Woodwork = Tablesaw Metalwork = ?

[BillWood]

Hello,

Have owned my Hercus 9" (SOuth Bend Clone) for a few months now and getting better at using it.

I cut steel with a hand held hacksaw or an angle grinder and a very thin blade.

I cut wood with either a table saw, or a jig saw or a bandsaw

I cant help thinking there should be equivalent tools for cutting metal. Have seen some bandsaws but they are incredibly expensive.

What do other people use ?

Bill

 

[mikey]

Hi Bill,
My vote goes to the Horizontal/Vertical band saw. It will cut most stock to size and a good table will serve you well when cutting shapes. The ubiquitous 4X6 saws from HF are relatively inexpensive, especially with their 20% off coupons. I happen to have a Jet 5X6 and would not want to be without it. When set up well these saws will deliver straight cuts accurate to just take a facing cut to clean up.

If you do go this route I suggest you join the 4X6 bandsaw Yahoo group and download the tune up guide by John Pitkin to get the saw set up. It is an invaluable resource.

 

[chuckorlando]

Chop saw is the cheap stock cutter after the angle grinder. Look on craigslist for a bandsaw. I got mine for 80 bucks and that 80 bucks is worth not listening to a cutoff disk

 

[Pat of TN]

Maybe I'm just crazy, but I can picture a very beefy table saw but with an abrasive cut-off wheel instead, or a slower SFM, metal-grade cold saw blade, with coolant... no such thing exists, I'm sure, but not a bad idea. Sounds rather diabolical.

To the topic at hand, unless you can afford a water-jet machine or plasma cutter, a vertical bandsaw is about all there is for cutting longer pieces of stock, or "ripping", as far as machines go...

 

[FanMan]

Metal cutting bandsaws are common. You can put a metal cutting blade in a hand jigsaw, but a Sawzall is better. I've used my radial arm saw for cutting metal; an abrasive wheel for steel or aluminum with a blade made for soft metals and plastic, lubricated with stick wax.

 

[ScrapMetal]

I, and many others here, tend to have the Chinese import bandsaw sold by Harbor Freight here in the U.S.

http://www.harborfreight.com/horizontal-vertical-metal-cutting-bandsaw-93762.html The same design is sold under a number of different names. I would think you should be able to find an equivalent piece of equipment locally.

-Ron

 

[hq308]

I'll add another vote for the 4 x 6 bandsaw, it's one of the best investments I've made as far as metal working equipment.

I also have a chopsaw which I used before I bought the bandsaw but I found I had a lot of issues with work hardening of the material after cutting. I wouldn't recommend using a chopsaw.

 

[TOOLMASTER]

great little saws..

 

[Baithog]

A purpose designed band saw is definitely the way to go for steel. A vertical band saw designed for wood usually moves the blade too fast for ferrous metal. Non-ferrous metals are possible. Ferrous capable blades are also a problem. Wood saws usually take a different blade length than metal ones. They tend to do that on purpose.

A table saw does just fine for aluminum. The box store should have 7 1/4 inch blades for non-ferrous metal. Size is only limited by the small blade. You could order a larger blade if you are doing big aluminum. The guys in the machine shop where I used to work ran aluminum through a really nice cabinet grade table saw with a 10 inch blade. Do not use a radial arm saw or one of those miter saws you pull the blade through. The saw will climb the work and all sorts of bad things can happen.

Larry

 

[Hawkeye]

An option, if it's available in your neck of the woods, is a portable bandsaw. It won't cut as big a piece as the typical horizontal/vertical, but is very useful. I have a no-name Chinese 4x4 portable and a Milwaukee Chinese portable 5x5.

If you're going to try adapting existing equipment to metal cutting, there are a couple of things to keep in mind. First, don't exceed the recommended cutting speed (RPM) for the type of blade and the material being cut. The same tooling materials can cut wood or various metals, but at considerably different speeds. Turning the blade too fast in metal will result in tooling failure, sometimes with sharp and/or hot pieces flying around the room. I have cut aluminum on a table saw, but I fed the work into the blade very slowly.

Second, it doesn't take much imagination to picture what could happen if the saw blade were to grab the work piece out of your hand. Counting to ten could involve taking off your shoes.

I add my vote to a bandsaw made specifically for cutting metal. Wood-cutting speeds will destroy a metal-cutting bandsaw blade instantly in steel. Ask me how I know.