1/2 arbors I get from Lowes. Every time the hole saw catches the drill usually crushes the arbor.
 
Back
Top