Chop saw

Morning all

I am looking to buy a metal cutting "chop-saw". As I am 83 it must no be too heavy and I need to be able to cut short pieces from short pieces so the wheel needs to be close to the vice jaws.

My price range would be about £300-£350.

Then the Warco band-saw will be sold.

These days I make only simple tools so it will not be worked too hard.

I will be most grateful for any help in choosing.

Many thanks

Richard.

I use a Makita 355mm (14-inch) abrasive "chop saw" that I bought secondhand for about $50. It works well.

I burned out my previous cheap Chinese (GMC brand) one by cutting too hard on some one-inch thick plate. So these days, for cutting thick plate like that, say over half-inch thick, I chain drill first then use the chop saw to do the final cut. By setting the drilled holes just a tad away from the cut line, you end up with a nice straight cut edge. These machines really are made for cutting pipe, tube and angle iron on building sites, not thick plate etc. but needs must...

Disadvantages are that it is horribly noisy and showers dangerous sparks for quite a distance (15 feet or more) so I don't use it inside my shed full of old motorbikes with leaking carburettors etc. And it is quite heavy to lug around the workshop and out into the yard, for those of us who can't weightlift like we once may have done. I use a sack trolley to move mine about and use the chop saw sitting on the ground as it is too hefty to lug up on to a bench or stand every time I want to use it. (More a factor of my health limitations than excess weight of the machine)  Ideally it would be set up on its own bench outside in the yard but then weather is a problem.

The Makita is definitely better quality than my previous GMC Chinese brand, and all my other Makita drills etc have been nothing but top quality. I believe the Toshiba chop saws are also very highly regarded in the building trades but are more expensive.

If you are only doing very small work, you can buy a nice smaller type of abrasive cut-off saw with about a 6 to 7-inch (150 -180mm) diameter wheel that will happily cut half inch diameter bar and inch by eighth flat bar etc. It weighs about as much as a pistol drill or angle grinder and is much more user friendly for the smaller stuff. I have one of these too and it is quite handy, although still produces gasoline-unfriendly spark showers! It is just a Chinese cheapie but does the job as long as you don't push too hard on it.

But if you are going to be wanting to cut slices off 2-inch round bar etc regularly, you may be better off keeping the bandsaw.

Edited By Hopper on 08/07/2016 13:53:32

Edited By Hopper on 08/07/2016 13:59:03

Edited By Hopper on 08/07/2016 14:00:05

Edited By Hopper on 08/07/2016 14:01:34

Edited By Hopper on 08/07/2016 14:03:23

I use one of these **LINK** have cut 50mm aluminium square bar with a bit of paraffin to help lubricate blade and stop tip build up, cut 40mm dia stainless steel bar which was probably pushing it a bit but still cut it.

Edited By Bob Brown 1 on 08/07/2016 14:00:56

Like you I am also looking for a Chop Saw. I have come to the conclusion that Bandsaws are just to bulky and take up to much valuable workshop space.

I found these chop saws in the links below. They use Tungsten Carbide Tipped blades so almost no sparks!

http://www.toolstop.co.uk/dewalt-dw872-14-355mm-tct-metal-chop-saw-240v-p7097

http://www.toolstop.co.uk/makita-lc1230-tct-metal-cutting-chop-saw-240v-p6896

Just not sure whether to go DeWalt or Mikita????

Perhaps a member here owns one to give his opinion?

G.

Edited By Grant Nicholas on 08/07/2016 14:21:01

*Double Post*  Stupid Internet

Edited By Grant Nicholas on 08/07/2016 14:04:09

Nice Bob. Good price too! Whats the biggest stock you've cut? The blurb states it can cut 120mm Square stock?

Build quality alright?

G.

The smaller one like I have would not cope with 120mm square, as for the largest I've cut it's 50mm square aluminium. Not sure they are not really designed for solid bar but seem to cut ok with a bit of lub and care. Certainly does not lack power and have done quite a bit with mine over the 5 odd years I've had it used and abused. At £99.00 (screwfix) I was cheap enough.

The one Bob mentions is the Rage 4 with a 185mm blade, this one claims to cut 45mm square, so Bob was pushing the limits a bit at 50mm

I have its bigger brother, the Rage 2, which has a 355mm blade, this is the one rated to cut 122mm square or 130mm round.

I bought it second hand on the Bay for £60.00, collection only. It is certainly not light at 22kg, compared to 10kg for the Rage 4, it is also double the price at around £180.00 new.

I also have a 6x4 bandsaw, and since this is always setup, it tends to get used more.

The chop saw is way more accurate and produces nice clean cuts - I last used it to shave about 1-2mm off a length of 40x20mm aluminium extrusion and also to cut some studding to length both pieces were for my lasercutter build, both would have been a pain on the bandsaw, and the first one nearly impossible on an abrasive saw to keep it accurate.

These have an enviable reputation, are supposed to make very few sparks with steel and cost about £220.

www.evolutionpowertools.com/uk/build/rage2.php

Neil

I got rid of mine as I found it lousy for cutting steel - it had the correct cutter, just didnt like to cut!

I used to use the de-Walt one at work before I retired. Something of a beast, it coUfortably cut through anything I used it for, so long as the blade was sharp, but replacements aren't cheap. Also I'd recommend both a coarse and a fine blade to make the best of it. We used the fine blade on Unistrut and the like, and the coarse blade on thicker angle iron; 2"x3"x1/4". unofficially I may have used it at home occasionally on up to 2" round steel bar, or 3"x2" continuous cast iron bar..

No sparks, but lots of very hot steel chips everywhere, tempered to blue.

Whatever you get, make sure it's up to full speed before a cut and feed in gently if you want the teeth to remain on the saw blade. Invest in full goggles, rather than safety specs and also proper ear defenders.

Hello, ive got one that Neil mentions, fantastic !. Tad noisy and lots of flying metal shards on the downside.

Morning all and many thanks for all your criticisms and help.

I have just ordered the Evolution Rage2 from Screwfix.

Fortunately all my neighbours have poor hearing and my

shed is well insulated.

Now to sell the bandsaw as I do not really have room

for both.

Regards

Richard.