Walk-Behind Concrete Saw

Overview

A walk-behind concrete saw, a flat saw or floor saw, cuts straight, controlled slots into hardened concrete and asphalt pavement. Its main job is sawing contraction joints into fresh slabs so the inevitable shrinkage cracks form neatly in the cut groove instead of wandering across the surface. It also opens pavement for trenching, cuts out damaged sections for patching, and scores expansion joints. The operator walks behind and pushes the machine along a chalk line while a spinning diamond blade does the cutting.

The frame rolls on four wheels and carries a Gasoline Engine, a single-cylinder gasoline unit with its own Fuel Tank and pull-start Recoil Starter. Everything hangs on a Rolling Frame that the operator guides with a Handle & Controls carrying the throttle and self-propel controls.

How it works

Engine power reaches the blade through a Belt Drive & Arbor. A multi-groove Drive Belt set runs from the engine pulley to the Blade Arbor, a bearing-supported shaft whose flanges clamp the Diamond Blade. That blade is a steel disc rimmed with diamond-impregnated segments; the diamonds grind rather than cut, abrading a narrow kerf through the aggregate. A hinged Blade Guard shrouds the disc and channels the slurry away from the operator.

To start a cut the operator winds the Depth Control, whose handwheel turns a lead screw that pivots the engine deck and lowers the blade into the slab; a Depth Gauge shows exactly how deep it has plunged. The Water System then feeds water through a Spray Bar onto both faces of the blade, cooling the diamond segments and washing away the cutting slurry, wet cutting that also keeps hazardous silica dust out of the air. For indoor dry cutting a Dust Collection Port connects a vacuum instead.