Diamond Blades: Dry Cutting And Wet Cutting

A diamond cutting blade is fabricated with diamonds fixed in a metal matrix. This tool has many purposes such us to cut, slice, slab, wafer, cut-off, groove, slot, singulation, cross sectioning, and more. Diamond cutting blades can be bonded through a rim or segment, a metal core or with sintered metal powder. The diamonds remain in place thanks to the metal matrix, so the blade can live longer.

It is generally known that wet cutting helps the diamond blade lengthen its life, so it is the preferred kind of cutting. Besides, it helps to avoid the mess of dust clouds. But there are some situations in which you may need to use dry blades. For instance, when you find yourself working near an electrical power source, you must not use water with your saw. When the area is not safe or the place where you are working doesn’t have a water source close enough, you will have to perform dry cutting with a diamond blade.

Here you have some tips about each kind of cutting:

Dry cutting with diamond blade

Make sure you have chosen a suitable diamond blade for dry cutting. There are some blades specifically thought to perform dry cuts, such as diamond cutting blades welded with a laser.

Don’t put on too much force while dry cutting or the blade could end up damaged and overheated.

Cut lightly, check the blade and alternate the cuts. It will prevent the blade from overheating and spoiling. You have to let it cool with the air flow, that is why this kind of blades have more space between each segment.

You can dry cut with a tile saw blade but remember that the tiles might chip, so for this case we recommend wet cutting.

Wet cutting with diamond blade

When cutting with a wet saw, the water flow prevents the particles of dust from getting everywhere and washes them out. This is very helpful when cutting rough materials, that is why wet concrete blades always come in handy.

Besides, the water helps to avoid overheating, constantly cooling the blade. This way you won’t need to stop, you will be able to perform deeper cuts, so it will work longer and faster.

Tip: how do diamond blades work?

In the introduction, we said that diamond blades work differently from regular metal saw blades. Although we use the word “cut” loosely in most articles, the truth is that diamond blades don’t cut at all – they grind.

A diamond blade is actually just a round steel core whose edge is coated with tiny diamond particles, with a soft metal “glue” of sorts to hold them together. Earlier we said that diamonds are special because of their ability to scratch things, and that is essentially how these blades work. When cutting a piece of stone, for example, each tiny diamond particle scratches the stone as it spins around on the blade. In a matter of seconds, millions of these little particles have made millions of little scratches that eventually go all the way through the piece of stone.

We see that what was once a single piece of stone is now two smaller pieces of stone, and we say that the stone has been cut. But technically, no cutting was involved. That’s why diamond blades don’t need to have sharp teeth, and you can handle these blades with less risk of getting cut yourself.

Now you know what types of materials diamond blades cut, how diamond blades work, and why diamond is used at all. These blades are an essential piece of equipment for anyone working with stone, brick, tile, and other hard materials.

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