Cutting Chooch Resin?

[C855B]

Happy New Year everyone!

I need to resize a couple of Chooch "cut stone" abutments and wing walls. Their advice is a hacksaw or band saw with a metal-cutting blade. For splicing I need more accuracy than a hacksaw, and don't have a band saw... but I do have a Micro-Mark mini table saw.

What blade should I use?

The resin is very hard, and I have a hunch it will turn any standard steel blade designed for wood or plastic into a dull disc in seconds.   Will the carbide-tipped blade touch this stuff? I don't have one yet, but don't want to pay $40    for a blade that won't work or won't last through the cut.

[peteski]

Hmm. . .  The Chooch stone portals and retaining walls I've seen were made of a lightweight tan-colored porous resin (looks a lot like spray-in expanding urethane insulation).  You could almost cut it with a knife.  Smells like mothballs too.

I might have also seen some more solid honey-colored resin which doesn't seem harder than any of the other urethane hobby resins.  Smells like mothballs too. I can't imagine it dulling a regular HSS blade.  But if you run it through a bandsaw it might melt and clog the teeth.

But all my Chooch stuff is at least 10 years old - maybe they changed the resin they use?  But either way, I can't imagine any urethane resin dulling a steel blade.

[C855B]

No, it must be a new resin, Pete. For one thing, it has no apparent odor, plus it's white. It's very dense... and heavy! I first thought it was Hydrocal, they were so heavy, hard and dense, but I could at least scratch Hydrocal with an X-Acto blade with little pressure. Not this stuff.

Anyway, I went ahead and tried what was on hand, the standard 230-tooth blade I was using for plastics. Ran it at the lowest speed, and took very shallow cuts. Anything more than "shallow" would flex the blade and bind.

I needed the precision since I was cutting out just a single row of "bricks". It worked OK, and CA was good for splicing. As soon as a couple of patches where the blade wandered are filled and painted I'll upload a pic. I think the end result will be good.

[peteski]

Good to know - thanks Mike!  I'm glad they finally changed the resin. The mothballs smell can be minimized by painting all exposed surfaces, but never really goes away.  Odorless resin is most welcome!

[davefoxx]

I just used an Atlas track saw to cut mine.  The fine toothed blade did a smooth cut.

DFF

[dougnelson]

I just used an Atlas track saw to cut mine.  The fine toothed blade did a smooth cut.

DFF

I also used a fine tooth saw blade.  The resin is dense, but it is still resin and should not dull decent quality metal blades.  It does go slow and takes a while, but you should get a clean cut.

[central.vermont]

Also to aire on the safe side be sure you have adequate ventilation.

Jon

[C855B]

Bah. This was the least stinky/fumy/whatever resin I have ever encountered. Plain ol' hobby-grade ABS and polystyrene are far worse.

[C855B]

The result, in comparison to unmodified:



I'm pleased with it. Here is the modified pair, more or less in context. Or at least proximate to their future location: