Metal cutting tool selection
 

So I am in want of something that will cut steel better than my 7" circular saw with an abrasive metal blade. I am considering three basic options... A cutoff saw, a miter saw with an abrasive metal blade, and a table saw with an abrasive metal blade.

For about the same price as a cutoff saw, one can get a table saw with a 10" blade and the same HP motor as the cutoff saw. But the added bonus is the multiple angle settings and the table itself. It seems it would be significantly more useful than just a cutoff saw.

A compound miter saw would be really cool, except that miter saws are much pricier than table saws and cutoff saws for the equivalent size motor.

Portability is not an issue since most or all of its use will be at home in the garage. The thickest steel I will cut will probably be 1/4" and that would be rare. 1/8" to 3/16" would be more like it. If I build a cage I would want to cut something like 0.090" wall 2" dia. tubing.

Thoughts?

What are you cutting? Sheet type metal, square tubing..... I just got a metal bandsaw from harbor freight for $150 and it is bad ass for the price. Using it for my locost build.

Band saw

rharris which bandsaw did you get?

i love my harbor freight cutoff saw. it's the bomb for pipes. you can use it as a lightweight grinder too.

umm....how lightweight?

One of my projects this past summer was to design a tool that holds several bolts in place when we have to cut them to a shorter (uncommon) length for an order. It had to work with a hydraulic chop saw since we had to get rid of the older saws.

This was previously done on a Sabre cutoff saw...where the guys would try and use the blade as a grinder to chamfer the bolts and save a shop step.

Blade came apart one day (despite regular changes) and took of a few fingers of the operator.

So are you guys talking about the hand-held bandsaws like these?
- Harbor Freight Tools - Quality Tools at the Lowest Prices
Or a vertical bandsaw? I do not think I want a horizontal. I have used all three and I think the hand-held could do the job though getting straight cuts would be harder than with a cutoff saw or a table saw with an abrasive blade. One nice thing about band saws, they do not create buttloads of sparks and are much quieter.

Y8s which HF cutoff saw did you get?

the cheap one?

gospeed: very light weight. like deburring a 3" pipe after cut. hardly any pressure on the wheel.

- Harbor Freight Tools - Quality Tools at the Lowest Prices

When I got it a couple weeks ago it was on sale for $189 and it still is. I also used a 20% off coupon that can be found in the back of any popular mechanics or grassroots magazine. Out the door with a 1 year warranty was only about $200.

OK thanks I was looking at that one. So when you use it in the 'vertical' position, is there a small cutting table that attaches to the arm, perpendicular to the blade? If so that could be a nice tool to have.

What happened to his fingers after they were severed? Please make this a happy story.

Yes there is. I have never used it that way before, so I can't vouch for how well it works. Couldn't imagine it working any worse though.

Make sure to check out the yahoo group for some helpul tips/mods.

4x6bandsaw : 4x6bandsaw

In vertical mode it's pretty useless for anything other than plastic/aluminum with the included table attachment. What don't you like about horizontal? Set it an forget it"

He can still hold his beer up.

:rofl: This make me cringe. I had a carbide cutting wheel come apart on my once while running a Stihl gas powered saw. Talk about a violent explosion of high speed bits of shit going everywhere. Luckily I was smart enough to stand off to the side while cutting for this reason. It was a new blade too, so it was still pretty heavy and large. Lucky I didn't lose any fingers or a full hand. We found bits of it over 100ft away. I wouldn't have felt it anyway, after cutting through 100ft of concrete and going through probably 10 blades your arms get a bit numb from the vibration. You have to look at your fingers to will them to pull the trigger.

If buying a table saw I would want one with this feature.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7dl1Ba6U6Eo

Tex, I have the Grizzly model of the HF horizontal linked above. They are all the same. I've had it for five years and use the crap out of it. I do use it in vertical mode as well and it works fine. The biggest issue is that if you are cutting a long cut in sheet or plate, becuase of the offset you can only get about 3" between the blade and upper arm.

I have cut 4" solid round with no problems. The best thing that I have ever done is buy Starret bi-metal blades for it. Huge improvement over the supplied ones. Some of the HF stores have bi-metal also. Not as good as the Starrets but still decent.

I also have a little machinist's square that I use when setting the adjustable angle stop back to 90*. My scale on the saw shows that it is about 1/2*.

The other thing that I did was weld a 1" long piece of 1/4" rod onto the nut on the bottom of the angle stop. That way, it can be adusted from the top with one wrench. Otherwise, I had to use two wrenches and reach underneath to find it. Just a time saver.

ARTech I would want to use it in vertical mode to make small detail cuts, like a scroll saw. A vertical bandsaw is better IMO for that kind of work.

Thanks Stein, good information. I'm seriously considering getting this bandsaw.

OK I went to HF with the 20% off coupon in hand, and picked up the band saw. It was less than $180 out the door. I blew off the warranty. I Brought it home, set it up, and started cutting. Even right out of the box without any serious roller or tension tuning it cuts just fine; I am using it in the vertical config right now. The base is a little flimsy but it works and would be easy to beef up later on.

The POS blade it came with busted after one cut. I replaced it with a HF bimetal, also on sale. I'll pick up some better name brand bimetal blades to have on hand.

So far I have cut some 3/16" mild steel plate and split cut some 1.25" dia .125" wall steel pipe. No problem. It made finishing up my harness bar go pretty quickly. Between this and the MIG, I am now getting dangerous. And Santa might bring me a drill press.