Slitting saws - is there a beginners guide?

[TomG]

(12-30-2012, 03:56 PM)stevec Wrote: Tom, My reaction time, especially when I'm monotonously slow feeding by hand isn't quick enough to avoid problems. Let's just say it's my preference to use a key if the saw is equipped with a keyway. I mean the makers of quality machine cutting tools aren't stumbling around putting features into their product if it's wiser not to use them.
Just my take. Please don't consider it to be criticism, I admire the job you did and the skill it required, especially on the treatment of the last slot. I know that would have been my undoing.

Steve,

Just to note, it wasn't only the last slot that was a challenge on that heat sink. There was a bad situation where the two cuts joined at a shallow angle and the saw grabbed on several of the 90 passes. Luckily it slipped on the mandrel both times and all it did was waste a little of my adrenaline. Had it been keyed, something definitely would have broken, either the part or the saw. I hear you about following the manufacturers recommendations, but those are based on ideal applications and sometimes they just don't relate to the real world, especially my world.

Tom