Hand held bandsaw

[HughF]

I have the Makita one in 110v, I wouldn't be without it. Bought used off ebay. The Morse blades are fantastic and rip through thick stuff. I regularly cut inch plate with mine.

 

[brightspark]

there brilliant on pipework on site

 

[fizzy]

I have the Makita one in 110v, I wouldn't be without it. Bought used off ebay. The Morse blades are fantastic and rip through thick stuff. I regularly cut inch plate with mine.

Which model do you have?

 

[Rig Pig]

They look handy but wouldn't a reciprocating saw be an easy option? The fabric maintenance team at work use them all the time on all sorts of pipework and steel and get neat cuts. There are long blades available for thick material.

 

[Kent]

Depends on situation.
Portabands have a good few advantages over grinders and OA.
It’s not hot working for a start.
Neater cut so no finishing work required
No sparks, dust, fume and low noise so much nicer from a ppe and health pov.
Blades last loads longer than 1mm cutting discs and used properly will out last a bottle of o2 or acetylene so cheaper to run.
If you go cordless your not tied up to a set of bottles or a plug and your not changing The battery every 15min like a cordless grinder.
There is plenty of reasons to have one they are great tools and don’t take long to master.

The grinder going flat is not a big issue with the right kit today . However I would say on ballance the porta band type saw will be similar in battery performance.. I have a 41/2" and 6" grinder, hammer impact drill, drill driver, recip saw in my site kit and they all seem to give similar usage cycles (perhaps bit less from the big drill) .

My main point however is a new and different tool takes time to learn.

Also the cost v benefit as regards profitability need looking at. I think we all have a few tools we have bought and hardly used. If the job makes the purchase an easy recovery though why the heck not if cash flow allows you can always sell it on after

I do like the ones where you can actually add a stand the make them vertical or horizontal but again it's a cost.

Site fabrication pretty much always means some hot work to the extent that 9/10 jobs could not be done without it. Then we have plasma ?

02 is always the cost item in ofc I haven’t seen anyone on acetylene in ages though and propane dominates now.. It's fast but its always out with the grinder after (often increasing time over a cutting disc) . Must admit if it comes to axing big bolts or nuts off its gas cutting a the way.forvme. Don't sound very suited to the job mentioned though..

 

[Kent]

They look handy but wouldn't a reciprocating saw be an easy option? The fabric maintenance team at work use them all the time on all sorts of pipework and steel and get neat cuts. There are long blades available for thick material.View attachment 151802

I use one a lot now. They must have loads of practice because they are often called demolition saws for the very reason of being fast but hard to get a good finish .
Too get cuts with clean fit up on pipe the guys have my admiration .

Lopping out old railings without sparks, staircase newals. Old wooden gates etc. heck I even cut a tree down with one

Great tool

 

[Richard.]

I would say on ballance the porta band type saw will be similar in battery performance.. I have a 41/2" and 6" grinder,

No chance. I’ve used a portable band saw lots of times and you get loads more steel cut per battery over my 5” grinder. It’s operating a much smaller motor at much less rpm. They don’t take long to get used to at all but again I’m all for learning to use new kit because it’s how we go forward and progress.
Rip saws are good and do a decent job but personally I really like the portabands

 

[Kent]

No chance. I’ve used a portable band saw lots of times and you get loads more steel cut per battery over my 5” grinder. It’s operating a much smaller motor at much less rpm. They don’t take long to get used to at all but again I’m all for learning to use new kit because it’s how we go forward and progress.
Rip saws are good and do a decent job but personally I really like the portabands

Its your grinder and its power source. Been there before my mate across the road has the makitas. Quickest too to fail in my kit is the hammer drill when working with 12 mm masonry drill ( less if it's bigger or working the chisels on concreate)
I am running a second matabo in the smaller 4.5" now and that really puts some cuts in with the thinner faster slitting discs.

I quite fancy the bandsaw for some jobs mind.

You mean demo saws? (reciprocating) rip saws are a different thing again .

 

[Richard.]

Its your grinder and its power source.

It’s really not. I’ve currently got a Milwaukee brushless on 5ah lumps
I had a metabo before that and a dewalt before that. Battery grinders don’t come close to lasting as long as a portaband on equal battery’s. not remotely close.

 

[Kent]

It’s really not. I’ve currently got a Milwaukee brushless on 5ah lumps
I had a metabo before that and a dewalt before that. Battery grinders don’t come close to lasting as long as a portaband on equal battery’s. not remotely close.

Only part of that is the machine the rest is the battery developments of late.
Matabo even do a full on pro mitre saw sat up off battery. Lorch with thier battery op on the micor etc

Can only say what I find from use of both grinders and batteries (probably had both in my hand same type of hours) . Let's leave it there because the only way we are going to sort this is you and me and a pile of slitting discs full to flat

 

[KemppiFrog]

I would have thought that abrasive cutters need much more power than toothed ones?
Anyway, first hand held bandsaw I came across was for wood. Very neat for the 'Japanese' ends on the shade areas I designed for a garden company. Too thick for a jig saw and too long and cumbersome to use a fixed saw.