How find a shop with a diamond blade?

B

Bill Kahn

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I have a 6"x6"x8" piece of silicon. (Not silicone). It is very hard. A normal bandsaw blade does not cut it.

I bought (from McMaster-Carr) a diamond bandsaw blade (spendy) for my HF 4x6. The diamond cuts the silicon very well.

However, even with some ingenuity, I have not been able to rig up a mounting sequence that holds the 6x6x8 sufficiently repeatably and square to cut a 1" slice off of it (6x6 slice). The HF 4x6 is simply not big enough.

This would all be easy peasy in a larger bandsaw with a diamond blade. Would be happy to pay a shop to make the cut.

I have now called 20 machine shops in my local area (Charlotte, NC) and none of them have a diamond blade or know who might.

So, I turn to this forum. Where can I find a shop with a diamond blade on their bandsaw who will cut off a 1" slice?

Thanks for suggestions as to how to search.

-Bill
 
Bill, with the chance of telling you something you already tried, how about bolting a short section of 3" or 4" angle iron to the outfeed side of your saw. Using jack screws you can level and tram it. Clamp your part of that and the one inch slice should fit with no problems when cutting from the "opposite" side. I always wondered how a diamond band saw blade would work!
 
Just slap a diamond blade in a 10" table saw and whack off what you need. You'll have to flip it over to get the 6" depth, but it should cut fine. Use a thin no tooth blade for best results and less waste. You can get a blade for like $20.
Or if you have access to a tile saw - even better as it can be wet cut for best finish,
 
EDM is interesting, I know nothing about that but assume a conducive substrate is necessary? Silicon is semi-conductive at best? I don't know. What about a water jet place? They can cut glass. I checked the price of a diamond blade for my bigger band saw... yikes! :eek:
 
10" tile saw with water will work well, and eliminate the dust issue of cutting dry. I picked one up a few yrs ago on craigs list for $50. Mike
 
NC Rick said:
EDM is interesting, I know nothing about that but assume a conducive substrate is necessary? Silicon is semi-conductive at best? I don't know. What about a water jet place? They can cut glass. I checked the price of a diamond blade for my bigger band saw... yikes! :eek:
Click to expand...
I also first thought water jet. Went to a local water jet shop, they worked it out with the manufacturer—turns out no, they cannot do 6” of silicon. (Yeah, maybe some other water jet shop could, but this one seemed pretty good.) -Bill
 
NC Rick said:
Bill, with the chance of telling you something you already tried, how about bolting a short section of 3" or 4" angle iron to the outfeed side of your saw. Using jack screws you can level and tram it. Clamp your part of that and the one inch slice should fit with no problems when cutting from the "opposite" side. I always wondered how a diamond band saw blade would work!
Click to expand...
You know, I did try something very similar to your proposal. Turns out by the time I have rotated the silicon the four times needed to get the cut, I have still not cut through to the center. And the alignment of the four cuts is just not good enough for my need. But, given your enthusiasm for the approach, I will reconsider. Thanks. -Bill
 
Bill Kahn said:
I also first thought water jet. Went to a local water jet shop, they worked it out with the manufacturer—turns out no, they cannot do 6” of silicon. (Yeah, maybe some other water jet shop could, but this one seemed pretty good.) -Bill
Click to expand...
I don't know anyone who cuts slices off a block of silicon. That has to be for something fairly exotic. Cool. I like a challenge. im all out of ideas. I would think someone like Tom Lipton who is used to exotic one off stuff might know something. Since you bought a diamond blade I kinda figured the tile saw thing was passed over a long while back. Please share how you manage it, I'm sure you will.
 
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