Cold saw, Brobo - $950 (concord / pleasant hill / martinez, CA)

[MrWhoopee]

He calls it a "chop saw", it's not. This is a precision saw with coolant.

I made my bones with one of these, cutting thousands of parts to +/-.005 or better. At that time (early 80s), blades were $130 ea. I broke a couple while learning to cut angles. I didn't tell Fred about the second one until I had the money to pay for it. I told him about the blade while holding out the cash. He started to yell at me and I withdrew the money. I told him he could have the money or he could chew me out, but not both. He took the cash.

Chop saw, Brobo

Bribo metal cutting chop saw conveyor. 325 mm high speed blade. $1395.00 Uses coolant for cutting. Has extra blades and two vises. On stand with roller conveyor approx. 10' long. conveyor can be...

sfbay.craigslist.org

 

[matthewsx]

Wow, that makes the one I just got a very, very good deal. Mine is smaller but that's probably better for my little shop.

 

[MrWhoopee]

Wow, that makes the one I just got a very, very good deal. Mine is smaller but that's probably better for my little shop.

This is actually a decent price for a cold saw (HSS blade w/ coolant). More recently "dry" saws have become available and quite popular. They have carbide tipped blades, no coolant and run significantly faster (6-800 rpm vs 100 rpm). They also cost about 1/10 the price.

 

[MikeInOr]

This is actually a decent price for a cold saw (HSS blade w/ coolant). More recently "dry" saws have become available and quite popular. They have carbide tipped blades, no coolant and run significantly faster (6-800 rpm vs 100 rpm). They also cost about 1/10 the price.

So what is the advantage to a cold saw over a dry saw? I know every cold saw I have ever seen has been built like a tank and dry saws look flimsy like abrasive chop saws these days. With cold saws using HSS (high speed steel) blades I can't imagine they could cut big stuff like a 6" round stainless steel bar... but I have never used a cold saw so I really have no clue what they are capable of? (please educate me!) I do know that is a heck of a deal for a cold saw that size! Are cold saws going the way of shapers? ... cool old machines that aren't really relevant in a production shop any more?

 

[MrWhoopee]

I'm not sure if there is an advantage of one over the other. I just looked at the specs for Baileigh cold saws https://www.baileigh.com/metalworking/saws/cold-saws?___store=us_en
I find that even the slowest speed (26 rpm on 14 in. blade) is too fast for HSS in stainless. We only used ours on mild steel and aluminum, cutting parts to size that would previously have been milled to size after bandsawing.

I've never used a dry saw, but if they can provide equally accurate and burr free cuts cold saws are probably going away.