Segmented VS Continuous Diamond Blade

Contact us to discuss your requirements of continuous vs segmented diamond blade. Our experienced sales team can help you identify the options that best suit your needs.

Diamond saw blades are available in a good range of sizes, bond types, and uses with quality and performance, which will vary dramatically from blade to blade. Whether you've got a tile saw, masonry saw, concrete saw, or other sorts of a saw, selecting the proper blade will assist you in getting the work done right.

With all of the various saw blades available on the market today, they are often overwhelmed when purchasing a replacement blade. To urge the standard of cut you expect with the simplest performance from your saw, it's important to possess the foremost appropriate blade for the project at hand.

Here's a glance at the various sorts of diamond blades available and what they're best used for.

Diamond saw blades are available with various rim or edge configurations, including segmented, continuous, and turbo. The diamond segments are fixed to the blade through brazing, laser welding, or sintering.

What are Segmented diamond blades

The Segmented blade gives the roughest cut and is usually utilized to construct concrete, brick, stone, masonry/block, and hard/reinforced concrete. This blade is typically mentioned as a dry-cutting blade. It can cut without water due to the blade's cut-outs—or segments—on the sting, allowing air to flow and funky down the blade core. The blade's segments also leave a better exhaust of debris, allowing a Swiffer cut. One of the risks to a diamond blade's lifetime is overheating, which affects the bond and may cause the blade warping. These blades are generally your best choice when water isn't readily available.

Segmented blades generally have medium to hard bonds for a variety of wet and dry cutting applications. While these blades offer a comparatively smooth cut with a quick cutting speed, chipping should occur. They're durable and have an extended blade life compared to other blades.

These blades are commonly used for cutting marble and granite slabs, concrete, asphalt, brick, block, and other building materials. They're available in a big choice of diameters from small to large and particularly dominate the 12" diameter and bigger market.

What are Continuous Rim Diamond blades

The Continuous Rim blade is most ordinarily a wet cut blade but could even be a dry cut blade. There are a couple of advantages to using water when cutting material: Water significantly cools down the blade, allowing longer life; it flushes out any debris to reduce friction within the cutting, and it reduces dust, thus preventing build-up within the cracks, which might decrease the tool's lifetime. The continual rim cuts the slowest of any of the various sorts of diamond saw blades, but as a trade-off, it produces the cleanest cut, which is one reason it's favored in tile cutting.

Continuous rim blades are softer bond blades used for cutting hard materials like tile, porcelain, granite, stone, glass, and other materials that will chip easily.

These blades are most ordinarily available in 4" to 14" diameters. The smaller, 4" to 5" diameter blades are often utilized in hand-held grinders, and larger blades are used with circular saws and tile saws.

Factors Relevant to Diamond Blades

The Hardness of The Bond

Segmented and continuous diamond blades both use powdered metals to carry the diamonds in situ. The bond strength will determine the speed at which the diamonds are exposed because the blade is employed. Generally, bond strengths are often soft, medium, or hard with the diamonds becoming exposed more quickly the softer the bond.

The bond strength is one of the key factors determining what material the diamond blade is meant to chop.

However, employing a blade with a bond strength that's too hard for the fabric will end in much slower cutting speeds and require more frequent blade dressings to show a subsequent diamond layer to take care of the blade's cutting capabilities. Eventually, glazing of the blade may occur because the blade stops cutting all at once.

• Soft-bonded Blades

In general, for cutting hard, dense materials, a diamond blade with a softer bond is right because new diamonds are more easily exposed, allowing better cutting performance. For instance, for the cutting of porcelain tile, a soft-bond blade will allow new diamonds to be more readily exposed while maintaining the optimum cutting performance.

• Hard-bonded Blades

Softer or porous materials like asphalt, green concrete, and sandstone tend to be more abrasive, wearing soft-bonded blades out more quickly. Hard-bonded diamond blades are ready to withstand soft materials' abrasiveness, proving to be more durable and long-lasting.

Grit Size of Diamond

The diamond grit size plays a big role in the cutting quality of the blade. The surface finish, smoothness, and amount of chipping are all affected by the diamond grit size. For smoother cuts, the finer the diamond grit size is suitable, and therefore the rougher the diamond grit, the coarser the resulting cut. Coarse diamond grits are frequently used when a smooth finish and chipping isn't a priority.

Diamond Concentration

Diamond concentration affects the cutting skills of diamond blades. The bond type and diamond grit size are both affecting factors for the diamond concentration. Having an appropriate diamond concentration will leave the utmost use of the diamonds and bond. Having diamond concentrations too high for the fabric being cut may result in diamonds slump the blade prematurely. Conversely, having diamond concentration too low may result in reduced cutting proficiency.

Diamond concentration typically ranges from 25% to 75%. Generally, because the diamond concentration increases, the blade's cutting efficiency and sharpness decrease. Higher diamond concentrations will decrease every individual diamond particle's impact, reducing the cutting efficiency and extending the blade's life.

With so much choice out there, finding the right diamond blade for the job can be a minefield. Not only do you have to consider the material you’re cutting and machine to be used but also the type of rim, as this affects how the blade cuts and whether it will meet your needs. If you use the incorrect blade for the material it can cause the blade to fail to cut properly.

Norton Clipper diamond blades come with three different types of cutting rims; Segmented, Flat Continuous Rim and Turbo Corrugated Continuous Rim. You can then find the right blade based on the material you’re cutting by following our colour coded packaging and machine guide icons.

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Why use segmented blades?

• The gullets (space between the segments) help to extract cutting dust and cool the blade.
• They also offer the blade a little flexibility to prevent cracks developing when used in demanding conditions.
• These blades offer the roughest cut and are used when dry and wet cutting.
• The more abrasive material you’re cutting, the wider the slot should be.
• Segmented blades are ideal for concrete, reinforced concrete, asphalt and all building materials.

 

These are some of our blades that are segmented based on material:

Beton/Concrete (Red)

Extreme Beton Silencio

Want more information on 4 inch diamond cup grinding wheel? Feel free to contact us.

With up to 17mm high segments and a bespoke specification for each application, Norton Clipper Silencio is our quietest diamond blade, reducing noise by up to 30x (-13 dB) compared to conventional blades when used on concrete, reinforced concrete, granite and building materials, while achieving a fast, efficient cut. ORDER TODAY

Universal (Blue)

Extreme Universal Laser

Up to 15mm high segments provide long life and fast cut on all building materials. The Duo segments (on 300mm and 350mm diameter blades only) provide high cutting speed, improved comfort and low vibration levels allowing you to get the job done faster. It also reduces heat and cools the blade. Arrow shape gullet slots quickly remove debris from the blade surface and indicate the rotation direction. Laser welded segments ensure optimum safety against segment loss. ORDER TODAY                     

Asphalt (Black)

Pro Asphalt

Laser welded blade for intensive use and long life on asphalt, asphalt over concrete, green concrete and abrasive building materials. It features patented depth indicator for blade life monitoring and indication of cutting direction (up to diameter 450mm). ORDER TODAY

Natural Stone (Turquoise)

Extreme Granite

15mm high laser welded segments uses exclusive ‘arrow’ shaped gullet slots. The ‘duo’ shaped trapezoidal segments produced with i-HD™ technology offer longer life, excellent cutting speed, improved comfort and increased safety. ORDER TODAY

4x4 Explorer (Grey)

Pro 4x4 Explorer

Up to 12mm segment height for more cuts per wheel. The trapezoid shaped segments give a comfortable, smoother cut with lower vibration levels. This is a multipurpose blade to cut all materials, from hardest concrete and granite to abrasive asphalts and sandstones. ORDER TODAY             

Refractory Materials (Orange)

Extreme RC540

A laser-welded diamond blade with wide-gullet geometry for use on Oxydes – Zirconia, Silica, high content aluminia >70% - Mullite.  ORDER TODAY

 

Why use flat continuous rim blades?

Why use flat continuous rim blades?

• Continuous rim blades are required for a good quality finish and longer life rather than quicker cuts.
• They are mainly used when wet cutting to cool down the blade and flush out debris and prevent dust.
• The flat continuous surface means there are no shocks against the material that could create chips in the work piece.
• This type of blade is particularly suitable for tiles, especially roof tiles, that need a perfect finish.

 

These are the blades that have flat continuous rim segments based on material:

Universal (Blue)

Pro Universal Turbo

With a 12mm high continuous rim blade, it’s ideal for use on general building materials and stone, particularly roof tiles, when either wet or dry cutting. Reinforced flanges around the bore ensure rigidity and straight cutting under the most demanding conditions. ORDER TODAY

Ceramic (Green)

Classic Ceramic

A value for money continuous rimmed diamond blade for dry or wet cutting of medium hard tiles and ceramic tiles. ORDER TODAY     

 

Why use turbo corrugated continuous rim blades?

Why use turbo corrugated continuous rim blades?

• When the material is extremely hard a more aggressive cut is needed, therefore a corrugated continuous rim is the best fit.
• This design gives small shocks to the workpiece when tackling the hardest tiles and building materials.
• It is designed to cut faster in wet and dry applications.
• Blades with turbo corrugated continuous rim are suitable for ceramic and porcelain tiles, granite, roof tiles and other hard materials.

 

These are the blades that have flat continuous rim segments based on material:

Universal (Blue)

Extreme Universal Turbo

The corrugated continuous rim enables smooth, high quality cutting and ease of use. It also cuts more aggressively on hard materials. The 12mm impregnated diamond segments provide very long life. Ideal for use on a very wide range of medium to hard construction materials, block paviours, granite, natural stone, roof tiles and hard tiles. ORDER TODAY 

Avoiding Segment Loss

Users may occasionally come across instances of segment loss due to not using the equipment correctly. Here are some typical examples of what causes segment loss and how it be avoided.

Possible Cause Solution     The material and/or saw was not held firmly, which caused the blade to twist or jam in the cut.  Hold/support material or saw firmly. Not sawing in a straight line with overcorrecting caused the blade to twist or jam in the cut.  Properly align the saw to allow straight cutting, avoid twisting the blade in the cut.  Defective flanges which cause the blade to flutter in the cut or fail to properly support the blade in perfect alignment. Clean foreign material from flange surfaces, or replace flanges if they are under manufacturer’s recommended diameter or are bent or deformed.  Blade is too hard for material being cut causing the segment to glaze over. The segment separated due to impacts or fatigue.  Use the proper blade specification for material being cut. Use our blade selector tool to find the right blade. Overheating due to inadequate supply of coolant (water or air). This usually comes with discolorations on the core in the area of segment loss. Overheating of blades may cause core cracks or segment loss.  If wet cutting, provide adequate water flow on both sides of the blade.
If dry cutting, periodically allow blades to run out of the cut. The blades will cool in a few seconds so that sawing may continue.  Under cutting on steel centre. Blades centres suffer undercutting from abrasive material or inadequate water supply. Use undercutting protection or increase water flow. If in doubt, return blade for inspection.

For more information about selecting the right diamond blade for your material, visit our Diamond Blades Guide or get in touch.

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