Graham,

I have one of the Rage saws but run a normal tipped wood blade on it to cut alloy. I find the wood blade cuts alloy better than the genuine rage blade.

I used to have a conventional chop saw that handled alloy OK

Graham,

DO NOT use a evolution rage blade on a standard circular saw. Rage saws run at a lower speed and you risk bursting the blade if run on a standard saw.

Buy a rage saw, had one for ages and would not swap it, cut 12mm plate with it although quite slow, the cut was very good.

The blades themselves are the answer to the success of these saws, look on their website at the blade profile each tooth has a blank tooth behind it which prevents the whole area of the carbide tip hitting the edge of the cut, so they kind of chip away at the material, but do it very efficiently. Which is how they can cut through steel, wood ally, plastic etc all with one blade, and the cut is always cool to touch.

Graeme

Last September Aldi were selling a multipurpose circular saw using a blade similar to the evolution blade but smaller in diameter. I have bought one but not yet tried it on metal. See this thread. I have seen the blades on sale recently reduced to £4.99 in Aldi Ormskirk and Aldi Birchwood. (Warrington)

Les.

The Evolution blades are around 25.4mm, so may bushing on other mitre saws. Max speed 3000 rpm.

I got a Rage machine from Screwfix last Saturday. The blade safety mechanism was all bent up and it was impossible to mount the blade. Judging by the metal damage around the blade spindle mounting I summised this had been done at the factory (it had been severely beaten with a hammer). Also I noticed the infeed and outfeed tables and the round rotating table were all at different heights. I took it back and exchanged it.

I got the second machine home on Sunday. The blade fitted perfectly this time. However, the 3 table surfaces were again all at different heights. If I rested a piece of wood both on the infeed table and the rotary table then the wood was not horizontal, The work was inclined up at an angle, because the infeed table was lower than the rotary table by 2mm. The machine clamp only allows clamping to the infeed table so the problem could not be overcome easily. I took it back and go my money back.

I then went to Machine Mart to have a look at the display models. The Evolution tables all exhibited the same problem, to varying degrees,

I bought another make in the end because the 3 surfaces were all at the same height.

I did do a few test cuts with the Rage, but only on wood. The cuts were very good and the machine felt of good quality and had good power. I was impressed by this. It is a shame that the ones I encountered had not seen any quality control. I was in a rush to finish a job and needed a mitre saw straight away, else I would have waited to get a good Rage.

This guy gives some nice advice on choosing a blade (negative rake, triple chip grind) . **LINK**

Steve