Metal Cutting Power Saw

+1 for the Femi. I got mine from Stakseys last year, not cheap but works well with a good vice. I keep the saw under the bench a pull it out when needed and it has a surprisingly large capacity for such a small saw.

Phil.

Ron,

I have a very old and well used Kennedy stuck on a lump of nylon with an antique washing machine motor cobbled on the back to drive it. It's got a lot of wear, no belt guards and an H&S inspectors dream if it were in commercial use but it will sill sit outside on an extension lead and cut 2" steel round bar to a reasonable degree of squareness, unsupervised, while I get on with more interesting stuff! It does have limited capacity though and some of the band saws around now do look nice. I have recently been sawing up lumps of 3/4" and 1" plate up to 3" X 6" slabs by hand so that hand held Aldi saw looks attractive. But I then ask how many lumps that size have I cut in the last 10 years? The Kennedy I think was given to my dad, if he bought it he would not have paid more than £20! Owes me nothing and does most of the usual size bar, box and angle I cut so I think the £150 will stay in the bank and I can save any gym membership as well by doing the occasional big bits by hand lol.

Paul.

I have a lot of metal to cut so have ordered the Aldi portable band saw so will get a lot of use just hope is as good as the comments on the Aldi site

Can you report back on how it goes. Retiring my hacksaw is on my long long list of things to do.

Just for fun, i came across this **LINK**

Well funnily enough I did rough out a design for a powered hacksaw a while back but I think I have had enough of tool making for a while. Once the rear tool post is finished I need to get back to some modelling.

I would really like a Femi but its beyond my budget, maybe one day.

I said I didnt fancy a chop saw but size wise it would be ideal and a 355mm wheel one has decent depth of cut. My only concern would be the abrasive wheel, I think I would be a bit nervous using it or am I over cautious.

Have you considered a Rage chop saw?

Mike

Ron the abrasive saws are really only suited to ferrous, you do a lot with aluminium.

That would explain why my Aldi chop saw grunted, sweated and smoked whilst going through a 2 inch square aluminium bar....

Iain

Thanks Mike, The Rage 2 saw looks very good but Jason is correct I do use a lot of aluminium, though the Rage is listed with a multi purpose blade.

Jason, thanks for pointing that out, I guess a bandsaw is the way to go but the only one I could afford at the moment is the ALDI one. I have some reservations but it does get very good reviews though the vice is useless but can be improved.

Decisions, decisions..?

Ron

I'm in doncaster if anyone wants to have a go with the Aldi bandsaw.

There are a few minor things like the vice, but at £150 all in, it is an incredible amount of usefulness for the money - a good vice would cost £150 on its own?

Edited By Russ B on 08/03/2019 09:32:42

Russ,

I read that when mounted to the base it doesnt have the depth of cut thats claimed, can you tell me what size it can cut.

Ron

Well Russ,

I was somewhat tempted by that Aldi metal cutting bandsaw - it was small enough to be able to find some space for but I really wanted something that could be used in a vertical position (with a worktable). I was therefore managing to resist buying it quite well UNTIL I noticed one of the Aldi 'reviewers' said to look at this YouTube video by 'Maker Geek'....so I did...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s0cLgifKe

Looks like a really good idea, does what I need and I might even get around to building it.....so an Aldi saw is on it's way here too.

Drat - that's the Sheds' Piggy Bank back in the red again...

Regards,

IanT

You can cut soft ally with a B&D drill attachment circular saw on slow speed. The sawdust does tend to sting a bit though (you might call it shrapnel)

Hi

Try this for the Aldi bandsaw mod

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s0cLgifKeFY

Dennis

Thank you Dennis - my "cut & paste" skills obviously need sharpening (rather like one or two of my older drill bits)

Regards,

IanT

Ron

The Evolution Rage saw has a TCT toothed multipurpose blade not an abrasive one. I have a Fury saw which also has a TCT toothed blade. I have used it mainly for wood but have cut 1" square section steel with it. I have had it for about 4 years and it still cuts ok with the original blade, although I have cut steel a few times. I bought it after a demo in my local B&Q where they cut steel and aluminium.

Stuart

My 6x4 bandsaw does not seem to like like cutting these days - the motor stalls very easily even on aluminium.

I also have an Evolution Rage 10" cold chop saw that was £60.00 on ebay, I recently cut a piece off a 60mm round steel bar, took no more than 30 seconds, nice clean cut.

I have also used it to slice 2mm off the end of a length of 20x40mm aluminium extrusion that was slightly too long, perfect square cut and took less than 5 seconds.

The chop saw and the bandsaw are each sat on Ikea Helmer 6 drawer cabinets which makes them easy to move about, this is much more convenient than the rubbish stand that came with the bandsaw.

I am still contemplating one of the Aldi bandsaws to replace the 6x4.

Edited By Zebethyal on 12/03/2019 08:34:05

Ron,

Sorry for the delay. I was out in the garage today and can confirm when the saw is lowered to horizontal the blade is about 5 or 6mm above the vice, thus the pivot point is obviously a but high. This means the saw has to be lowered further than it should reducing the depth capacity by about that much. I few simple spacers under the vice will resolve this, a slightly longer bolt and nut between the vice and stand would probably be a very adequate quick solution, albeit a bit unrefined.

On the plus side, you can fit a larger vice!! I'll roughly measure the actual height of the pivot point next time im in there which will tell us how high of a vice we can make/mount.

I got the Aldi portable band saw yesterday and gave it a try today on some ally bar the vice looks rubbish but it gripped ok.

Waiting to try it on some big lumps of ally soon but seems to work fine have ordered some spare blades and hope there are no problems cutting en24 wonder if should arrange a positive coolant system for that.