Metal cutting saws at reasonable prices?

[JimCrawford]

Does anyone have any suggestions here?

A side question: can one use abrasive cut off wheels with a hand held drill?

Thanks,
Jim

[mike-hr]

I've been using a 50+ year old 8" Wells horizontal cut-off bandsaw for 15 years now. It just keeps going and going with no complaints. I'm getting a year and a half out of one blade, it cuts tubing, angle, flat, railroad track, etc. I paid $900 for it in 1990, it's been a very reasonable saw thru the years. I know a couple guys with the little import saws, the guide wheels don't guide very well, and the blades like to pop off when the see a load.

I've never used an abrasive cutoff wheel in a drill. I buy SAIT .045" wheels for the 4-1/2" grinder at the welding supply and use them a lot in the shop, and portable fabricating

[Ed Thomas]

Jim: It sounds like you are dealing with relatively small stuff, so you might consider a Porta-band, or similar portable bandsaw. After I got my Milwaukee portaband, I couldn't imagine life without it. Porter Cable is probably pretty decent also. They are expensive, but well worth it.

I actually had fairly good luck with the small Harbor Freight bandsaw. I bought it used from somebody for something like $30 and used it for years. When I bought a bigger saw, I just passed it on to another blacksmith who is still using it troublefree.

No, don't use an abrasive cutoff wheel in a handheld drill. There are all sorts of reasons not to:
1) Abrasives are bad. Drills aren't usually made expecting to live in a grit environment.
2) Drills are made to be loaded inline with the chuck, not loaded perpendicular. You can wear a drill out fairly quickly loading it from the side.
3) The disks are made to cut at high speed. At lower speeds, the abrasive grit can clog and load up rather than wear away as it is supposed to do.
4) The shape of a typical hand drill does not give very good control of a disk the way a typical hand grinder does.
5) Disk grinders are not very expensive; pretty much the same as portable drills.

Either way, I MUCH prefer to use a bandsaw over a grinder whenever possible. The noise is less and the cut is better.

[StPat]

Check out this site Hawk Saw Blades. They sell circular blades designed for metal, watch the video, guy is cutting channel like a 2X4.
Patrick

[JerryCarroll]

I can't imagine trying to get much cutting done without the Greenlee porta-band I have had for many years. It's 2 speed and I use a wax I made from bees wax and tallow for lube. Cutting oil is a no-no on pb's I've been told and I had the wax handy for loading my 44. black powder revolver. Bi-metal blades are a little pricey to order but are worth the cost.

[Daryl]

There are chop-saws that use a metal (non-abrasive) saw blade. However, the ones I have seen are made for those type of blades, as the speed at which they rotate is much slower. Over ten years ago, I purchased a 4 1/2" capacity bandsaw on sale at Princess Auto (probably be the same style at Harbour Freight), I spent about two hours making small adjustments and smoothing things off with a hand file. Since then, all I have to do is replace the odd blade. I invested $175 and got my money's worth out of it.

[aametalmaster]

I also would go with a 4 1/2 x 6 bandsaw, they can be had for under 200 bucks. I cut thousands of pieces a month in mine. Here is a link for some of the oddball stuff i have cut and someday you may need to improvise to cut...Bob sawking : 4x6 Bandsaw Cutting Tips!

[Rich Hale]

FRom your thoughts about a blade for use in a drill let me suggest a low budget idea. A 4 1/2" angle grinder from Harbor Freight is under $20 on sale and sometimes under $10, They will cut with the thin abrasive cut off wheels. They are not good quality machines and don't expect them to last a long time. I have one that I have used a lot and it sounds like the bearings aremade from granite, It is not even ten years old and expect it to go belly up any day now.

[Dodge]

The chief reason that drills don't make good cutters with abrasive wheels is that they just don't turn fast enough. Wheels and grinding stones will wear out faster and cut less at too slow a speed.

[the_sandy_creek_forge]

Three (3) 4.5" angle grinders on sale at harbor freight are roughly $60 (USD). A brand spankin' new Milwaukee 4.5 inch angle grinder at one of the big box stores is $99.91 (USD). For a difference of roughly $40 (USD). Set up two of the HF grinders with grinding disks and one with a cutting disk. When grinding, if the grinder starts to get warm, set it down and pick of the cool one. As long as you are using them for weekend warrior duty cycles, and keep the bearings cool, the little grinders will last AMAZINGLY long. AND with this set up you don't have to fumble around changing wheels if you need to nip off a couple piece's of 3/8ths or the like.

Thank you Mr. Wright for that link. You will find that I have just joined the group!

-Aaron @ the SCF

Addendum: If your are unwed, without house payments, truck payments, and college loan payments OR if you are doing this full time, buy three Milwaukee grinders instead :)

[rstegman]

My brother built a power hacksaw he found plans for in a book. It is basically a saw connected to an arm connected to the shaft. (think of the arm of a steam engine) He has it set to cut on the back stroke, when the spinning arm points down. With just a bit of cuttng oil, it will eat stainless or any other kind of metal like nothing. We were cutting a four inch round stock and it just kept cutting on its own when we were doing other things. It cut through in about an hour, without a lot of noise, or any sparks and the surface was fairly clean. My brother has to square things up, otherwise it would be a square end too.

He tried that same bar with a henrod torch and a cut off saw and was not getting results worth the effort.

[Nomad]

To stay on the cheap, I use the $30 circular saw with 7" abrasive wheels. Works well for me because I need the saw to cut wood around the house as well and just change out the blades. By far no the best but not a lot of cash tied up in it.

[Don A]

I dropped about $100 on a new Ryobi abrasive chop saw a couple years ago.

It's noisy, stinky, and sparky:confused:.

But... it'll go thru 2 or 3 inches of steel in a couple minutes, thru 1/2" in seconds. The wheels take a lot of abuse before needing replaced, and you can get good ones for under $6.00.

Not a precision tool, but I like mine.

For plate and other pieces that won't fit in the chopper, I normally use the 4 1/2" abrasive wheels for my angle grinder.

Don't touch either one of these without good glasses or goggles.

Don

[Jacob]

For small items I often use a pair of 30" bolt cutters. It's not the best cut, but it quickly disappears when forging or chamfering. They cost $15 new at a flea market.

For a cheap, quality cut-off saw, I'm picking up an old power hacksaw this weekend. For a full time shop with lots of jobs, you should put up the money for a quality bandsaw. For a hobby shop like mine, the power hacksaw should be awesome for the price. Look for an old, heavy model (the seller of mine estimates ~300 lbs, we'll see on Saturday). The rigidity and simplicity will beat any new bandsaw for the price, and many have built-in coolant pumps. Mine wont clamp at angles (without a jig), but many cheap bandsaws won't cut square, so it's a tradeoff. If you don't mind old, heavy, industrial equipment in your shop, keep an eye out for quality old equipment that still runs rather than spending more money on new junk of poor quality.

[Dodge]

For quick, down, and dirty metal cutting, nothing beats the abrasive cut-off saw. When cutting square or angle, adjust your vise so blade will start on a corner. It starts cutting quicker and is less bind on the motor than trying to cut through the middle of the flat

[rthibeau]

I have an old Bainbridge 4 x 6" horizontal bandsaw that runs well, but needs adjusting to keep a straight and square cut. I bought a new saw instead. It's in NW Michigan, Traverse City, if anyone is interested in picking it up for cheap ($50)...shipping costs are probably not worth it.