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Northern Tool Dry Cut Saw review.

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DARK AGE 53

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also known as a cold cut saw, The UPS guy delivered the saw today, unpacked it and everything was o.k.

It's kinda hard to give a good review when I only cut a couple pieces of steel, that being said here's my opinion. I paid $250 ( on sale ) for the saw, I also will be receiving a $25 gift card. For the money I give this saw a :thumbup::thumbup:, for my purpose it's well worth the money. Now for a few pics.
 

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scott37300

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I bought the dewalt dry cut, multicutter, saw a year ago and love it. It is amazing how good it cuts compared to a chop saw. The cut is clean and not heated like an abrasive saw.

Tips, I know my blade won't cut stainless, they make a seperate blade for that. Blades are fairly expensive so make sure you take care of them. Steady pressure is the best. Cut the "thiner" side of the metal always. Try and use the part of the blade that is closest to the back of the saw whenever possible.
 
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DARK AGE 53

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scott37300

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DARK AGE 53 said:
can't say about the Dewalt, I have a Milwaukee 14" abrasive cutoff saw and it's been a very good saw.

As for blades I ordered a couple of Freud Diablo Steel Demon 14"x72T from www.cripedistributing.com, hands down there the best place to get these blades.
Click to expand...

I ordered a freud from them also this summer to replace the original dewalt blade that came with the saw. Has been a good blade so far. I think I ruined the other blade by cutting some square tube on a 45, the only way to clamp it had the front quarter of the blade touching the metal first and it contacted the metal on the flat first instead of a corner. Not sure if this killed the blade or if it was just worn out.

Make sure you clamp things extra good, any movement and you will kill the blade.
 
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pirana

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Man, I really wan't one of those cold chop saws myself. I've been leaning towards one made by Evolution, I think it's the Rage II if I remember correctly. We use their mag drills at work & i've been impressed with them & hope their other stuff is as good. If I get an x-mas bonus this year i'll get one.
 
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DARK AGE 53

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scott37300 said:
I think I ruined the other blade by cutting some square tube on a 45, the only way to clamp it had the front quarter of the blade touching the metal first and it contacted the metal on the flat first instead of a corner. Not sure if this killed the blade or if it was just worn out.

Make sure you clamp things extra good, any movement and you will kill the blade.
Click to expand...

I've been doing some research on the net on how best to cut angles, this seems to be one of the biggest complaint when using these types of saw ( no matter what brand of saw used ). I'd suggest researching and checking out all of the YouTube video's you can before operator your new saw.
 
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scott37300

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DARK AGE 53 said:
I've been doing some research on the net on how best to cut angles, this seems to be one of the biggest complaint when using these types of saw ( no matter what brand of saw used ). I'd suggest researching and checking out all of the YouTube video's you can before operator your new saw.
Click to expand...

It's not really new anymore, have been using it for a year now!

I think I self taught myself what not to do. I went back and read the directions after the first blade stopped cutting. It explains things pretty good, should have read it first! If used right they beat the heck out of a chop saw.
 
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mikeweb

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When I read the title I thought it was in reference to a Dry Cut / Wet Cut concrete saw. I was gonna mention how I love my Stihl 420 :)

442.jpg
 
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jeffk14

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Are these saws any different from chop saws or is the blade the only thing that makes them different?
 
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scott37300

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It uses a toothed blade, believe it's carbide. They do have some "chips" from cutting but not as bad as an abrasive wheel. The biggest difference is the quality of the cut. With an abrasive wheel it leaves burrs and discolored metal, with the dry cut there are no burrs and no discoloration, just a nice smooth square cut.
 
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DARK AGE 53

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padronanniversary, as scott has said, as for the chips I was thinking about trying to mount a shop vac hose near the cutting area to help with the chips.....there is a chip tray on the bottom of my saw that does collect quite few chips though.
 
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larry4406

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Nice saw and nice cuts.

Why don't these chop saws/cold cut saws/whatever you want to call them have a decent miter box table for cutting of angles? They all seem to have a cheesy clamp setup on the table with the ability to only cut the end of the stock at an angle as the stock is clamped at the angle. The designs prevent, say, cutting a 4' piece in the middle at a 45 degree yielding two identical pieces with one cut that a traditional miter box would do. When I built my rotissorie I used an old wood miter box, tried a cold cut blade (5 cuts and blade was shot) and then switched to abrasive discs (messy, sparks, sharp edges, etc). Really wanted a cold cut, but one with a decent miter function.
 
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DARK AGE 53

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Larry, I can see why you only got 5 cuts using a miter box saw that puts out twice the rpm's that a cold cut blade was meant for, as 38D has said there's better but they'll cost you thousands of $$$$ not a few hundred $$$.......anybody want to send me a couple of K's.:bounce:
 
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scott37300

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larry4406 said:
Nice saw and nice cuts.

Why don't these chop saws/cold cut saws/whatever you want to call them have a decent miter box table for cutting of angles? They all seem to have a cheesy clamp setup on the table with the ability to only cut the end of the stock at an angle as the stock is clamped at the angle. The designs prevent, say, cutting a 4' piece in the middle at a 45 degree yielding two identical pieces with one cut that a traditional miter box would do. When I built my rotissorie I used an old wood miter box, tried a cold cut blade (5 cuts and blade was shot) and then switched to abrasive discs (messy, sparks, sharp edges, etc). Really wanted a cold cut, but one with a decent miter function.
Click to expand...

Evolution makes some decent miter saws for not much more. Have read good things about them.
 
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larry4406

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Regarding blade speed for the cold cut blades, the one I bought had zero disclaimer regarding recommended operating speed for the blade. Only spec it had was max allowable speed, and my saw was under that.
 
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DARK AGE 53

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It's been almost two years since I bought my cold cut saw, here's the results.

The saw has worked great, I bought a Freud blade to replace the stock blade once it went bad......I'm still using the stock blade. I'd rate the saw a good investment and I can't remember the last time I used my Milwaukee 14" abrasive cutoff saw . :thumbup::thumbup:
 
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Chadwilliam1

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we had one at my last job, nice cut and fast. we also had a handheld circular saw version.
 
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Jack Olsen

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I'm surprised Harbor Freight hasn't picked up this model. It's not complicated technology, and there are thousands of guys out there who would like to get rid of abrasive disc saws and go to something like this -- but the cost of the available name-brand models has stayed pretty high.

In any case, thanks for the follow-up Dark Age 53. It looks like this is a good entry-level saw for cutting steel without the heat, smoke, dust and cost of abrasive discs.
 
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coma13

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How do you guys compare the noise level to an abrasive chop saw? I'd love to put one of these in my garage, but I live in a condo complex and the noise level is a huge concern. I have a portaband, which is super handy, but I'd love to be able to get quicker, more easily square cuts done on tubing.
 
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