Circular saw is one of the most common tools that you can find in a standard workshop. Of course, it’s now common among home developers also. It’s true that if you’re new to this, you might be fidgeting on how you can use it.
However, with the help of this article, ‘How to Use a Circular Saw for Beginners’, you can be sure of safe use.
It does all sort of cuttings, you can use it to crosscut, rip, and make diagonal cuts. Moreover, you can find them to either be mounted or hand-held depending on your preference.
Table saw, on the other hand, is a good example of a circular saw even though it often makes longer straight ripping than the conventional circular saw.
Furthermore, circular saws generally are founded to be electrically powered. They are either powered by a rechargeable battery or an electric cord.
The amazing part about every circular saw that you’d want to find out first is the design, why? Because there are a variety of designs that you can find.
However, there are two major types that you can categorize them into. The two types that you can find the designs are direct-drive and worm-drive. These designed are constructed with respect to their functionalities.
The construction of products that feature worm-drive make them viable in cutting in tight regions while those that are direct-drive are often found to be of lighter weight than the former but limited in working in tight regions.
Therefore, the designs of a unit are the pre-determining factor on how convenient a unit can be used.
8 Things to Consider about How to Use a Circular Saw for Beginners:
1. Safety Precautions
- Put on safety wears such as goggles, shoes, hand gloves, and protected clothes before working in your workshop.
- Make, at least, two sawhorses of the same heights available alongside with the circular saw and the work piece.
- Procure the best circular saw. However, as a beginner, we’ll enjoin you to opt for circular saws that feature direct-drive, why? Because they are lightweight and can easily be maneuvered/advanced into any material with ease.
- Read every detail provided on the manual in other to know what each of the functions is used for.
- Connect the power cord into the unit and insert its plugs into a power outlet (if it is power corded). However, if it uses a battery, wait until you’re done reading point 5 before inserting it.
2. Markings
Please note that circular saws are used for cutting straight precisions on a material of a short length. Therefore, get your work piece material and mark the spot that you plan to cut. Indeed, use a marking material that’s capable to make bold marks on your work piece.
Use a pencil with thick graphite or a chalk as your marking tools. You’d need a measuring tool such as a ruler so as to make your work super-comfortable also. You can do this on a workbench or any flat surfaces for maximum conveniences.
Once you’ve done that, you can move the marked materials to a site in the workshop where there is an ample space for cuttings.
3. Preparations
While you’re preparing both the unit and the workbench, here are what to put in mind:
- Make the two sawhorses stand side-by-side to each other.
- Lay the work piece across the top of the two sawhorses supports.
- Make available the right blade for the material that you’re about to cut.
- Insert the blade as instructed by the manufacturer.
- However, before you use the unit, ensure that it’s properly cleaned.
- Switch on the power of the unit and be ready to cut.
4. How a Beginner Can Insert a Blade into a Circular Saw
Provided you’re a novice who knows nothing about the insertion of blades, then here are few tips for you:
- Know what type of drive your circular saw is made up of, worm-drive or direct-drive.
- Choose the right blade for the right task.
- Find out the steps that are provided on the manual that pertains to how you can insert the circular saw.
- However, provided your unit has a hex arbor nut, then you might need to get a hex wrench.
- Remove the blade guide that’s attached to the unit.
- Provided you use a direct-drive then you’d have to use the wrench to loosen the arbor nut by driving it in an anti-clockwise direction. But if you’re using a worm-drive circular saw then you’d have to drive the arbor nut clockwise.
- Snugly remove it and replace the former with the right blade.
- Afterwards, tighten up the blade onto the nut/screw.
5. How to Set and Position a Circular Saw
One of the features that you must consider is the measuring unit the tool uses, meter or inches. It’s paramount that you opt for the one that you’re familiar with.
Use the adjustment knob to set the position of the baseplate and the depth of the blade in the “kerf” of the material. Nevertheless, we’ll enjoin you to be conscious of the depth adjustment, why?
This is because if the blade is too much exposed, it might lead to an accident or even lead to damages on the teeth of the blade which can be as a result of friction.
So, always ensure that the depth of the blade is a few larger than the thickness of the depth of the material that you’re about cutting.
For example, provided I want to cut a wood which thickness is 0.56 cm, then the depth adjustment of the blade would be 0.76 cm.
You can use the central knob to do this. However, you can check the manual to know where you can adjust the blade’s depth if this illustration doesn’t correlate with the design on your unit.
6. Cuttings
What you’d have to do first is to lock down the unit on the marked spot. Then, pull the trigger after you had switched on the power and let the blade rev around the arbor nut (but that’s if it has one).
The amazing part of a circular saw is that once the unit is locked to the guide rail, you can comfortably make the accurate cut as presumed.
7. Safety Precautions While Cutting
- Ensure that the guide rail and the work piece are clamped to the work bench.
- Prudently hold fast onto the handle of the saw for smooth cuttings.
- Make sure that you support the work piece and the guide rail with one of your hands while the other hand drives the saw.
- Never stay close while sawing but give an arms-length with your body except for your both hand far away from the work pieces.
- Be mindful of the speed and the sound, abrupt change between them could mean that the blade needs to be changed.
8. Repetition
Remember that this piece of information can’t stand in the place of your manual. The instruction that’s provided on your manual is the true compass that can make the use of your unit absolutely easy.
In addition, you can couple that together with the information provided on this platform. And, you can use it again and again for your maximum productivity.
Final Verdict
The information that’s provided on this platform is viable and highly reliable in making the right use of a circular saw. It elaborated the systematic way of using a circular saw with ease even as a beginner.
It provided the apt detail on what new buyers should look out for while launching out for the purchase of a circular saw. At this juncture, we hope our amiable readers have been able to seize the day with the information provided.
