fabricators chime in
 

which would you prefer if you could only have one?
a 14" abrasive chop saw
or a portable bandsaw

Portable bandsaw. oh wait, I haz one.

the bandsaws are nice as long as both of these tools cut the same size material.

A thread with a point. No? Chop saw then, as long as it rotated.

the point is i need one, but don't want to buy both. they will both accomplish pretty much the same thing.

chop saw worked great so far for me

i realize a chop saw works well, i've read that a bandsaw will make cleaner cuts with less noise and less mess. also will cost less in the long run due to blades lasting much longer than the abrasive discs. on the other hand, the chop saws tend to be faster and some say more portable somehow. anyone have experience with both?

i used an industrial band saw saw back in the day when i worked at a machine shop. you'd setup your material, turn it on, drop the blade down and come back later, but we were cutting much larger stock than i'd be doing

When you say portable band saw are you talking about a handlehd or a scissors type from HF or the like? I have the Grizzly scissors type and it is the most used tool in my shop. Never ever considered a remote need for a chop saw.

Here's what I have http://www.grizzly.com/products/4-x-...-Bandsaw/G0622 I was just in the home office showroom in Springfield today. Picked up a new bi-metal blade for it. Spend the money on the bi-metals. They last forever.

if you want to cut aluminum ever. the bandsaw.

this is what i meant by portable, plus i figured i could make a stand for both horizontal and vertical use.DEWALT Portable Bandsaw D28770 - eBay (item 280466141185 end time Mar-18-10 07:38:44 PDT)

i'm not familiar with a scissors type, got a link?

edit: nevermind i wasn't visualizing.....this was probably what i'd use more often

Link in post above. You can use it vertically like a stationary bandsaw as well. WAY more useful than a portable. They are good for contractors that have to lop lengths of pipe off, that is all. Truly worthless for fab work. If you are leaning that way, go chop if you can't/won't go scissors.

i'm sure i'd be cutting aluminum at some point. do you say this because of the dust or just cleanliness of the cut?

Abrasing cutting of AL sucks. That said, I do it all the time with 3" cutoff wheels in my air die grinder.

this is very likely what i'll be doing, thanks! i've read about the guys making rigs for the portables to be used that way or vertical, but the more i think about it, what will i ever be doing out there that i couldn't make due with my angle grinder?

True. I never use my angle grinder any more, though. I use the cutoff wheel in the air die grinder for everything-grinding and cutting. The little 4" angles don't do what the air one will. If I need more I break out the 7" for heavy metal removal. If you have a decent compressor, get a die grinder and some cutoff wheels.

I had a $300 Sioux die grinder and killed it. I replaced it with a $30 AmPro from Advance Auto and it has lasted longer than the Sioux so far.

no compressor yet, that's in the works too. it's funny you say that about the little cutoff wheels though. reason being is i work at a dealership and the techs use these extensively, yet when i watch them i'm constantly thinking my 4.5" angle grinder would be so much quieter and faster.

Quieter? Likely. Faster? I doubt it. Especially cutting. You have to plow through 1/4" with the grinder, whereas only 1/16" with the cutoff wheel.

plow eh? :naughty: tis my specialty, are the cutoff discs for an angle grinder that much thicker than a mini one? didn't seem so to me

No I think he is imagining a grinding wheel. You can get cutoff wheels for 4.5" grinders down to 1/32".

yeah for real, you gotta try one of these. here's what i use

it is probably ok with a super narrow cutoff wheel, but aluminum is known to clog up abrasive wheels and there are rumors of exploding wheels from it because of the increased friction (aluminum clogged wheels dont grind so good). But a dressing tool would probably deal with it ok on a wider wheel.

oic. Never used one like that. Should work fine. I just like my air. 20K rpm FTW.

I built this over the weekend (tow bar for a Geo Metro):

http://www.lightweightmiata.com/geo/tow/tow06.JPG

I pulled out my cheap ass HF chop saw and again remembered why I never use it. It doesn't cut shit. I don't know if it is the blade/disc or what but it just kind of grinds on metal forever (oh, it makes it really hot too). After 5 minutes of playing with the chop saw I pulled out my reciprocating saw (sawzall) and cut through the square tubing like butter. A band saw would have done the same thing but I don't have one <G>.


Oh, just in case anyone is interested. This is what I paid $225 for and towed home. It is a Geo Metro XFI with a rebuilt engine (XFI means it gets 55 MPG).

http://www.lightweightmiata.com/geo/tow/tow08.JPG

I'm assuming that you use that to tow the metro, not for towing with the metro.

No, as the picture clearly shows, I am hooking the Metro behind my Toyota Tacoma and then driving the Geo in reverse to pull the Toyota around <G>.

lol, of course the truck got stuck on the grass and the geo was called in to pull it back onto the concrete:laugh:

though i am wondering why you're having trouble with the chop saw, in my mind it's like a big angle grinder with a big cutoff disc. i've got a nice sawzall too but for the same reason i don't want to use the angle grinder is because i haz no steady hand

Lol dont pretend like you didn't just ninja edit that post after I asked the question :fawk:

Only thing I don't think I would like about the portable band saw is the limitation of about 5 inches of cut depth. Bigger ones (scissor?) are very nice and if you are fabbing will be awesome.

Chop saws are for quick dirty work. Perhaps you need to find an auction and go buy a used larger band saw. Use a sawzall for portable work.

It would have been funny if I did but I actually did my edit just a few seconds after I first posted. We just posted close to the same time so I never saw your question.


Anyway, I think my problem might be just a crappy cutoff disc. I wouldn't use my experience as a reason not to buy one.

Someone let's their wife run in SSM, or Robert passes for a lady. ;)

My 2 cents:

I use a 14" abrasive chopsaw to cut mostly all my straight cuts. My current one is a hitachi from Lowes...about harborfreight price but much better quality and I have yet to find a blade that cuts as nice or lasts as long as the hitachi blade that came with it.

Unless you buy a quality $$$$ industrial band saw, it's not worth the grief getting shitty cuts from a junk budget band saw. I have a budget vertical band saw and i only use it to cut firewood. Now those sizzer type horizontal ones...that'd be something I'd try. I can't see it being faster than a chop saw however.

I use an aluminum specific chopsaw wheel to cut aluminum without any drama whatsoever, but it looks and feels to be the same thing as a steel blade.

I use a harbor freight $10 4.5" angle grinder with "type 27" .045 cutoff wheels. Works sooo much better than my dad's air powered cutoff wheel and uses significantly less energy. I also use flapper sanding discs and the ususal thick grinding wheels with it...once those $15 grinders go on sale for $10 again, I"ll probably pick up 2 more so I don't have to switch wheels all the time.

How long has that thing lasted you? I thought really hard about buying one but decided to get a Bosch off ebay for 50 bucks.

they all appear really to be about the same. i've had my crafstman for probably 6-7 years, hasn't skipped a beat. i think it cost me $29

the scissor type bandsaws are the same thing as a horizontabl band saw. i've used these before. they are slow by design but you can clamp your peice in and drop the blade and let it go to town. it uses its own weight as you rest the blade on your material so you can do something else while it makes the cut.

will these cut 3" pipe?

I use it hard and it's lasted over a year, through 5 manifold builds and all the other misc things I cut and still feels like new. OOOHHH wait actually, when I first got it it locked up on me after using it once. I had to use the tightening/spanner wrench to break it free, but it has been perfect ever since. It's real loose so the gear head doesn't get hot. It's probably much louder than a good angle grinder but I always wear ear plugs.

Yeah we have these at work too, to cut bars and such. Pretty nifty. I find myself freehand cutting stuff that isn't straight (J-bends) on my chop saw so these wouldn't work anyway.

yeah no problem, but it will only be as straight as much skill you have. i don't have much so that's why i'm looking at a band saw

I have two of them (one with a cutting disc and one with a wire brush type thing) that have lasted a few years so far. I don't use them every day but they have done well on my projects so far.

Sawzall for the win. You don't need anything else.

Are we thinking of the same thing? I thought you were talking about something like this.

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/pho...3799/93762.gif

I'm considering either that or a chop saw. Haven't decided yet.

If you buy a horizontal band saw (the grizzly link) make sure it isn't a total piece of shit. I bought one, only to have it throw the blade every 30sec of cutting. I took mine back and bought a 14" makita chop saw. I like the size and versitility of my chop saw. That portable bandsaw looks like a pain in the ass to try and use and is probably slower than Hustler's mom.

For aluminum I'd like to try cutting it on my compound miter saw or table saw. I've used a jigsaw and sawzall with OK results already.

oops, sorry i was drunk. but yes that will cut 3" pipe, most will cut something like 4"x6" or a little more.

I've been giving that horizontal bandsaw some serious thought lately. There is a huge community of people that have bought them and modified them. There are plans to build a better stand and everyone says that with new blades it cuts through metal like butter.

If you get a bi-metal blade from Starrett, it will last you a year of reasonable use. I actually have had good luck with the Grizzly bi-metal blades, too. Just picked up a new one this week when I was in the showroom.

Mine is now 6 years old and going strong. I use it all the time. I use a small machinist's square to set the fence to 90* after cutting an angle. Good blades will cut straight verically. If one doesn't cut straight through, it's most likely the blade. I've had to use the standard blades before in a pinch and they dont do well.

Thats really good to know. I think i've read enough about it to just go ahead and buy it instead of a chop saw.