I've been using my plunge saw on the new kitchen build and with its track found it absolutely brilliant for perfectly neat cuts on end panels, shelves etc. However, I am finding that my blades are dulling after a time resulting in slow cuts and burning of the material. Am I doing something wrong? I wondered if it might be one of the following:

 

- Material - the panels are melamine faced chipboard (MFC) so a fairly dense material with glues and goodness knows what else inside it

- Speed - might I be cutting too fast? Too slow?

- Alignment - could the tool be out of alignment and hence giving the blade a tough time? It all looks fine, produces nice square cuts, and there doesn't appear to be much adjustment on this model (Titon TTB673CSW from Screwfix)

- Support - I've been making my cuts on a sacrificial sheet of OSB. The blade has however been set to only just be below the bottom of the material being cut (as per the instructions) and so is only *just* cutting into the OSB

- Blades - the two blades I've tried are one from Triton and another from Trend at £10 and £15 respectively.

 

It is hard to quantify how long they are lasting me, but I could be on to my third blade soon now which seems a lot for one kitchen...?

Particle board is bad for blunting blades , I find de Walt or frued blades work quite well, they are more expensive but you get what you pay fir. Ebay often  have price reductions on blades.

2 hours ago, joe90 said:

Particle board is bad for blunting blades

Yes, and even worse is 

2 hours ago, MJNewton said:

melamine

 

You can't really cut too slow. I'm guessing your using the right blade for the job if getting nice cuts. I'd be wanting more than a kitchen per blade. 're sharpening less than a tenner so buy a good brand. 

I prefer blade to well clear the bottom of workpiece on a couple of battens find it gives a better cut. 

Some particle board has all sorts of stuff in it including bits of wire.

4 minutes ago, Oz07 said:

I prefer blade to well clear the bottom of workpiece on a couple of battens find it gives a better cut. 

 

The cuts really have been perfect on both sided - like they'd be done with a Stanley knife. But do you think changing the depth might increase the life? The half-tooth depth was merely what the instruction manual said to do (to improve cut quality). 

1 minute ago, Temp said:

Some particle board has all sorts of stuff in it including bits of wire.

 

Whilst this feels like a contradiction interns, this board seems to be of very high quality (it's from DIY Kitchens for what it's worth) and is extremely heavy. No wire seen so far (or is it potentially microscopic due to the way it's made?) 

31 minutes ago, MJNewton said:

 

The cuts really have been perfect on both sided - like they'd be done with a Stanley knife. But do you think changing the depth might increase the life? The half-tooth depth was merely what the instruction manual said to do (to improve cut quality). 

Try it and see

2 minutes ago, Oz07 said:

Try it and see

 

That's a good (and obvious!) idea. :-)