Once upon a time concrete was cut by abrasive wheels, they disintegrated very quickly, were dangerous and wasted a lot of time. Then concrete diamond wheels changed the way we cut concrete and it became much easier. You’d look at someone like they were crazy if they cut concrete with an abrasive blade instead of a diamond blade. We think steel cutting is going to change in the next couple years as well, it’s very possible soon you’ll think of abrasive metal cutting wheels much the same way. The Milwaukee STEELHEAD Diamond Cutting Wheels for Metal and Stainless are that first step forward where the price we think might have hit the tipping point.
Performance
In Milwaukee’s testing the 14” in 25 Ga Steel Studs made 541 cuts with STEELHEAD vs 6-13 with an abrasive wheel. In a 4-1/2” test cutting #4 rebar (1/2”) the STEELHEAD made 391 cuts vs 6-29 with an abrasive wheel.
Safety
Take away the toxic abrasive dust, most of the flying sparks, remove the change for brittle abrasives breaking and flying apart, tool misuse from trying to get 1 more cut with a nub of a wheel and reduce the blade changes by a fraction of 50 the task of cutting metal with a Milwaukee STEELHEAD diamond wheel becomes way more attractive than any abrasive wheels.
Cost Savings
Using Diamonds to Cut Metal (and lots of other things) is not a new technology however the price has remained a bit too high for it to really be a no brainer. The Milwaukee STEELHEAD cut-off wheels have really made the jump pretty simple. You can easily replace a box of 50 abrasive wheels (claim is 75+ wheels) with a single STEELHEAD 4-1/2” 49-93-7805 ($34) or 6” 49-93-7815 ($49) which not only saves money upfront but thing about the time (and annoyance) it takes to replace 50 cut-off wheels. It was really just a matter of time before one of the major brands was able to get the technology & price to point it makes sense.
For 14” chop saw blades we have seen these now from Dewalt DW8500 ($199) and Makita D-42597 ($199) which have been very well received for those that have made the switch. We have not personally meet anyone who has switched over to diamond then switched back to abrasive (but would love your feedback if so). The Milwaukee STEELHEAD gets even more aggressive with 14” 49-93-7840 ($159) and the also coming out with a 12” 49-93-7835 ($139). These can be used on the lower cost abrasive chop saws like Milwaukee 6177-20 ($159).
We really think this technology is the future for Metal Cutting (as well as Metal Grinding). Over the next few years we would not be surprised to see similar accessories from most/all major power tool brands as well as many abrasives companies. How quickly will everyone change, hard to say but we’d bet if you take the $34 risk it’s very possible you might never go back. These new Milwaukee Tool STEELHEAD wheels are all in-stock now at Ohio Power Tool 800-242-4424.