New Sample Prep Saw Produces High Quality Specimens

The new Labcut 150 low speed diamond saw from Agar Scientific enables high quality sample preparation allowing the investigation of the structure of metals, alloys, bone, composites, ceramics and soft materials.

The low speed diamond saw is well established in materials laboratories for cutting and sectioning a wide variety of small and delicate samples particularly when the material structure is not homogeneous. It gives a high quality cut surface without serious deformation and with minimum burr. The universal design uses thin diamond/CBN bonded wafering blades to cut fragile and soft samples that cannot be handled by high speed abrasive/diamond cutting machines. A range of sample holders have also been designed for this purpose including a rotating holder for round materials. The speed of the wafering blades can be varied between 0 and 1000rpm for optimum cutting conditions.

The Labcut 150 is ruggedly constructed but attractively styled with an aluminium frame and uses stainless steel components for stability and corrosion resistance. An inverter controls a 1/10HP motor driving the 1/2in/12.7mm diameter spindle using a toothed belt. The sample holders are held on a pivoting arm which is counterbalanced to give low loading conditions on the specimen. The arm is moved 25mm/1in with a micrometer adjustment so that the sample can be positioned for cutting. A number of weights are provided to give the required specimen loading on the rotating blade.

Wafering blades of 3in/75mm, 4in/100mm, 5in/125mm and 6in/150mm in diameter are available for the Labcut 150. The choice of a cutting blade depends on the application. Blades come in three types: resin bonded diamond in 2 different concentrations, CBN bonded wheels and abrasive blades with aluminium oxide or silicon carbide abrasives.