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Posted by Winston on April 20, 2008, 3:19 pm
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Michael Koblic wrote:
> I have an occasional need to cut stock of up to 2 inch diameter (or square,
> shapes differ). (...)
Depending on your budget, a 'cold saw' or 'dry saw' might be better choices.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cold_saw
I've used the commodity 4 x 6 bandsaw, but I really prefer the simple setup
and always straight cuts made by my Makita 12" LC1230 dry saw.
The dry saw is about as noisy as a chop saw but does not produce the clouds
of smoke and sparks. It produces straight and miter cuts in aluminum, steel
and even wood.
Obviously if you can afford it, a good quality metal cutting bandsaw offers the
best in relatively quiet cutting of just about any material.
Personally, I would shy away from the chop saws or cheap horizontal band saws,
though.
--Winston
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Posted by on April 20, 2008, 3:36 pm
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> I have an occasional need to cut stock of up to 2 inch diameter (or square,
> shapes differ). I have been thinking of making my life easier and investing
> in a chop saw. However, recently I came across a phenomenon called a
> portable band saw. I have never seen this tool first hand. I understand that
> it is capable of cutting up to 4 inches. It can be operated off-hand or a
> stand is available which then allows the saw to be used as a chop saw
> including cutting accurate miters.
>
> All I have seen is pictures of the tools made by various companies and some
> rave reviews of the same.
>
> Does anyone here have first hand experience with these tools? Can you
> compare them to chop saws? What are the benefits and limitations?
>
> Thanks.
>
> --
> Michael Koblic,
> Campbell River, BC
I use one of those cheap $250 metal cutting bandsaws. Change out the
blade for a bi-metal one and never look back. If somethings too big
for the band saw, like plate, I use a 4 1/2 inch grinder with a
cutting wheel. The chop saw will be faster and cheaper than the
bandsaw, but makes a lot of noise, sparks and grinding dust (both from
the cutting wheel and the metal being cut. For me the bandsaw/grinder
with a cutting wheel makes more sense.
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Posted by Don Foreman on April 20, 2008, 7:00 pm
Please log in for more thread options On Sun, 20 Apr 2008 12:36:42 -0700 (PDT), malcolmsmit@gmail.com wrote:
> The chop saw will be faster and cheaper than the
>bandsaw,
Not for 2" (or more) solid bar. The Milwaukee bandsaw goes thru that
much faster than a chop saw, and even than some horizontal bandsaws.
The difference there may have been in the blades, but I run a good
bimetal blade in my vertical bandsaw and it still doesn't cut round
barstock nearly as fast as the Milwaukee.
As Spaco noted, good blades make a huge difference. Milwaukee blades
are excellent.
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Posted by Michael Koblic on April 20, 2008, 11:06 pm
Please log in for more thread options I would like to thank all those who took time to reply in very helpful
detail.
The noise, dust and sparks consideration is not something I thought about
much. Even more important is the aspect of the uneven kerf which would
render cutting accurate mitres difficult and defeat the purpose of the tool.
I cut both ferrous and non-ferrous, BTW, and some of the parts are quite
small.
To summarize, the better options than a chop saw would be:
1) A band saw in a mitre stand
2) A "cool" cutting circular saw
The thing that puzzles me is that none of the major tool suppliers here
(Canadian Tire, Home Depot, House of Tools, Home Hardware, Rona) seem to
carry portable band saws. I shall have to travel further afield to see one.
--
Michael Koblic,
Campbell River, BC
> On Sun, 20 Apr 2008 12:36:42 -0700 (PDT), malcolmsmit@gmail.com wrote:
>
>> The chop saw will be faster and cheaper than the
>>bandsaw,
>
> Not for 2" (or more) solid bar. The Milwaukee bandsaw goes thru that
> much faster than a chop saw, and even than some horizontal bandsaws.
> The difference there may have been in the blades, but I run a good
> bimetal blade in my vertical bandsaw and it still doesn't cut round
> barstock nearly as fast as the Milwaukee.
>
> As Spaco noted, good blades make a huge difference. Milwaukee blades
> are excellent.
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Posted by Michael Koblic on April 21, 2008, 10:27 pm
Please log in for more thread options OK, here is a supplementary:
I went through a bunch of websites and found:
1) Bandsaws
a) House of Tools do a Makita "kit" (portaband). Our local store did not
have one last time I looked.
b) House of Tools do a band saw on a stand - it cuts 4x6. It takes up a
fair bit of space, but costs "only" $299.
c) EBay has a glut of portable band saws of uncertain manufacture - all
new, all about $60. Would this be a good option if one put in it a good
quality blade?
2) Dry-cut saws
a) Home depot sells two dry-cutting saws - RAGE 2 and RAGE 3. The RAGE 2
looks like a standard dry -cut machine. RAGE 3 looks like a common or garden
mitre saw but with a TCT blade is said to cut everything (within reason).
Either saw sells for $275.
The one thing that puzzles me about the dry-cut saw, and could potentially
be a problem, is that all manufacturers recommend to start cutting at the
narrowest part of the work piece, i.e. the opposite to band saws. They
recommend, e.g., that square stock be clamped with one of the corners facing
upwards, flat stock the narrow side up etc. I wonder how absolute this
requirement is: If followed, almost no mitre cuts could be done on anything
with square or rectangular profile.
Does anyone have a view on this (or the items above)? If I could not cut
mitres I would definitely lean towards a band saw, however attractive a
cheap dry-cut saw would be in terms of space saving.
--
Michael Koblic,
Campbell River, BC
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> shapes differ). (...)