What speed should you set for a band saw blade for metal?

Cutting speed is an important factor that, in addition to cut quality, also affects the service life of the band saw blade itself. Many band saws allow you to adjust the speed manually (tortoise icon = slower cutting; hare icon = faster cutting) – which is a major advantage that is worth using fully and efficiently.

what cutting speed to set

As a general rule, we cut soft materials at higher speed, while for hard materials we set a lower speed. The tooth of the band saw blade must have time to “bite into” the material and remove a chip (if this does not happen, the teeth will drag in the material, wear down, or even break off).

It is therefore clear that metal-cutting band saw blades run at lower speeds than, for example, wood-cutting band saw blades. Even within metal cutting there are differences – below we provide a table of recommended speeds that may help you with your settings.

The speeds given apply to bimetal band saw blades, because for metallic materials we only sell bimetal band saw blades in our e-shop.

And one more tip to finish – if your band saw does not have built-in coolant, we recommend cooling the blade during cutting (to preserve its tool life) manually using an emulsion, oil, or at least water. You can find out more in the article COOLING A BAND SAW BLADE.

				Cooling
Material group	Material DIN	Material number W.Nr.	Band saw blade speed (m/min)	Oil	Emulsion
Structural steels	St 37 – 2	1.1937	80 – 100	x
	St 50 – 2	1.1950	60 – 85		x
	St 60 – 2	1.1960	50 – 70		x
Case-hardening steels	C 10	1.0301	80 – 100	x
	14 NiCr 14	1.5752	40 – 55	x
	21 NiCrMo 2	1.6523	50 – 60	x
	16 MnCr 5	1.7131	40 – 60	x
Free-cutting steels	9 S 20	1.0711	80 – 120		x
	45 S 20	1.0727	80 – 120		x
Steels for heat treatment	C 45	1.0503	60 – 70		x
	40 Mn 4	1.1157	60 – 70		x
	36 NiCr 6	1.5710	60 – 70		x
	34 CrNiMo 6	1.6582	50 – 65		x
	42CrMo4	1.7225	50 – 65		x
Bearing steels	100 Cr 6	1.3505	35 – 50		x
	100 CrMn 6	1.3520	35 – 50		x
Spring steels	65 Si 7	1.5028	45 – 60		x
	50 CrV 4	1.8159	45 – 60		x
Tool steels	C 125 W	1.1563	40 – 60		x
	C 75 W	1.1750	40 – 60		x
Cold-work tool steels	125 Cr 1	1.2002	40 – 50	x	x
	X 210 Cr 12	1.2080	30 – 40	x	x
	X 155 CrVMo 12 1	1.2379	30 – 40	without coolant
	X 42 Cr 13	1.2083	35 – 45	x	x
	X 165 CrV 12	1.2201	30 – 45	x	x
	100 CrMo 5	1.2303	30 – 50	x	x
	X 32 CrMoV 3 3	1.2365	45 – 60	x	x
	45 WCrV 7	1.2542	40 – 50	x	x
Hot-work tool steels	56 NiCrMoV 7	1.2714	40 – 50	x	x
High-speed steels	S 6 - 5 - 2 - 5 (E Mo5 Co5)	1.3243	35 – 45	x	x
	S 2 - 10 - 1 - 8 (M 42)	1.3247	35 – 45	x	x
	S 6 - 5 - 2 (DMo5)	1.3343	35 – 45	x	x
Valve steels	X 45 CrSi 9 3	1.4718	30 – 45	x	x
	X 45 CrNiW 18 9	1.4873	30 – 40	x	x
Heat-resistant steels	X 20 CrMoV 12 1	1.4922	10 – 30	x	x
	X 5 NiCrTi 26 15	1.4980	10 – 30	x	x
Heat-resistant steels	X 10 CrSi 6	1.4712	15 – 25	x	x
	X 10 CrAl 18	1.4742	15 – 25	x	x
	X 15 CrNiSi 25 20	1.4841	15 – 25	x	x
Corrosion-resistant steels	X 5 CrNi 18 10	1.4301	30 – 40	x	x
	X 6 CrNiMoTi 17 1 1 22	1.4571	30 – 40	x	x
Steel castings	GS - 38	1.0420	40 – 60		x
	GS - 60	1.0558	40 – 60		x
Grey cast iron	GG - 15	0.6015	30 – 60	without coolant
	GG - 30	0.6030	30 – 60	without coolant
	GGG - 50	0.7050	30 – 60	without coolant
	GTW G - 40 - 05 W	0.8040	30 – 60	without coolant
	GTS - 65 - 02 T	0.8165	30 – 60	without coolant
Copper	KE - Cu	2.1950	100 – 400	x	x
	Electrolytic copper		100 – 400	x	x
	CuZn 31 Si 1	2.0490	100 – 400		x
Aluminium bronzes (copper–aluminium alloys)	CuAl 8	2.0920	35 – 50		x
	CuAl 10 Fe 3 Mn 2 F	2.0936	35 – 50		x
Bronzes (copper–tin alloys)	CuSn 6	2.1020	80 – 150		x
	CuSn 6 Zn 6	2.1080	80 – 150		x
Red brass (Cu casting alloys)	G - CuSn 10 Zn	2.1086.01	50 – 100		x
	G - CuSn 5 ZnPb	2.1096.01	50 – 100		x
Nickel-based alloys	NiCr 20 TiAl	2.4631	10 – 25	x	x
	NiCr 22 Fe F Mo	2.4972	10 – 25	x	x
Aluminium and its alloys	Al 99.5	3.0255.07	80 – 800		x
	AlMgSiPb	3.0615.71	80 – 800		x
	G - AlSi 5 Mg	3.2341.01	80 – 800		x
Titanium alloys	Ti 99.5	3.7024.1	10 – 20	x	x
	TiAl 6 V 4	3.7165	10 – 20	x	x
Thermoplastics	PVC		100 – 400	without coolant
	Teflon, Hostalen T		100 – 400	without coolant
Composites	Resitex		50 – 300	without coolant
	Novotex		50 – 300	without coolant