Small saw. Proxxon or something else

@Gerhard Novak - The Evolution R210SMS looks like this, yes?

My central problem with this is that the blade is at 90° to the material that I want to push past it!
i.e. It may be great at cutting thick lumps of metal/wood etc, however due to its geometry it can't do longer cuts along steel plate etc. This is of little or no use to me.

Recap:
I am now planning to put an extra thin (e.g. 1mm thick) metal cutting disk into Mini Table Saw, cut slowly and take my chances. All the manufacturers say don't cut steel but too bad. Probably Proxxon or Rutland.

Either that or possibly use a mini band saw - except I can't find a super small one that is of good quality. Proxxon talks a big game but quality is suspect....

OK your call. You are trying to do something very specialised, but don't want to put any effort into specialised tooling, or spend the sort of money  that commercial solutions need.

Good luck!!

Edited By Peter Cook 6 on 21/04/2021 23:08:11

John,

Jim came back promptly confirming that his saw (with slitting blade) will cut thin sheets of aluminium and brass but not steel.

Stuart

Martin,

I've gone to sheers for thin aly and brass, don't have a need to sheer steel sheet. With the aly and brass I then use a panel hammer to flatten it and put it into a vice betwen two bits of iron angle and file the edge the last half mil. Works for me.

Stuart

Yes, this is the machine. For me it is mainly to cut of materials from bars, of course if you want cut from flat material or sheet material it is not the one.

Have you ever considered cutting by an oxygen cutter? (plasma cutter)

I think a thin cutting disc should be the easiest think to do.

1. Yes, but I do need to cut mild steel & stainless steel!

2. Question: Have any of you ever tried fitting one of those thin black cutting disks (either aluminium oxide or corundum) into a mini table saw like the Proxxon FKS / FET Table Saw?
Does it work reasonably well? Or do the sparks melt the plastic that it's made from? ;^(

3. Btw, I have just heard back from Proxxon, and it turns out that there has been a cock-up.
The cutting speed of their "MICRO bandsaw MBS 240/E" is
"from 180 to 330 m/min"
And is not "20 - 250 m/min, infinitely adjustable"
And most websites (including Axmister Tools) have got it wrong!

So the range in speeds is much less than we thought. And surely those cutting speeds are way to fast for steel?!

4. Plasma cutters - I confess that I had never even heard of such a thing - they look too bulky and messy for a quasi domestic environment.... until such time as I get to have a dedicated workshop. Interesting-looking technology, though.

Edited By John Smith 47 on 22/04/2021 10:17:08

Spot on analysis.

Andrew

To cut sheet with a saw you ideally need at least two teeth in contact with the work at all times. The finest Swiss piercing saw blades available are 32 teeth per cm. so will just about do for your 0.1 mm. thickness but can only be used with a piercing saw frame. You could possibly adapt the blade holding on a scroll saw to take one but they are rather fragile. Watchmakers manage to cut accurately with them but it takes practice!

A pair of good quality watchmaker's tin snips should do the job, followed by a small hammer against a flat surface is necessary.

Russell

Russel, not sure if you have that right, 32tpi is about 0.8mm, so a 0.1mm sheet will tend to catch unless the saw is tilted almost flat.

I think it may be worth referring back to John's earlier posts where the sort of thing he wanted to cut was 16mm wide strips and then cut those up into 13mm lengths possible with one edge at 45deg. Things like rage chop saws would just pick up the work and throw it across the workshop with your finger closley following.

Edited By JasonB on 22/04/2021 10:27:27

.

Jason, for info ^^^

MichaelG.

Yes, I tried sawing with the finest saw that a jewellers could provide (32 teeth per cm) but the 0.1mm mild steel just bent. A small high speed spinning disk (c 20,000 rpm) was MUCH easier.

Like I say, all snips always seem to bend one side. I require a deed-flat finish (a little deburring is acceptable).

If I have to build some specialist tooling, then maybe. But I am a relative novice and it will take time, I will get it wrong and fail to including critical features etc... to yes, possibly but only after I have exhausted all other options.

Sandwich the metal sheet between 2 pieces of wood and then you can just cut through the whole lot with a scroll saw. 😉

Thanks for the 32 tooth correction. but that is still three thicknesses of metal to one tooth so you won't get 2 teeth in contact or even 1 on the 0.1mm material.

As Hollowpoint says often when cutting thin sheet the work needs fully supporting by laying on a board and cutting both or even sandwiching.

Back to my point of doing it on a mill with a slitting saw this shows some 0.5mm brass being cut into thin strips, you can just see a bit of brass sticking out on the left and the saw marks in the back board where I have stepped down and made several cuts. The saw has cut right through the front board

Not a good photo of the brass as its covered with flux and solder but all exactly the same width and with a good finished edge

Edited By JasonB on 22/04/2021 11:55:36

Yes you are right of course I must have shifted the decimal point. I claim old age

Russell

I checked last night which saw blade I was using and it is actually the HSS version rather than the carbide one.

If you choose the Proxxon FET you will have the possibility to use an abrasive disc or one of these small saw blades. 50mm diameter rather than 80mm will give a useful reduction in cutting speed for the saw blade.

**LINK**
"The 28020 is a Tungsten tipped Saw Blade with high-alloy special steel"

Given that it is tipped with Tungsten, how come it can't cut mild steel? I get that it can't but I am curious to know why it can't. I was thinking that if we could slow down the RPM, and increase the torque of the motor (e.g. by having a higher wattage motor running more slowly) maybe that would help

Likewise I am also curious that solid carbide discs are no better.

Either way for thin metal sheet (e.g. 0.1mm) the easiest way to cut it and maintain flatness still seems to be a very high speed disk.

OK, just how mad is this suggestion?
Go for something mass-product & much more powerful and find a way to do precise grinding cuts.

e.g. Bosch GTS635-216

**LINK**

Cost: £335.99
Power: 1600watts - a surplus of power
Speed: 5,500 RPM - pretty very fast for 21cm
Weight: 22Kg - not impossible
Incline: 0 to 45degrees
Saw blade diam: 216 mm
Bore: 30 mm

I just need to find some very thin (1mm? 2mm?) abrasive cutting disks that are 216x30mm.
[I ran out of time googling but surely they exist!]

But even if I have to settle for quite wide cuts, at least I would get my straight cuts... through steel.

J

.

The blade is intended for an underpowered machine with an inadequate spindle

Please see Peter’s post and my response, on page 1

The blades could almost certainly do your job: if suitably supported and adequately powered at an appropriate speed.

... but Proxxon needs to inform you in the context of its machines.

MichaelG.

In John Smith's milling machine thread I drilled a 3mm hole in steel with my MF70. 636 people looked at that video over 5 days. No one commented. I could make a spindle nose adaptor for my FD150 and make a sawing trial at 5000rpm with a 100w motor (I might anyway because it might be useful for me) but will it change anyone's opinions, probably not.

I am a happy Proxxon user and I understand the limitations of their machines, I have in the past discussed price/performance balance with their technical department as I have with Sherline. That is why my FD150 has Sherline chucks.

.

Roger,

Please forgive me if my comment came across as ‘generally’ negative to Proxxon ... that was not my intention.

I was simply trying to honestly answer John’s specific question relating to the use of that saw and/or its listed blades to cut steel.

MichaelG.

.

Edit: ___ upon re-reading my earlier post: The statement

... but Proxxon needs to inform you in the context of its machines.

Might better read:

Proxxon has a general duty to inform purchasers of the ‘design envelope’ of its machines, and has done so:  It has evidently determined that cutting ferrous material on that saw, with those blades would be outside that envelope.

Edited By Michael Gilligan on 22/04/2021 20:47:24