My brand new Milwaukee bandsaw blade snapped on day three

I picked up a fresh 18TPI blade from Ace Hardware last Friday for a job cutting some 2 inch steel pipe. It cut fine for the first maybe 15 cuts, then on the 16th one it just snapped clean in half mid cut. No warning, no binding, just pop and done. I called Milwaukee and they said it's user error and wouldn't warranty it. Anybody else had a blade fail like that right out of the box?

2 comments

2 Comments

finleyk871mo ago

Funny enough, I used to figure any blade should handle whatever you throw at it. But after snapping a couple of fine-tooth blades on thicker material myself, I read up on it. Turns out the guy above is right - 18TPI on 2 inch steel pipe is asking for trouble. Live and learn, I guess.

david_henderson61mo ago

Ran that blade way too fast for 2 inch steel pipe. What feed pressure and speed settings were you using? Milwaukee's 18TPI blades are meant for thin wall stuff like electrical conduit or sheet metal, not heavy pipe. If you were pushing it hard to get through thick steel, that'll overheat the blade and make it brittle real quick. Did you check the manual for the right blade count before you started cutting?