Metal Bandsaw or Cut-Off Saw?

[paulus.v]

[QUOTE=Boyan Silyavski;87734
IMHO buy the cheapest, if they say its for that machine, then its a no brainer, half the price or not.

I remember myself bragging about creepy chinese cutter 2 years ago. Now i use mainly chinese carbide cutters and i can assure you the quality now is 100% as brand micrograin carbide ones, if not even better in some cases, what i found in real life. Of course i look from whom i buy.[/QUOTE]

Hi Boyan, I cannot fully agree with you.
There are a lot of different grades of micrograin carbide. You cannot say that a tool made of chinese carbide has the same quality as a Swiss or Japanese one. Even with the same carbide grain size and amount of cobalt used, the difference in manufacturing techniques will give different results of the properties of the resulting material.

I bet that your Rage blade is the "made in japan" version

[ned]

I have as makita abrasive cut-off saw and have never been able to get a 90 degree cut with it. I bought the unit second hand.

Lets say I'm cutting 40x40 box section. When it reaches 10mm from the bottom it seems to veer off to one side.

If i force it down quite hard that helps to keep it straight. Personally I was quite disappointed, I'm not sure if its faulty or damaged.

Looking for an alternative saw now myself. I expect the cold cut versions wont have that flex in the blade.

edit: having read the thread below, it seems that skew is a characteristic of abrasive cut-off saws. I think I'm going to start looking around for a cold-cut saw.

http://weldingweb.com/showthread.php...w-Skew-bad-saw

[magicniner]

I'm stepping outside the OP's question but -
Having a cutoff saw, band saw and power hacksaw I have to say that the power hacksaw get's most use as it will cut anything and can be left unattended to do it's job,
Nick

[Neale]

Can't you do the same with the bandsaw, Nick? I'm also in the market at the moment for something like this and I'm leaning towards the bandsaw (slower but quieter, no sparks/mess) rather than cutoff saw partly because I've been assuming that "let it run and get on with something else" is true. There aren't a lot of choices out there for powered hacksaw, as far as I can see, in a "small workshop" size rather than ex-industrial big beasts which I couldn't house.

[magicniner]

Can't you do the same with the bandsaw, Nick?

Neale,
Probably, but my Manchester Power Hack Saw (which has a similar footprint and volume to a small band saw) cut cast iron, titanium, stainless steel and anything else I threw at it up to 6" OD for over a year on a single Sheffield made blade ;-)

- Nick

[Edward]

I've got a hacksaw like in the link bellow and I am pretty happy. Like a lot of this kind of machinery, it is not perfect, it has a few minor design faults, but nevertheless, it works. It cuts pretty much square, but the finish is not as clean as with a cut off saw, a few burrs, that's all. It's slower than a bandsaw. But as people have said, bandsaw blades can wonder a bit and the cut may not be square.

It is a bit noisy, low pitch noise, and the grip tends to mark the material a little if not protected. Other than that, it's safe, it can be left alone to do the job. I am still on the first blade after regularly cutting aluminium for two years.

Edward

http://www.axminster.co.uk/axminster...hacksaw-200024

[Boyan Silyavski]

Hi Boyan, I cannot fully agree with you.
There are a lot of different grades of micrograin carbide. You cannot say that a tool made of chinese carbide has the same quality as a Swiss or Japanese one. Even with the same carbide grain size and amount of cobalt used, the difference in manufacturing techniques will give different results of the properties of the resulting material.

I bet that your Rage blade is the "made in japan" version

I used mainly 3mm and 6mm bits on my CNC for a couple of years/ now 12mm mostly/ . 6mm Kyocera micrograin carbide which is maybe the finest example of carbide tool and super polished, was my golden stabndard. will cut as 5 times as long as Freud similar tool. Now i buy chinese ones that cut as 1/3rd as more than the Kyocera. Kyocera 25-30 euro per bit new. Chinese 4 euro.

But just FYI now i try to use mainly insert tools. OMG, they last forever !!! The best carbide possible, look at CMT. And cut perfectly.

Neale,
Probably, but my Manchester Power Hack Saw (which has a similar footprint and volume to a small band saw) cut cast iron, titanium, stainless steel and anything else I threw at it up to 6" OD for over a year on a single Sheffield made blade ;-)

- Nick

Hack saw is the cheapest and best saw possible. Almost no material loss and will cut everything. Finding a good cheap one as the Rage Pro is another matter. And the rage pro speed is tremendous, if you are counting your time.


I have a small bandsaw but i dont use it as the blades brake too much due to short length and twist