New cutting discs from Ats

[Chalker]

Today, I received the two cutting discs to try out on mistral solid surface. They are going to be used in a standard makita track saw.
also going to try them on tiles.

Just need to work out which one is which??? ( obviously the 300mm is for my wet saw) maybe Allan will tell me if he sees this thread.

will post how it goes on this thread.

 

[Concrete guy]

The blade on the left (160mm) is a modified Porcelain turbo blade. We sell this a Pro blade for Bushboard and Max Top to be used in a Festool TS55 Track saw or similar.

The blade on the right is a general purpose fine finish turbo blade. This we sell as an economy blade for Bushboard etc.

These are good for stone in a grinder and we sell a number of these to landscapers at 230mm diameter.

If you want to try the Makita on tiles, use the 160mm version.

I'm not sure how any of these blades will deal with high resin content Solid surface so it will be interesting to see how you get on with that.

 

[lmkitchens]

I tried your m stone blade on silestone and found it to be very sliw and chip.

I understand quartz is harder than m stone but I thought it maybe should have performed better?

 

[Colour Republic]

I'm not sure thats going to work on Mistral Chalker, I can see it generating too much heat. Even more so with mistral as it's 25mm thick rather 3/5/6/12mm thick like other acrylic worktops Corian/hi-macs/encore/maia/(insert name of 100 other firms that now do acrylic slabs)

You would normally use a fine triple chip blade and then router / sand to remove micro fractures

M-Stone and Max-top are a completely different type of solid surface with higher quartz content than resin (ok Max-top has a plastic honeycomb core but not enough to gum up the blade by melting)

 

[Chalker]

I'm not sure thats going to work on Mistral Chalker, I can see it generating too much heat. Even more so with mistral as it's 25mm thick rather 3/5/6/12mm thick like other acrylic worktops Corian/hi-macs/encore/maia/(insert name of 100 other firms that now do acrylic slabs)

You would normally use a fine triple chip blade and then router / sand to remove micro fractures

M-Stone and Max-top are a completely different type of solid surface with higher quartz content than resin (ok Max-top has a plastic honeycomb core but not enough to gum up the blade by melting)

Thanks, that's how I normally do it. Cut with a track saw, router the the edge, then polish. Just wanted to try something else .

 

[Concrete guy]

I tried your m stone blade on silestone and found it to be very sliw and chip.

I understand quartz is harder than m stone but I thought it maybe should have performed better?

M Stone is Quartz, it's technically no different from Silestone but it's only 20mm thick as opposed to the usual 30mm for worktops.

Did you try the 150mm or 160mm blade? There's quite a difference.

The 150mm blade we sell as the "economy" product is the one Bushboard ask us to supply for their 20mm thick material but it has a limited lifespan (one kitchen).

The 160mm blade is an entirely different product and performs much better. We sell a lot of this version of the blade at 125mm to stonemasons specifically for cutting quartz.

From the perspective of diamond blades, quartz behaves like porcelain when it's being cut, not natural stone.

 

[Concrete guy]

I'm not sure thats going to work on Mistral Chalker, I can see it generating too much heat. Even more so with mistral as it's 25mm thick rather 3/5/6/12mm thick like other acrylic worktops Corian/hi-macs/encore/maia/(insert name of 100 other firms that now do acrylic slabs)

You would normally use a fine triple chip blade and then router / sand to remove micro fractures

M-Stone and Max-top are a completely different type of solid surface with higher quartz content than resin (ok Max-top has a plastic honeycomb core but not enough to gum up the blade by melting)

This is my understanding also. But we're asked so often if these blades will cut solid surface that it's worth a try and Paul offered.

I figure the blades will "clog" with melted resin material.

 

[Chalker]

Well, tested the discs today. Good and bad news.
all the blades were brand new. A festool dust extractor was used with the saw.

1st was cutting mistral board with tct blade ( as usual with this product)
fairly easy to cut, with a few cutting marks to the end.
Next was the pro blade, as Allan expected after an inch or two it started to clog, the saw also tried to lift out.
but, tried fitting a porcelain tile and it was brilliant. I in from the far side first to prevent chip out. At first tried two passes, one half way and then fully through. Got to say it's not far off a wet saw cut.
Last one was the turbo blade.
this did cut the mistral board, but was very slow. Tried it on porcelain and was ok. But not as good as the pro blade.
In summary. I will be sticking with a tct blade for the mistral board. But I think using this track saw with the pro blade and dust collection will be in some cases better than setting up a wet saw. If you cut through in one pass, there isn't much dust.
I think this will come in handy when straight cuts are needed in large tiles.

hope this is of some help to the members.

 

[Concrete guy]

Thanks Paul, the Mistral is what we expected but it's good to get it confirmed.

I'm very pleased with the result in porcelain though, that could prove very useful for the large format porcelains that are becoming popular. Particularly where you need to create accurate "L" shape cuts and square cuts in the centre of the tile.

What isn't clear is if there is an acceptable level of breakout or chipping in the porcelain? That looks like a hard honed floor tile. The real tell tale will be a polished wall or floor porcelain.

Next time you've got a polished porcelain would you mind running the 160mm blade through it in your plunge saw and see it if produces an acceptable finish please?

 

[lmkitchens]

It was the 150mm, so the 160mm is alot better? I don;t do much cutting but its nice to have the option.

 

[Concrete guy]

It was the 150mm, so the 160mm is alot better? I don;t do much cutting but its nice to have the option.

Yes the 160mm is a lot better, we have a couple of Bushboard customers who process the product on CNC equipment, but they still need to cut to size with a Festool TS55. They won't touch the 150mm blade.

The only reason we still offer the 150mm for this application is at Bushboards request.

 

[lmkitchens]

I don't think you sold the 160mm blade when I bought the 150mm. Was a few months ago.

Cheers

 

[Chalker]

Thanks Paul, the Mistral is what we expected but it's good to get it confirmed.

I'm very pleased with the result in porcelain though, that could prove very useful for the large format porcelains that are becoming popular. Particularly where you need to create accurate "L" shape cuts and square cuts in the centre of the tile.

What isn't clear is if there is an acceptable level of breakout or chipping in the porcelain? That looks like a hard honed floor tile. The real tell tale will be a polished wall or floor porcelain.

Next time you've got a polished porcelain would you mind running the 160mm blade through it in your plunge saw and see it if produces an acceptable finish please?

will try some next week.
Do you do a continuous rim blade that will fit the makita?

 

[Concrete guy]

I don't think you sold the 160mm blade when I bought the 150mm. Was a few months ago.

Cheers

That's possible, we were still testing the 160mm version in the summer.

 

[Concrete guy]

will try some next week.
Do you do a continuous rim blade that will fit the makita?

We could fit a reducing ring on the 150mm con rim porcelain blade that would fit fine.