Cold saw, Drop saw, Band saw or Friction saw ?

[eyspy]

If you had to choose one saw for your workshop, what would it be and why ? (excluding plasma)

All I have is a hacksaw and a drop saw, but I am thinking of a cold saw as well. With the global financial crisis the way it is, there are plenty of bankruptcy sales to get bargains from.

I feel a cold saw is quiet (compared to my drop saw), cuts clean, and is relatively cheap.

I will only be cutting tubes and solid stock to 3 or 4 " thick. I am getting sick of all the noise, heat and mess from my drop saw, and I am sure my neighbors would appreciate some silence as well.

[Reebs]

I have the ever popular Harbor Freight 4x6 band saw and love it. Quite, no sparks, no mess It shuts off when it makes a cut. You will need to make a new stand for it the original one is a joke. I started with an chop saw I only use it when I buy steel (so I can get the lenght in the car- Can you say redneck). I imagine you can find big band saws used that would be far cheaper than new with the current economy and plant closings.
Good luck
reber

[mjmiller1824]

Yeah I really gotta go with the bandsaw here, If I was cutting 12" solid rounds on a daily basis that would be one thing, but my cold saw sucks for channel, angle, anything the hydraulics can't grab evenly.

[plepper]

I too have a HF 4X6 band saw and after a bit of adjusting it serves my home shop very well. Its quiet and I can do other work while it does its thing.

[MarkBall2]

Get one of these................

[papasloan]

Horizontal band saw. Clean and quiet. I have a hf 4x6 bandsaw. Best money I ever spent. Got it on sale with a 20% coupon. Even at reg price it is a bargain. I use bi metal blades from Enco. They hold up quite well.
I dont have much room in the garage. It just fits between the welding table and the door. I slide it out when needed.
I have a chop saw. I dont care for it. Noist and dirty. Tried a Bullett carbide blade in it. That worked very well on steel. Cutting stainless dulled it out in about 8 cuts.

[ed mac]

yes band saw

[sn0border88]

I would also have to say bandsaw, however the shop i work at has both a cold saw and band saw and we get probably equal use out of both. However we do alot of miter cuts on thin stainless tubing as well.

What do you plan on cutting, heavy stock and plate, thin tubing and angle, pipe and channel? All straight cuts or do you want to be able to miter? Steel, stainless or aluminum? If you want to cut aluminum on a cold saw you should have at least 2 types of blades.

But if your willing to spend the money on a cold saw, do yourself a favor and go with a quality bandsaw with mitering capabilities. It will do just about everything a coldsaw will and more.

[mjmiller1824]

Yeah I gotta disagree with your above post, If I want to spend 4 hours cutting through a 12" 316 solid round only to have to spend another 2 hours cleaning it up on the lathe to make it even close to flat I'll go bandsaw. The Heller coldsaw I have will chew right through that round make it reasonably flat and do it in 10 minutes. I think all of these saws have their places in a shop, just depends on what you will be doing the most of.

[mtncrawler]

Bandsaw Currently shopping about....

I'm in the same boat - tired of the noise and mess with a chop/dry cut saw (as i'm sure the neighbors are too..).

They all have their place, but I've used many bandsaws and really miss one!

[steve45]

I've got an abrasive chop saw (yuch!), a 4x6 swivel head band saw, and a Milwaukee dry cut saw. Whenever I have a choice, I use the dry cut saw. Cuts are a lot faster and a lot straighter. The band saw is a lot quieter, and you can tilt it up vertically to cut curves, but it's hard to cut straight with it.

Blades for a dry cut saw are pretty expensive, too!

[eyspy]

Originally Posted by MarkBall2

Get one of these................

What is that ? Is it a band saw or a fixed blade friction saw ? Does it do mitres ?


I may end up with a band saw and a cold saw ? The prices are the lowest they have ever been with business' going broke, I went to a recent workshop forclosure sale and there were only 50 people in attendance.

Some prices: 50 ton hydyrolic press went for $100 (Australian $$), a $120,000 digital milling machine went for $6,000 ,2 massive welders tables that were absolutely perfect (one grid and one with 1/2" plate 3 m x 2 m) $130 for both. Hyberbole 400 mm cold saw $130, massive band saw that was at least 10' tall and had a work bed about 2 m square went for $200


Now is the time to buy, I have a new workshop coming, and some spare cash. With any luck ay the next auction I may get a plasma as well.

[Ken Dennis]

Band saw, definitely!

and if you can't make a straight cut with a band saw, you are not doing something right, use a good square to align the clamp to the blade, and an angle finder to do the mitering alignment with!
Other than this, if the cut still comes out crooked, you might want to get a better made band saw.

[ed mac]

mine cuts straight and was 1/2 the price of a cold saw
you cant compair a $4000.00 cold saw with a $500.00
band saw ill put a 4k band saw up against a $4k cold saw
any day heres a big saw

[eyspy]

WOW !! Thats on big saw !

Does a band saw cut cleaner ? and by what your saying, a bandsaw is cheaper ? is this correct ?

[Ken Dennis]

It depends on the blade used and how you set the feed rate, I am using primarily a standard 14 tooth carbon steel cutting blade, I set the feed rate to cut somewhat slow, and it leaves a clean even edge with only a very slight sharp edge at the bottom of the cut to clean off after cutting!
I do have a fine cut blade for the saw, but I haven't yet found the need to put it on, not for mild steel anyway.

The saw I posted originally sold about 10 years ago new for around $1200.00 USD, I got it recently from a guy locally here where I live used for $450.00 USD

What is really nice is, once you set up the saw for the cut, start it up and you can go do something else while it does the cutting, and when it is done, it shuts itself off.

[eyspy]

Originally Posted by Ken Dennis

What is really nice is, once you set up the saw for the cut, start it up and you can go do something else while it does the cutting, and when it is done, it shuts itself off.

I like that idea, a lot ! I think I will have to investigate further on these. One more question: Is a vertical band saw better than a horizontal one ?

[Ken Dennis]

A vertical band saw is primarily made for cutting wood, but it can with the right blade be used for cutting metal!
You would have to do the feeding on a vertical though, so you are in control of the piece during the whole cut, and the feeding is done freehand, a horizontal bandsaw has a clamp for the metal, and the feeding is done by the slow drop of the saw onto the metal, regulated usually by a hydraulic ram that holds the blade head up until you set the feed to lower it.

[eyspy]

Thanks for that, much appreciated. Now I will see what I can find in foreclosure sales armed with that info.
Cheers....

[Craig in Denver]

I have a 15" Craftsman metal cutting vertical bandsaw. What I didn't realize is that it won't cut off a piece longer than the 15" neck. In other words, If I want to cut a 16" piece off of a 10 footer, I can't do it.

[DesertRider33]

I have a wood cutting 14" miter saw with a carbide blade that works great for cutting aluminum. For steel, I use primarily the 14" abrasive chop saw for straight cuts or the Evolution 10" compound miter saw with carbide blade for cutting miters. On the truck, I use the 14" chop saw, the sawzall, or the 4.5" angle grinder with cutting disc.

If I had the money and space in the shop, I would have a large horizontal band saw that can miter cut. So I guess my vote on the 'dream saw' would be the band saw.

[Ken Dennis]

One other thing I forgot to mention!
That saw I posted, has a built in cooling/lubricating system, to aid in cutting, if I where to use the fine cut blade, and the cooling system, the cut would be so fine that it would have almost a mirror finish when done!
But unfortunately, I can't use it at the moment, I need to replace the pump motor on it.

Also, these saws come in a variety of cut size configurations, in how high and wide they can cut, this one can cut material up to 10"x16" it has a 1"x107" blade, others can be either smaller cut or larger cut like that monster in the post above!
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Opps!
Just went out and read the specs on it, and it is a 9"x14" capacity saw!

[papasloan]

Originally Posted by Craig in Denver

I have a 15" Craftsman metal cutting vertical bandsaw. What I didn't realize is that it won't cut off a piece longer than the 15" neck. In other words, If I want to cut a 16" piece off of a 10 footer, I can't do it.

Portable band saw in a vise will cut any length you want up to 4" But you cant cut long strips off more than about 2" wide.

[ed mac]

i looked at a lot of saws a good cold saw
is $3000.00 and up and blades are hundreds
i can have a band saw blade delivered to me for $30.00
what did it for me is that the cold saws are 3 phase
so i went with the grizzly g0613 so i could do miter cuts too
its a great saw for $1500.00

[tnjind]

I used to work for a saw manufacturer, sold BIG cold saws and BIG bandsaws.

The cold saws spoiled me.
I finally found a small manual coldsaw in a free paper, paid $500 for it.
It is three phase so I bought a freq. drive for it. It now runs o 220v single phase.

I buy my blades off of ebay, used about 20 bucks, found a new one for 60 bucks.

I have my blades sharpened for around 12 bucks.

This saw is a truely accurate cutter, more accurate then a new scotchman saw.

It is dead on vertical and the miters are true.

I don't think I could get as true of a cut with a bandsaw.

The only thing is you gotta run coolant or you toast the blade, kinda messy.

I don't even have my bandsaw at the shop anymore.