The Importance of Dressing a Diamond Blade When Cutting Hard Materials

The Importance of Dressing Diamond Blades

Many contractors are now using table or bridge saws to cut porcelain tiles & paving as they are probably the best option for straight and accurate cuts. However, it is important to understand that you need to maintain the diamond blade if you are to get the full life and best performance from the blade. The reason for this & an explanation of how best to do it is given below.

As you use your diamond blade the diamond grit (that does the cutting) gets rounded over or pulled out which reduces the ability of the blade to cut. Normally the metal bond that contains the diamond grit will wear back and reveal subsequent layers of sharp diamond & this allows the blade to keep cutting. But when cutting a very hard & non-abrasive material, such as porcelain paving, the blade does not wear & if you continue to use it in this state it will eventually reach the point where the only diamond that is exposed is rounded over & will not cut. For this reason, it is important that you “dress” the blade, which just means that you must cut something more abrasive to wear away the metal bond & rounded over diamond to reach the sharper diamond underneath. Failure to do this will result in the cutting action slowing down & eventually stopping altogether.

How to dress a diamond blade

1. To dress the blade, just run the tip of the blade through the dressing stone once or twice. This can be done with or without water.
2. We recommend that you run the new blade through the dressing stone before using on porcelain, this takes the “newness” out of the blade and reduces the possibility of chipping or shelling.
3. Continue to dress the blade in the same way, every four or five cuts, if you feel that the blade is slowing then dress it more frequently.
4. Ensure that you dress the blade right from when you start to use it, do not wait for the blade to become blunt before trying to dress it.
5. All porcelain is different, if the porcelain is very hard & you notice the cutting slowing down, you may need to dress the blade more frequently.

Materials that can be used for dressing the blade

Dressing stones, breeze block, low strength concrete block, block pavers, soft sandstone, carborundum blades.

We also recommend

1. Allow the blade to cut at its own pace, putting too much pressure on the blade can cause the blade to overheat and/or flex.
2. Use clean water where possible. If it is being recycled from a reservoir on the saw, change the water regularly.