Metal cutting Mitre saw

I'm after a mitre saw for cutting steel hollow section, 2 by 2 inch at most, for a lathe and milling bench. The problem is there seem to be an infinite variety of types and prices.

I'm more inclined towards a TCT blade rather than an abrasive one (don't want too much sparks flying around in my garage!) but the saws I'm seeing all seem to be wood saws. There must be metal cutting saws as the metal cutting blades seem to have lower speed than their wood cutting versions...can someone point me to a good mitre saw without breaking my budget, ( £250 or there abouts) thanks

I've got this one which I used mainly for building my workshop bench out of wood but I've cut a couple of pieces of hollow square bar and angle plate albeit very thin and they came out fine

**LINK**

Edited By Curtis Rutter on 02/04/2017 12:37:18

Edited By Curtis Rutter on 02/04/2017 12:37:55

Chris,

Private message sent to you.

Edited By John Rudd on 02/04/2017 12:53:54

No I'm not hacksawing anything! I'm past the "pop-eye like muscles" age, so I'd rather have a machine do it for me!

Will check local tool shops for something similar to the one you linked Curtis, from what I can understand from the specs, it's blade is good for steel up to 6mm so it should be fine.

The bandsaw won't fit in my workshop John, have to share with two cars. Would have been a good addition tho

Plenty here, using TCT and abrasive blades, but not cheap compared to wood cutting ones.

www.machinemart.co.uk/c/cut-off-saws/

Neil

Chris, there are small benchtop bandsaws about that take up no more room than a mitre saw. See this **recent thread**

John

Have you considered the evolution rage saws?

Mike

Hi Mike, Initially I was considering circular type saws, but after going through the thread linked by John I'm not sure anymore. The bandsaw makes sense as I will cut bar stock as well as tube, where as the circular saw will cut tubes only. So now I need to decide which way to go...

Chris, As Journeyman says I would look at the Femi bandsaw, it will take up less space than a mitre saw and in my opinion do a better job. You can cut up to 4" dia or square it has a very small footprint, is easy to lift onto a shelf for storage if need be. I have had mine for quite a few years and never regretted the purchase. They are available from several suppliers in the UK just google Femi
John

I used to use one of these at work before I retired, Noisy, metal chips everywhere, but fast and reasonably accurate. I regularly used it on heavy duty 2 1/2" angle and unistrut, but be warned replacement blades are quite expensive, so you need to factor that in.

egAAOSwzJ5XanZU">http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/DeWALT-DW872-355mm-METAL-CUTTING-CHOP-SAW-110v-including-TCT-BLADE-/351766077458?hash=item51e6e46012:gegAAOSwzJ5XanZU

My Femi bandsaw has a smaller foot print than my chop saw and is small enough to lift off the bench and put under it if you are tight for room.

I bought the Rage mitre saw a few years back.

It cut all kinds of mild for me, but it was noisy and the chips (red hot and supersonic) inconvenient to say the least.

I lost teeth on 2 blades through hitting inclusions in rebar - with blades a £40 a pop.

It is now fitted with a blade for wood and a 6" bandsaw has taken over the duty.

Ok, from what I can gather the general consensus is in favor of the bandsaw. I have found a local Maltese shop who imports Femi, so I asked for a couple of quotes for the 780XL and 782XL...will see if it's worth buying local or abroad - my guess is it will be cheaper to get one from Italy. Thanks for all the input given from all.

If you do not have the space for a small bench/floor mounted bandsaw, you could use a hand held bandsaw.

Paul

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The date's fine Neil, When I was reinforcing the bench that came with our new house I used an older Milford one to cut the 40mm box section to size before welding it together.

They're a cracking but of kit, but they do wander sometimes when the blade starts to get older.

Unfortunately, ready made blades are hard to come by, so I have to braze my own to length 49 1/2", though there are firms who will make custom sizes.

I am/was considering shortening the saw slightly to take the normal sized Makita ones.

Regards

Bill

You can get a couple of saws of similar design to the Femi that can be removed from the base and used handheld like the one Paul shows I think Flex (Portacable) are one. Downside of a handheld would be you are only hand holding so will not get a consistant angle like you would with a fixed saw.

Flex saw

Edited By JasonB on 03/04/2017 07:57:16

.

Check Milwaukee website:

**LINK**

https://www.milwaukeetool.com/power-tools/cordless/2629-22

MichaelG.