Starrett Versatix MP bi-metal band saw blades cut quicker for longer

While standard saw blade tooth profiles have natural stress points, the Versatix tooth design has been developed to minimise any stress propagation and to evenly distribute the cutting load. The profile has a variable rake all the way down the tooth to reduce vibration, and a shallow gullet to lower noise levels for smooth, quick cutting and the prevention of teeth chipping and stripping. This also makes the blade resistant to heat build-up, abrasion and shock, allowing faster cutting, making it the best choice for applications with intermittent cutting, including structural steels, ‘H’ beams and sections, tubes and angle iron.

Available in widths from 19 to 54 mm (3/4” – 2”), Versatix MP band saw blades are produced from triple tempered M-42 cobalt high speed steel teeth combined with a fatigue resistant alloy steel backing strip. Up to 27mm wide they are produced using a totally different method of manufacturing bi-metal saw blades; the Starrett Bi-Metal Unique technology joins two strips of high speed steel wire to a backing steel strip in a solid phase, using the principle of solid state diffusion bonding. Wider blades are produced using a standard electron beam welding process.

This production method provides a number of significant advantages, including a massive increase in resistance to tooth breakage and fracture. Blades produced this way feature 170 per cent more weld contact area through the solid state diffusion bonding process, ensuring exceptionally strong teeth.

Smoother, faster cuts can be achieved with multi edge performance and the split chip advantage to generate thinner chips that are quickly and easily evacuated from the saw cut. A heavy set (the distance the tooth is bent away from the blade) ensures the blade does not jam in structural sections, which can close up as the stress induced during their production is relieved. In tests, these blades have proved to be typically 35 per cent faster. Longer blade life is another advantage of the exceptionally strong teeth, with blades lasting an average of 35 per cent longer than competing blades. These advantages add up to offer a lower cost per cut.

A Company Director of a Midlands-based fabrications business certainly sees the benefits of the Versatix MP band saw blade. “We provide structural and general steel work support services for a wide range of ‘blue chip’ customers, ranging from BMW to Sainsbury’s. Subsequently, the work we do is varied. We have found the Versatix MP band saw blade to be extremely versatile. It really is a multi-tasking blade that offers very good blade life.”

Other successes include a decorative railing manufacture in the South that was changing band saw blades every 3 days. Now, with Versatix MP, blade life has been extended to between 3 and 4 weeks. A door manufacturer in the North of England cutting very thin interrupted sections that was previously changing blades approximately once a week. With Versatix MP it is now reckoned the blade lasts up to 9 weeks. While a Scottish engineering firm cutting pipe and structural steels that tested a range of blades from different manufacturers in an attempt to get around persistent problems with tooth strippage has found the answer. All of the company’s band saw machines now run Versatix MP and they report no further problems.

With a history in saw blade manufacture that stretches back more than 100 years, staff at Starrett certainly understand the needs of saw blade users. Experienced engineers and technologists, many with decades of experience in band saw production, combined with the latest in cutting edge production technology, ensure that Starrett blades will meet and exceed industry’s requirements time after time. And, all blades are manufactured to an ISO9001:2008 accredited quality system.

Graham Munro, Starrett Technical Support Team Leader, says: “We were very pleased with the results of our in-house tests of the blade, tested against key competitors and our previous offering in this category. It is immensely satisfying now we have product on test in real life applications to see that these tests were accurate, and that Versatix MP is offering huge improvements in performance and reductions in cost to a wide range of band saw users.”