Aldi bandsaw

Bought one of these today because the box said it could cut non-ferrous (although the handbook does not mention this fact). The blade supplied and fitted has large teeth and is obviously meant for wood/plastic.

I have quite a large pile of .070" thick brass sheet. Will this machine cut it with the correct blade fitted? If so, what sort of blade should I be looking for. i.e Width -TPI - bi-metal etc. etc.

Never used a little bandsaw before, only experience was with one with a 1" wide blade in a die shop many years ago.

Rik

I think a scroll saw is better suited to thin material because it can use very fine blades, bandsaws tend to have blades that are too coarse for thin sheet materials. I think tooth pitch should be chosen to have a minimum of 2-3 teeth in contact with the material.

Mike

Not seen the Aldi saw but have an old black decker bandsaw with a fine pitch blade it cuts metal just have to go steady.

Hi Rick I had a Clarke band saw to review and it also came with a course wood saw blade but when I fitted a smaller tooth metal cutting blade it cut brass and aluminium with no problem. To fast for steel.

David

Edited By David George 1 on 10/06/2018 21:48:05

When you say "obviously meant for wood/plastic", are you claiming to know what the approved blade looks like? These modern "Rage" type blades don't look a lot different - they are carbide tipped blades, rather like, well, a wood cutting blade. I suggest you are overthinking this....

I expect the Aldi saw is similar to the Evolution Rage saw I have myself. Did you RTFM?

Murray

Edited By Muzzer on 10/06/2018 22:32:26

One possible factor you might need to consider is blade speed.

Marcus

Murray isn't the rage saw a rotary disk saw not a band saw?

David

350W motor.

900m/min cutting speed!

IF the band has about 4tpi, it is most certainly not for metal!

That little saw should be OK at up to 6mm aluminium & brass so long as you don't push it hard and realise the body of the saw will flex if you do. It may go thicker with care. The blade tpi should be such that you aim for a minimum of 3 teeth in the depth of the material. So, for 3mm (or 1/8" brass you're looking for a blade with 24 or more tpi. I doubt if you'll get much higher tpi, though I've not looked. So, this suggests that 3mm is probably the thinnest you should cut & expect full blade life. If you go thinner, the load per tooth will be higher & teeth will snap off more quickly. You will still cut the material, just reduce the blade life.

On my Clarke metal band saw I have cut sheet steel of .75mm with an 18 tpi blade. Had to be careful as occasionally the saw tooth in contact with the steel bent the sheet rather than cut it if I let the feed rate get too high, and the blade lost teeth fast, but it did the job quicker than any other tool I had available to me at the time.

Regards,

Richard.

Yes, use a fine blade more than 18 Tpi, perhaps a 24 Tpi. I found it helpful to draw a line of bees wax down the cutting line as it gets quite hot at the cutting edge. Be careful with round items as it tends to roll and draw the work into the blade, sheet will chatter and the rough edge will scratch the alu. table.

I have a home-made bandsaw to which I fit the common DIY 1/4" x ~59" blades. My "standard" blade is 14 tpi, with this recently I've cut loads of 1.6mm brass sheet for a 5" tender, plus thicker and thinner oddments including 12 mm steel and some round bar with no problems.

The blade speed is reasonably lowish though, about 250 ft/min at a guess, I'll have to check.

"I suggest you are overthinking this...."

Your remarks puzzle me!

Rik

So are we debating the merits of band saws or chop saws and their respective blade types?.....

Thanks to most of you for blade advice. I'll order a couple of blades today to deal with my brass sheet.

Rik

Have you seen the latest offering from ALDI, another bandsaw but only available on line at £150.If I didn't have a Kennedy, this would be on my want to have list.

Yes, Rage sell mitre (circular) saws.

A long time ago before I had better machinery, I cut some very thin plate, I think it was called 'litho' I used broad double sided tape and stuck it to a sheet of ply wood, did the job quiet well.

Not to be confused with the usual woodworking bandsaw, this one is powered by a variable speed 1100 watt motor and has a cutting capacity of 127x127MM. It can be mounted on a stand or bench and hung up for storage. The only downside is that it is only available on line so no chance of examining before purchase.

For not a lot more you can get a dedicated metal bandsaw from the usual suppliers, eg this one from Chester

https://shop.chesterhobbystore.com/collections/saws/products/h80-swivel-arm-bandsaw

Do you mean one of these... 'Scroll saw' … just bought one myself today, in the process of trying it out...

**LINK**

George.