A worn-out circular saw blade is bad for your woodworking business. It chips the surface of the wood or even burns marks on it. Besides, when a circular saw blade wears out, it losses its cutting power, causing the saw motor to wear out quickly. The quality of your work as a woodworker is partially determined by the condition of your saw blade. A nice sharp blade will not only cut more quickly but also make all the difference in the quality of your cutting tasks.
Many woodworkers don’t care about the periodic replacement of their saw blades, leading to difficult or poor cuts and blade kickback, which is considered dangerous. The technique required to know how to replace circular saw blades isn’t much different from one model to another. The only thing is that you’ll need a hex-wrench for a battery-powered saw instead of a standard wrench.
Although a lot of newbies get hung up replacing saw blades, the whole process isn’t really a complicated task. In this post, I’ll walk you through the basic techniques on how to change a circular saw blade. That’s not all! I’ll also be answering your questions regarding when and how often do you have to change a circular saw blade. Let’s roll!
Table of Contents
- When to Change Blade on Circular Saw?
- How Often to Replace Circular Saw Blade?
- Your safety first
- Steps for Changing a Circular Saw Blade
- Step 1: Locate the Wrench That was Equipped with the Saw
- Step 2: Unlock and Adjust the Base Plate
- Step 3: Depress the Blade Lever and Loosen the Bolts
- Step 4: Install the new blade
- Step 5: Locate the arrow on top of the new saw blade
- Step 6: Retract the lower blade guard
- Step 7: Insert and tighten the blade bolt
- Step 8: Check the Blade
- Step 9: Try a test cut
- Safety Tips/ Precaution While Changing the Blade of a Circular Saw
- Conclusion – wrapping it up!
When to Change Blade on Circular Saw?
To ensure maximum cutting power, you have to sharpen or replace your circular saw blade when it begins to wear out. When the cutting process takes too long than usual then it’s the right time to replace or sharpen it. Also, check your saw blade for broken, chipped, worn-down, or chipped carbide tips. Once you notice any of these things, then it is time to replace it. Furthermore, it is advisable to make use of a specific saw blade considering the kind of material used for making it.
How Often to Replace Circular Saw Blade?
Whether you’re a commercial woodworker or you only use it on the weekends for personal creative projects, the replacement of your circular saw blade is certain. Unfortunately, there’s no indicator light or set interval to help you know when it’s time to replace the blade. The longevity of your circular saw blade varies since it depends on variables such as the quality of the blades, maintenance, and how often it is used play a big role. Mostly, it’s up to the user to make the determination.
The saw blade is still sharp and durable if it still delivers high cutting power and no issue is noticed. But if the saw blade starts showing red flags like kerf tear-out, slow and difficult push-through, chipping, excessive burning, and binding, then it is definitely the right time to replace it. As a woodworker, you have to take a closer look at your saw blade to see if it needs to be replaced, cleaned, or sharpened. Having said that, let’s move into the procedure for removing and changing the circular saw blade.
Your safety first
If you’re using a powered saw, make sure it is unplugged. You can as well remove the battery from a battery-powered saw. Replacement of saw blade should not be done while the saw is plugged to a source or still has its battery in it. Stay safe! Many woodworkers find gloves unnecessary during this process, but I recommend it.
Wear your gloves as it helps prevent potential cuts. For instance, saw blades feature sharp carbide tips that can cut your easily when you’re trying to work on the saw. Ensure that you’re familiar with every word in the instructional manual that came with your saw. Instructional manuals are not only good for helping you with the assemblage or replacement process but also delivers useful information that is unique to your saw.
Steps for Changing a Circular Saw Blade
In step 1 to step 3 you will learn about how to remove blade from circular saw and step 4 to step 9 will teach you about how to install circular saw blade. Let’s start with the steps of removing circular saw blades.
Step 1: Locate the Wrench That was Equipped with the Saw
Most battery saws come with an Allen wrench while the corded saws will have an open-end wrench. You’ll either find these wrenches slide into a spot on the handle or bottom part of the saw while others are normally attached to the cord directly. Unfortunately, if you misplace your wrench, you can easily make use of a socket or an open-end wrench. There are adjustable wrenches too but the issue is that they are difficult to use in areas with limited space.
Step 2: Unlock and Adjust the Base Plate
But if you still prefer them, then all you need to do is adjust and unlock the base plate to the lowest point to deliver enough room to work on the blade bolt. After that, you can now lock the base plate. Don’t forget that the depth of the cut depends on the base plate. So, lock it well!
Step 3: Depress the Blade Lever and Loosen the Bolts
The blade lever is usually located behind the upper guard. The wrench should be placed over the bolt when you’re depressing the blade lever. So, make sure you turn the blade along with the wrench till it’s well locked in place. While depressing the blade lever, loosen the bolts with the wrench and unscrew it.
How do you turn it? Well, this is a very good question that most woodworkers have been asking because the usual lefty-loosey and righty-tighty rule isn’t always applicable on circular saws. Normally, the bolts on a corded right-hand circular saw will loosen counterclockwise while that of a left-hand saw will loosen clockwise. Better still, look for the direction arrow on the lower or upper blade guard for the blade rotation.
What if the saw doesn’t have a blade lock? If your circular saw doesn’t have a shaft lock or blade lock, there are other ways to hold the blade in place while loosening the bolt. The first method is raising the base plate in order to allow some of the blade’s teeth to be pressed into the wood piece or work table. The second method is to use some Voce-grips or other lovable pliers to clamp the blade in place while loosening its bolt.
Here are the steps to remove a circular saw blade. Let’s dive in to the steps of installing blade on circular saw.
Step 4: Install the new blade
Ensure that you do some check-up and wipe out any lodged debris from the upper guard’s inside. Furthermore, where the new blade will be fixed, usually called the inner water must be clean and debris-free.
Step 5: Locate the arrow on top of the new saw blade
You should locate the arrow on the new saw blade once the new blade is ready. The arrow indicates the direction of the blade rotation after installation. This blade rotation is also indicated by the arrow on one of the guards. Make sure you flip the blade to match up the arrow to be sure they’re rotating in an equal direction.
Step 6: Retract the lower blade guard
Once you’re done with that, remove the lower blade guard and put the blasé up through the base plate. Make sure the blade is firm against the inner washer as you put it onto the shaft. Then, place the washer right back onto the shaft and make sure it drops in place and tight against the blade as you turn the washer.
Step 7: Insert and tighten the blade bolt
As you insert the blade bolt, make sure it is well tightened. So, depress the blade lock button to lock the blade in place. Tighten the bolt about 1/8th of a turn using the wrench. But please, avoid over-tightening it.
Step 8: Check the Blade
Insert the battery or plug in the circular saw. Now, pull the trigger and examine the blade spin while the saw is held up off of a working surface and the base plate is still downward. The blade shouldn’t whirl and the saw should work smoothly.
Step 9: Try a test cut
Now, try to do a test cut with a piece of scrap wood to check the cutting power of the blade. If the saw cuts smoothly and effectively, then the work is done. So, that’s it! You’re ready to resume your woodworking projects in no time, now that you know how to change circular saw blade.
Here are the steps to install a circular saw blade.
Safety Tips/ Precaution While Changing the Blade of a Circular Saw
Circular saws are very useful in woodworking shops. They are very productive for making different types of cuts in the workshop such as long rip cuts, crosscuts, and many more. However, if you’re not careful while using a circular saw, you can sustain serious injuries. You must understand some safety tips and precautions before using this powerful tool in your workshop. I’ve handpicked some of the safety tips and precautions you must follow while using a circular saw.
1. Put on safety wear before using the saw
Before handling your circular saw or any other power tool, make sure you’re wearing all the safety equipment. Make sure you’re wearing good hearing protection. Also, some safety goggles will be helpful to prevent dust from ending your eyes during operation. A good nose guard or respirator will also help prevent your nose from inhaling harmful dust.
2. Do a saw check-up
It is ideal and safe to do a check-up on your saw before using it. Check every of its part to ensure they are in good condition. Make sure the retracting lower guard retracts and recover accurately. One of the most important safety features installed in the circular saw is the retracting lower guard.
What I’m saying in essence is that you should never make use of a circular saw with a faulty lower guard. Before using the saw, ensure that it’s in good shape and working properly. But ensure that the saw is unplugged from the socket when you’re checking out the lower guard. Also, remove the battery from the saw before checking out its lower guard if you’re dealing with a cordless battery-powered circular saw.
3. Learn to hold it appropriately
Generally, circular saws are classified into left-handed circular saws and right-handed circular saws, based on how they are held. So, the main point here is that left-handed circular saws are meant for lefties and right-handed circular saws are meant for righties.
Note that this isn’t a hard-and-fast rule! But it is safer and better when a right-handed person holds a right-hand circular saw. During the cutting process, when the left-hand holds the circular saw know and the right holding the main handle, both hands won’t have to cross each other.
It is dangerous and not ideal when a right-handed person holds a left-hand circular saw because hands will cross each other. However, if he/she still decides to use a left circular saw without crossing hands, then he/she will have to hold the auxiliary handle with his right hand and hold the main handle with his left hand just like a lefty would do.
4. Unplug the saw when you’re not using it
Once you’ve finished working with the saw, the safe thing to do is to unplug it from its power source. It is dangerous to leave a saw plugged into the power source when you’re not using it. An unauthorized person or a kid can come across it and cause injuries to himself or the surrounding properties. It is ideal to unplug the saw when you’re not using it to avoid any unwanted accident.
5. Only work with sharp blades
You should gently direct your saw through the cut, not forcing it through the wood piece when you’re cutting with a circular saw. Anytime you notice that it’s taking too much effort to cut through the wood piece, then the main reason is that your blades are dull. Sharp and durable blades will require less effort to cut. So, make sure you’re working with sharp blades.
Conclusion – wrapping it up!
As you can see in my simple steps, replacing your circular saw blade isn’t a difficult task anymore. This easy-to-follow guide applies to a standard, mini-circular saw, and a cordless circular saw. If you follow my steps, you’ll know how to change the circular saw blade like an expert.
Please, don’t forget to check out the safety tips and precautions. These safety tips should be considered before trying out the techniques. Also, make sure you read the instructional manual carefully before using the tool. We’ve reached the closing chapter of this informative article. I hope you were able to find good and reliable resources in your quest to know how to change blade on circular saw. If you have any questions or comments about the article topic, don’t hesitate to contact us. Thanks!
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