Best way to cut stock to size

I've been using angle grinders for many years, maybe since they first came out. They can be dangerous, same as anything else. I've burnt a few jumpers and trouser crotches. When I was cutting up lots of steel for gates etc. I built a stand to fit the 9" grinder and used it for years with no problems.I use 4" & 41/2" ones now, mostly. The 41/2" with thin cutting blades are great. 9" for cutting bigger stuff, including sheet steel up to about 1/2". Price- I worked out that cheap ones that last about 6 months, everyday use, work out cheaper than a top-of-the-range one, but my 4" is a top price and I like it. The expensive ones are lighter and easier to use. Safety- always use eye protection, keep out of line with the blade, never use when tired. Don't use if you don't feel happy with it. Same as any tool, eg. chain saw, grass cutter, step ladder. BTW stone cutting discs can be used and may be better for softer metals, a lot of the scrap boys use them.

The one that is still about that looks like mine is this one. Somebody somewhere usually undercuts Machinemart.

**LINK**

Looks like draper and sealy are selling the same sort of thing for more. Jason' is near £400.

I'd guess that the cheaper ones are ok when adjusted correctly but may loose out on using an AC motor. Mine hasn't done a colossal amount of work and is probably 20 years old now. Some people have cut lots with them. The stand is flimsy but does it's job. I wont be changing the one on mine except when and if it rusts through. It's spent it's life in a damp garage. It doesn't look nice now but still works.

John

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I would personally conclude from this, the cleanest, most efficient and cheapest way to get through stock without hand tools has to be a D.I.Y metal cutting bandsaw. They have a proven track record of being able to cut through the vast majority of materials, in sizes under 6" in a reasonable amount of time, without hitting the wallet too hard.

There are also plenty of modifications you can do to them, which have been run through this magazine, and you can look at some of them on mike cox's website.

PS. their biggest downside seems to be their large footprint, you can use them without the metal framework and simply mount the cast iron table on a workbench, I think if it doesn't fit in your workshop, you could always put it in your garage if you've got one.

Michael W

Edited By Michael-w on 02/01/2017 13:11:56

Footprint was mentioned to me. I went to a model engineering supplier in Peterborough to buy a couple of things. One of them was a diy kit for a reciprocating saw. He had them in stock and asked if I had much space. Yes for that so he told me to buy one of the cheap horizontal ones. It was what he used for cutting stuff up for his kits. He did point out that the length stop doesn't work well - he was entirely correct too.

That seems to be the choice on a budget. Either the band saw or a diy reciprocating one. Rather than the usual ME designs I'd suggest the Myfordboy one that can be found on youtube. That one seems to work extremely well and I doubt if it's expensive or difficult to build.

Bound to need a hacksaw though or any of the other ideas. I have cut stuff with an angle grinder at times. Usually thin stuff. It takes time. If I needed to cut stuff that wouldn't fit in the bandsaw often I would probably buy one of the metal cutting circular saws. Myfordboy demo's the use of one of those in one of his video's. Think it's on a some metal rolls that didn't work out as good as his own design.

John

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Wot, not going to use your new plasma cutter?

I didn't think that the suggestion of buying a plasma cutter would go down well Jason.

Also no idea how long the one I have bought will last or how thick it can go neatly. I've been wondering where I could get some cheap boiler plate from to practice on - once the pneumatics are sorted. I may finish up grafting a clark twin head pump onto the the compressor. That's the sort of thing I'd only probably do when I needed to plasma cut.

Kitchen willing I should be able to see if the compressor will supply enough air next week if I get the fittings this week. I can play around while kitchen things are drying. Actually cutting something is likely to take longer. I suspect that I would be wasting my time without something to set the spacing from torch to metal. seems that the need to be 1mm away. I've no idea so have to assume that's correct.

John

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I have seen the myfordboy auto-hacksaw design, and even a few castings for sale to help you make one, it would be a novel idea and quite a rewarding project if you planned it in advance. You could certainly say "not many have got one of these!" It would probably be quite mesmerizing to watch too.

My only argument against it being the "best" would be the time and effort involved into making one materialise, and possibly ironing out any niggles from our own homemade components in service! For a quick, remedial bought solution, the D.I.Y bandsaw certainly fills the brief. It does have one plus over the bandsaw, and that is size. So if that's a big problem for you, then maybe a project would be a better option for a bespoke solution.

I have considered anglegrinders as well and my main objection to them would be the flurry of dust and noise the abrasive action would make, cutting with the bandsaw on the other hand, although creating swarf, is much more manageable because it cuts at a relatively low speed, just like the auto hacksaw,

interestingly, the chopsaw suffers from the same downsides as the grinders, lots of noise and mess, I have had to clear heaps of aluminium swarf away from a little "cutting booth" created in a workshop I worked at simply because the chop saw so messy, you would end up with a metallic spray all over your overalls. However, it does cut far quicker than the bandsaw, however we are not time constrained on this end of the market, and perhaps care a little more about our interior spaces.

Michael W

Edited By Michael-w on 02/01/2017 18:21:50

Edited By Michael-w on 02/01/2017 18:23:32

I helped build over 60 of these machines for feeding out hay from large square bales. All the steel was cut using a 4 1/2, horizontal/vertical band saw. A lot of other jobs too.

The mud guards and chain covers required bits cut off them, an angle grinder with a thin disc was used for this.

Ian S C

Wow Ian. I knew people have used them extensively.

One advantage I think they do have over small reciprocating ones especially is blade length - more of it to wear out.

Mine has only failed to cut one thing. I came across some ancient 6" cast iron stench pipe and had the bright idea of using a section of it for something to go in the fireplace. I'd guess it was continuously cast and cooled with water almost immediately, I've never used it on stainless or toolsteel. This is with the original blades. I bought several a long time ago. Nothing special. Think I have one left. It may be possible to get bi metal blades for them now. I think mine is 2 speed - cold so not going out to look. The machine mart one is 3 speed.

The blade did run off a few times initially. I just tightened it up more. The vice is a bit naff but has been ok for me.

John

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Edited By Ajohnw on 03/01/2017 13:07:31

One thing to watch is when cutting large diameter steel shaft is the gap closing trapping the blade, this was about 4" into a 6" shaft. Managed to get the blade out. Now on similar cuts I go halfway, then turn it round and finish from the other side. It's hard work sorting a jammed blade in a 50kg lump of steel.

Ian S C

If the gap starts closing, pop a small wedge into the top of the gap. Job done

**LINK**

for all your bandsaw blades (Usual disclaimer)

Just an update I bought a 14" Titan abraisive chopsaw for £80 from screwfix that was rubbish - the clamping system would not hold the piece properly - also it was very very slow to cut - much slower than an angle grinder with 1mm disk - maybe because the chop saw disk is 3mm.

Anyway I took that back and bought an evolution sliding 210mm mitre saw for £100 (reason is at least with a mitre saw you have a true 90deg angle to the back - the chopsaws appear to all have flimsy clamps that cannot be set upto 90 deg.

Anyway I'm massively impressed with this saw - goes through steel or alu very easy and both angles can be adjusted to get true 90degrees.

For smaller pieces I drilled through the base-plate so I can hold my milling machine clamps on there making it quite versitile.

Next job it to replace the plastic bits where the blade goes through which leave 10mm gap either side of the blade with something solid then I'll just cut a slot in that the blade needs so there is zero gap from the surface to the blade.

I have one of these bought on a vat free day back in 2013, very useful machine, although the stand is the usual Chinese poor quality sheet steel & would need reinforcing. don't attempt to move it with the frame in the upright position ...yes people do!... centre of gravity is way too high, it will tip straight over & give you a nasty belt in the proverbials or whatever is in the way & capable of doing some serious damage.

​I'm on to the last blade that is left from a pack of 5 that I bought with the VAT savings so can't grumble, many have changed to a bi-metallic blade which, from all accounts cuts much better & with claims of better blade longevity. Not happy with the blade gap on the table when in vertical position & again cheap Chinese sheet steel... must remember to modify it!. Overall a capable machine for the home workshop.

https://www.machinemart.co.uk/p/cbs45md-41-2in-x-6in-metal-cutting-ban/?da=1&TC=GS-060710025&gclid=CLT-7_Gzo9ECFQzhGwod7GgPEQ

George.

Having fried a Bosch angle grinder,(noisy) I got a Makita as part of my retirement present, quite noisy, but still going 13 years later.

Strangely, the very quiet one is the Power Devil that I bought to go in the cheapy stand to use it as a chop saw.

Seems that its gears that make the noise on angle grinders.

Use the 4 1/2 inch bandsaw for most work, or a slitting saw in the mill / drill. Hacksaw only used for jobs that are quicker than getting out and setting up, the bandsaw.

Howard

Ive seen diy wood cutting bandsaws and diy metal cutting hacksaws but not familiar with diy metal cutting bandsaws mentioned above. Unless its the Gingery one ?

Any good photos or plans or websites I should look at ?

Bill

OK, I googled and found some diy metal cutting bandsaws. I'd never bothered having a good look beyond converting woodcutting ones.

The horizontal/vertical bandsaw as discussed in this thread I have found to be a first class bit of kit for its price. I bought one for our workshop at work in the early '80s as money was very tight. Used carefully it did first class service for years and was still useful after we bought a big industrial bandsaw. The work done by Ian's bandsaw is a very good example of what you can do in quantity. With the right blades we also cut a lot of stainless steel.

Last year I bought another one from a French website with a German brand name. Still Chinese, but the quality is much better than the original I bought and it does the job very well. I have an Evolution cut off saw, which though efficient is very noisy. Using the bandsaw allows me to set up the cut and just leave the machine to it and quietly as well.

As Michael W points out there are loads of mods available. I have Mike Cox's on my to do list. In my opinion his website is a must to look at for this saw.

Paul

Couldn't agree more, Paul. It does what it says on the tin and I wouldn't be without it.

A cut-off saw may be quite efficient but they are rather frightening to use without ear protection and it makes the experience so awkward. Cutting outside or in the garden is probably better if you wanted one of those.

In case you missed it theres a good article in this months M.E.W about making a bandsaw repair jig to braze together broken blades still in good nick. Just so happens I've done that recently, so I might give it a go!

Michael W

Posted by Michael-w on 25/02/2017 14:43:06:

Just so happens I've done that recently, so I might give it a go!

Just to clarify the situation, the blade did not break because it couldn't cut a piece of material, but rather because a small shard of offcut plate fell between the gap between the passing blade and roller bearings and jammed the mechanism causing the blade to snap under tension.

Michael W