The most cost-effective diamond blades are those which are designed to perform effeciently within a narrow band of applications. General purpose blades are fine if the user has no interest in performance i.e. life and speed of cut. This is often the case in DIY industry where wall chasing jobs are short-term and therfore the user is not looking for high output or long life. However, the Professional user is justified in taking a different approach, because the net cost of a job is usually the issue of most concern, therfore is makes sense to consider the selection of a suitable diamond blade under the following headings:

• Cutting Speed
• Life of Blade
• Cost of blade per metre

The speed of cut is determined by a number of things:-

• 1. The power of the wall chaser motor
• 2. The hardness of the material being cut
• 3. The “hardness” of the diamond blade

The majority of wall chasers on the market are built around 900-1500W mini grinder motors because they have been developed to cut thermal insulation blocks, manufactured from clay, which are used in the construction of houses in hot climates. The Laserchaser 180 has been specifically developed to cut any material up to and including mass concrete and speed of cut is very high because a typical motor is a minimum of 2100W and has been manufactured to drive 230mm blades. Because the Laserchaser 180 uses only 180mm blades, there is ample power reserves to drive the blade and therefore the speed of cut is very high.

The majority of concrete used in construction is measured by a hardness rating known a Newton strength (or Mega Pascals for the techie…) and a typical standard building block might only be 5N strength whereas mass concrete might be 50N after the required curing time has elapsed. It is simply not possible to cut such vastly different materials with the same blade – if you are also expecting good performance in terms of life and speed of cut. Because wall chasers
encounter many different materials every day of the week – the operator must consider blade selection with reasonable care.

There are many grades of hardness in the diamond blade industry, hundreds in fact, and it does not follow that the quality or life of the blade has anything to do with the hardness. Most professional users will have experienced a diamond blade which will not cut a material under any circumstances and it is always assumed that the blade is faulty, however the real cause is that the blade is simply too hard for the material being cut; usually natural stone such as Limestone, Granite or Flint but in the wall chasing industry – mass concrete. We have produced a specific range of diamond blades which offer the user the option to choose blades suited to their needs, assuming that every customer wants a job to be cost-effective and therefore the choice of blade matters.

The life of a diamond blade is determined by many factors – quality / height of segment / hardness rating / diamond content – and these factors can produce a wide variety of results if the material being cut is not consistant. It is usually best practice to assess the type of material which is being cut by the chaser and then attempt to match a suitable blade in order to achieve optimum life, as this will certainly affect the cost per metre of cut.

The DIY industry would tend to disregard the cost per metre because jobs are intermittant and therefore the cheaper quality blade will usually be acceptable. For the professional however, a quality blade is usually recommended even though the price will be proportionally higher, because the cost per metre of cut and the speed of the cut are the key issues which will determine whether the job is cost effective. Laserchaser has produced a range of blades which fit many different types of customers:- Chasing Contractor/ Electrical Contractor / Rental Company / DIY Enthusiast.

Hilti DC-SE 20 / Metabo MFE 30 / Makita SG1250 / Milwaukee WCE 30/0 Einhell BT MA 1300 / Erbauer ERB125Y/ AEG MFE 1500 /Sparky FK 302

9″/230mm blades also available to cut a range of materials

All prices are plus VAT