I always wanted a metal cutting band saw but never really got around buying one because I always thought these are special tools I rarely will use and are expensive, so I never found out any facts about them, how good they are or how much they actually cost. However, lately (last couple of years) I have done a whole lot of metal works as hobby activity. Until recently, I used angle grinder for cutting steel and circular saw to cut aluminium, which worked OK, but not very good. I am not a master of angle grinder and never really manage to cut straight. I am also not very comfortable with the use of angle grinders, because of all the sparks, fine dust and the fact the the grinder wheel can split and cause serious bodily harm, so I am very reluctant to use it. I considered buying a steel cutting blade for my circular saw, but again, the sparks and the hot, sharp chips flying around those things scared me off from doing it. I am sure it is not a good idea to use a circular saw for both wood and steel, the risks of fire are huge due to all the wood saw dust, plus I cant just take the circular saw out every time I need to cut a small piece of steel, so I voted against that solution.
Anyway, to cut the long story short, two weeks ago I made a decision to buy a metal cutting band saw. I made a research, and realized that these are not that expensive, and in fact, I can also use it for cutting wood, plastics, aluminium or whatever else I want to, so the "need" was well motivated. I ended up buying a "brand" called Biltema, which is a Norwegian company selling machinery, car parts, tools and some other stuff. The machine is called MBS 1141, which is almost the same as Scheppach MBS 1200 and many others, it has a 1200W motor like the MBS 1200, but has a better wise and some other features. The price was about 220 €, so it is definitely not the cheapest alternative, but also not very expensive. I chose to buy it in a real shop near me, because I believe that if I get an issue with this, the service will be easy and simple. I have no experience with the "Biltema" machine quality, but I am pretty inexperienced with all the other alternatives as well regarding metal band saw, so I thought this is the best solution for me.
I made a short video about it also, here it is, enjoy if you have the time.
https://youtu.be/TZmCm_X5L1w?si=RdkO2JLOZBR3gdyA
I think that my observations are relevant even if you can't buy this outside the Nordic countries, because this machine is basically the same as every other nameless brand, so it is applicable for all of the others as well. Personally, I love the fact that I can finally cut steel indoors without wearing a face mask and without risking fire or spreading all the fine and toxic dust around the workshop. Cutting dry is also nice, and also the fact that all the saw dust are too large to fly around in the area where I use it, so the dust falls immediately near the machine, but at the same time, the produced dust is not large enough to call it chips, and definitely not sharp. Of course, it still needs the use of eye protection, even though the risks of getting something in my eyes are very small with this machine. And also of course that ear protection is a must, since the machine is noisy, but cutting metal is noisy in general, so that's no big deal. I love it so far, and also because it is dry cutting, so cleaning is very easy using the vac.
If you don't already have one, I really recommend buying one, not necessarily the Biltema I have, but for example the Scheppach MBS 1200. I think this will be my most used saw in the future.
