Assembled a machine that cuts aerated concrete like an oil knife [drawing and photos of the assembly]

When building from aerated concrete, foam concrete or wood concrete, one of the most laborious operations is cutting blocks. There are special hand saws. But, can you imagine if with such a saw you need to cut hundreds of blocks of aerated concrete, 50 mm wide for gluing U-blocks for lintels and armored belts with glue-foam (there will be a separate article). It is long and very laborious. Someone uses a reciprocating saw, but try using it to cut the block along...

When preparing and studying the theory before my construction, I studied a lot of information. I saw the idea to make a machine for sawing aerated concrete in this video also from a self-builder:

A plywood case with an electric saw with a chain soldered in it.

But I decided to make the bed of my machine from a 40x20 mm pipe. I drew a sketch of the structure in SketchUp to understand the dimensions:

The file with this project in SketchUp can be downloaded here

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Purchased materials. Next is the assembly:

I purchased three pipes of 6 m each. The pipes at the base were cut by 2 m each for transportation in my car. Unfortunately, they turned out to be rusty (lying in the open air) - they had to be treated with a grinder attachment. Spent a couple of hours on this. I don't have a welding machine (I don't need it yet) - I decided to assemble the bed into corners and self-tapping screws for metal. In addition, the design will be collapsible. For reinforcement, I later put diagonal struts.

He drilled holes in the pipe and fixed the elements through the building corners on the M4 screws and, in order to reduce the instability of the structure, reinforced them with self-tapping screws.

The frame of the bed turned out. Next, you needed a structure for attaching an electric saw.

I assembled and installed the frame all from the same 20x40 mm pipe. Fixation is still the same - at the corners. Next, plywood is needed for the countertop.

I had scraps of 8mm film faced plywood. But this thickness is not enough. I bought a sheet of ordinary plywood 8 mm. It turned out to be cut into two layers. Plus laminated on top - as a result, the thickness of the table top came out 24 mm. I twisted the layers with self-tapping screws, pre-drilling the holes (so that they would not split the plywood).

The table top should slide easily on the bed. For this I purchased furniture rollers:

I installed them in the same way to fix the tabletop on the sides. To do this, on the bed there is a stop made of a pipe installed with the long side vertically.

For an electric saw, a chain with victorious solders is needed. The usual chain in such works of sawing porous concrete does not last long - the teeth quickly grind. Where I bought the electric saw, they gave the contacts to the company, where a chain with the required number of links is riveted from the coils from such a victorious chain. I bought a new one for the electric saw: Huter ELS-2000 Modification 70/10/1

Well, the most difficult task is to fix the electric saw in the frame. Did this:

The bed has already been painted with a gray primer-enamel over rust. The electrical part remains - connect the electric saw for a convenient start.

I made a collective farm pedal from plywood and buttons. Those. kicked in. The cable is from an old power cord of some powerful electrical appliance (16A).

The pedal just lies on the ground. Later I will make a cover so that it does not rain if it starts raining. I did not cut the plug on the electric saw - I installed a socket for connection. The power button on the electric saw was fixed with ordinary electrical tape in the "on" position. We also need plastic covers (plugs) for the pipe - I counted 36 pieces.

Almost final look. A piece of chrome pipe for the handle was available. On both sides I screwed on the limiters to fix the movement of the tabletop. And I installed the diagonal braces on the bed. Now she has received sufficient stability - the legs do not stagger.

An important detail is to achieve the maximum vertical position of the saw bar. Here the position had to be adjusted, washers were placed between the frame and the tire.

I posted a video of the sawing process in a separate video. You can see here

While the chain is fresh - the machine cuts aerated concrete like a knife butter.

How long the electric saw will last - I don't know. I will say one thing that adding oil to lubricate the chain is pointless - the dust sticks and a strong abrasive effect is obtained. Even if the tire is worn off, you can always buy a new one. It is inexpensive. It's another matter if the bearings in the electric saw fly. Operation will show. According to reviews, its resource should be enough for sawing all U-blocks for jumpers and armored belts at home.

My costs for making the machine:

If you buy used pipes and a used electric saw, then the costs could be reduced by half. But during the period of self-isolation, I did not want to engage in search and travel to different places to select the necessary. I bought it where it was convenient.

And in conclusion - the price level for a similar factory-made machine:

There is a benefit. The reliability of my version may not be high, but it is simple and maintainable.

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Photos of the author (c)

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