Femi 782XL - should I buy one?

[Mick Annick]

I don’t trust the scale marker at all, if I’m doing angles I always check. You’re right about the T bar too, but you soon push it aside without thinking.

Blade swapping is really simple, I get mine from Tuff Saws; I don’t do alu so have stayed with 14 tpi.

 

[Mick Annick]

And check the end stop regularly - however hard you tighten the screw down the eccentric stop moves, and you stop cutting squarely.

 

[Ubique]

I did check the angles, they were indicating correctly but I'd always check anyway, it's just habitual - like moving the T-bar will be....
The protractor is OK for an initial set point, as is the 45 / 60 Deg. stop. I suspect what I'll do is cut a notch with a thin blade and fill it with enamel paint once the silly little sticker falls off...

 

[Ubique]

Had a look at the end stop, I'm thinking of replacing the set screw with a flange bolt and probably an anti-vibration washer. I'll also make a couple of thin cuts with a Dremel into the eccentric washer and the base so I can see any movement.
Also had a look at the blade change process - I was disappointed to find the cover was held in place with Trilobular set screws, these are great for production as they are the 'self-tappers' of the set screw world and cut down the number of operations required to put things together - they're well loved in the automotive industry. However, they like to chew the thread up every time they're moved. I'll be changing those for some standard set screws as well.

 

[mangocrazy]

I've had my Femi 782XL for 2 or 3 years now and I'm very pleased with it. Next week I'll be needing to cut about 25 short (160 mm) lengths from a 4 metre length of 316 stainless 8mm rod. I've never had the need to cut stainless before, so what speed should I use for cutting, and is there anything different I should do when cutting stainless?

 

[Ubique]

Not had to cut any stainless as yet, the settings in the table on top of the motor seem to work well so have a look at that and apply a bit of common sense if you're between sizes and/or profiles would be my recommendation - I'm really pleased with mine BTW.

 

[mangocrazy]

The settings only mention mild steel and ali (well mine does, anyway), so was looking for some more material-specific advice. But having checked drilling speeds for aluminium, stainless and mild steel I'm still none the wiser. If mild steel has a drilling speed of 1000, then aluminium is 2500 and stainless is 300. Is there a similar disparity when cutting the same materials?

 

[Ubique]

The Manual is here https://www.femi.it/file/Home/MANUALI/6.90.17.98 Segatrici Professionali Rev.1.pdf
INOX (stainless) guide settings are in the PDF - I went for the 120ABS in the end but aside from the spring pretension, the settings appear to be the same as the 782XL

 

[mangocrazy]

Thanks for the link - it looks as if cutting inox is not recommended, as there is no reference to an Inox setting for the 782XL. There is a reference to Inox for higher spec models (presumably with a lower cutting speed), but not for mine. It's no sweat - I can probably just as easily make the cuts with an angle grinder and an inox slitting disc.

 

[Ubique]

Is it just a smaller motor I wonder? if it is, you should be fine if you keep the duty cycle down.

 

[mangocrazy]

Is it just a smaller motor I wonder? if it is, you should be fine if you keep the duty cycle down.

Without checking the specs I'm not sure, but I did notice that the cutting speed for Inox was 35, which isn't a setting available on the 782XL. I know that when drilling, using too high a speed causes work hardening of the inox, which in turn knackers the drill bit. So I'll play safe and not blunt the teeth of my blade doing something it really wasn't designed for. As it happens I've just bought 20 Flexovit ultra-thin Inox slitting discs, so it's probably quicker to do it that way anyway. I don't need absolute precision.

 

[Ubique]

Fair point about the speed range, I didn't look to see if there was a difference between models.