Cutting metal

[s410man]

bandsaw-expensive and fairly stationary but accurate
powered hacksaw-cheaper than bandsaw but slower
hacksaw-cheap but slow and good for detail
chopsaw-fast and accurate and easy transported
9 inch grinder-can be used on peices to big to fit in the saw
plasma-good for sheets or curves
nibbler-cheaper than plasma and can cut painted or galved sheets with no mess
powered guillotine-expensive but can cut sheets repeatedly neatly and quickly
hand guillotine-cheap and quick but only suitable for 12mm ish round bar and 6mm ish flat

personally i have a plasma,hand guillotine,grinder bandsaw and hacksaw and find most jobs can be done fairly efficiently

the bandsaw is used everyday whereas the hacksaw may only be used once a week but then again the bandsaw cost 100 times as much

the bandsaw plama and hacksaw will do nearly every job if needed thpugh just maybe not as quickly

if i was in a big engineering company i would expect to have all of them to cope with each job as effectively as possible but just for cutting a bit of metal once a month a donkey saw will do it

 

[wilfatron]

This threads turned out to be quite interesting,not many people seem to like chop saws is this just because of the amount of noise and sparks they create? The issue id have with bigger/stationary things at the moment is space,until ive finished expanding the mini workshop i havnt got alot...i have to keep my welding equipment at the foot of my bed!!

 

[Luke]

do you just clamp whatever you want to cut,turn it on and it does the work itself? i like the look of them,and they seem to be cheap

Yes, it cuts using gravity to bring the head down, and turns its self off when it gets through to the bottom. I usually start it off gently by lowering the blade in to the cut for the first few seconds, then just leave it to itself.

More expensive ones are probably easier to adjust for different angles. Mine takes a little more effort, until I make a better, more accurate scale for it.

 

[philsmin]

I bought some box section years ago and needed to cut it so I could get it home, the place I got it from let me use their chop saw type thing.

It had quite a large cutting disk (bigger than 9") but turned quite slow, also had some kind of lubrication system, there were no sparks not much noise and the cut was really clean, slower than a chop saw but you turned it on brought it down to the material and left it to do the cutting....

 

[astro_al]

not many people seem to like chop saws is this just because of the amount of noise and sparks they create?

Yes. Other than that they are the perfect tool - cheap, can be carried, spares available in almost every town, single phase leccy. (Though they do go through blades the same as an angle grinder, so that's hardly a plus point compared to the alternatives).

...i have to keep my welding equipment at the foot of my bed!!

Jesus. Move.


Just to pick up on a couple of the points mentioned earlier.

1. plasmas can cut through painted or galvanized metal just fine.
2. I have no idea why anyone would recommend a donkey saw over a band saw, except that they look cooler when they're running. This is 2011, not 1811. Get a band saw.
3. Chop saws are NOT accurate. The vices are very crude, blades flex and slip on the surface before biting into the cut.

If you're literally limited to stowing crap under your bed, buy a chop saw and upgrade when you have some money & space - my chop saw lasted me a couple of years before I moved up and to be honest, I still think they're useful.

Al.

 

[Welderpaul]

I bought some box section years ago and needed to cut it so I could get it home, the place I got it from let me use their chop saw type thing.

It had quite a large cutting disk (bigger than 9") but turned quite slow, also had some kind of lubrication system, there were no sparks not much noise and the cut was really clean, slower than a chop saw but you turned it on brought it down to the material and left it to do the cutting....

A cold saw.

 

[eil]

I have the Rage 1 and Rage 3, I would buy the Rage 1 again as I have had a lot of mileage out of it, good for cutting square cuts on angle and box when you get used to it, the rage 3 eats blades too quickly for my liking. but for the price its been well worth it.
http://www.power-tools-pro.co.uk/ev...tipurpose-blade-54mm-depth-of-cut-p-3890.html

 

[pete23]

ive a chop saw abrasive blade type, used it once thats all sits on a shelf in me workshop still got the original blade in. i hate the thing expensive to use noisy, dirty.

managed to get me hands on a donkey saw foc, brill bit of kit, just cut up 800ft of box for some dog runs at a kennels

 

[Angusdog]

+1 for a cheap chop saw. Blades are cheap, they're noisy and not hugely accurate, but mine lives on on shelf and has done well in the three years I've had it. I'm only a hobby/shed gezzer without room for a bandsaw. Just waiting for my (lottery) balls to drop...

 

[wilfatron]

Yes. Other than that they are the perfect tool - cheap, can be carried, spares available in almost every town, single phase leccy. (Though they do go through blades the same as an angle grinder, so that's hardly a plus point compared to the alternatives).



Jesus. Move.


Just to pick up on a couple of the points mentioned earlier.

1. plasmas can cut through painted or galvanized metal just fine.
2. I have no idea why anyone would recommend a donkey saw over a band saw, except that they look cooler when they're running. This is 2011, not 1811. Get a band saw.
3. Chop saws are NOT accurate. The vices are very crude, blades flex and slip on the surface before biting into the cut.

If you're literally limited to stowing crap under your bed, buy a chop saw and upgrade when you have some money & space - my chop saw lasted me a couple of years before I moved up and to be honest, I still think they're useful.

Al.

That is what im going to do i think,not move house,just get a chop saw until i have the room

 

[wilfatron]

do you think this would do the job http://www.power-tools-pro.co.uk/ev...ltipurpose-cut-tct-blade-supplied-p-3891.html the dimensions it goes up to will be fine,its just whether its half decent or not

 

[IanP]

Don't forget the humble jigsaw fitted with metal cutting blades.
Its great for sheet up to 2mm thick and when cutting odd shapes in up to 6mm mild steel - though they strain a little on this thickness.
Zips through ali and other soft stuff.

You can spend about £150 on a good quality Jigsaw and the DeWalt 330K can work wonders. I had to replace mine last year after about 40 hours cutting intricate shapes in 4mm mild steel. 40 hours cutting is a lot of steel. I also used it regularly on scaffolding pole for a job. So box section should be a doddle.

Watch out for vibration white finger though.

 

[the snooper]

jigsaws work well just remember to keep the blade oiled the blade will last longer and will cut easier

 

[Ragnarok]

I use an ajax power hacksaw for tubing, bar, angle, channel, box, pretty much anything other than sheet, thats where the plasma comes in i used to use 4 1/2" grinder a lot for cutting stuff, not bad if you use the thin discs, but nothing like as good as the plasma and power hacksaw! i've done 1000s of cuts with the power hacksaw now and i've still not worn 1 blade out! haha not even close in fact and no mess though if i was doing production i think it'd be a bit slow, and i'd go for the cold cutoff saw and bandsaw combo

i like old machines and my old but like new power hacksaw is lovely, they're also cheap considering the quality!

 

[Punx0r]

I spent a little while trying to cut 6 & 8mm mild steel plate with a jigsaw using the fancy Bosch blades. It went ok, but I found that the slightest side pressure on the blade caused it to overheat (and become useless) in literally a second or two. So no good for curves, and even required care to keep it aligned when doing straight lines.

I ended up using a good old hacksaw instead. With a good quality blade I was going through the 8mm plate at a similar speed to the jigsaw (about an inch a minute).

 

[wilfatron]

I Ended up buying a rage 3 chopsaw after discussing it in this thread,the clamps they come with arent very good for small work pieces,and using the clamps while trying to cut certain angles causes the motor the hit the clamp so you cant cut right the way through.I got some quick release bar clamps which has stopped the problem.That aside i have to say i am pleased with the saw in general,it cuts fast and as accurately as i need it to,it does make alot of noise but with earplugs its not a problem.

 

[DuffyBB]

I Ended up buying a rage 3 chopsaw

Picked up one from screwfix the other day aswell, not used it yet though. Intending to use it to cut 40x40x3 angle for my car ramp project over the holidays though.

 

[Windy Miller]

Picked up one from screwfix the other day aswell, not used it yet though. Intending to use it to cut 40x40x3 angle for my car ramp project over the holidays though.

Don't forget your full face mask - I was using mine today, and some of that hot shrapnel went right up by bloody nose

 

[wilfatron]

Picked up one from screwfix the other day aswell, not used it yet though. Intending to use it to cut 40x40x3 angle for my car ramp project over the holidays though.

If you havent used it yet maybe you should get your money back and try machine mart,i may be wrong but i think it was about 60 quid cheaper there i paid 200 from machine mart,like i said though i may be mistaken but its worth a look on there website

 

[hareng]

For items that cant be carried or moved on to a saw i really do recommend a good repo saw with metal cutting blades. Mines a Dewalt 18V possibly best tool ever bought.
2" sq shs would be no problem, try that with a jig saw. Have cut cast iron variable thickness 3/4" to 1/2" with a cutout 14" x 15" oblong, quicker than a band saw would do.

Great for demolishing even used it to fit plumbing in to the kitchen cabinets, very versatile tool. Now its in to forestry mode