Portable Bandsaw - Anyone have any experience with one of these? Have one I could borrow?
Not cruiser related.. (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter Diesel Cruiserman
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Sawsall is my go to... never used one or had one.
There's one at work. I tried it once.
Cut pretty fast but it's kinda big and bulky. I dunno. I didn't really take to it.
I was thinking of using it to trim the extruded aluminum roof bars. But I’ve come to realize the saw blade will just slag and clog on aluminum. I’ll be using a Walter thin disc.
Anything you use to cut wood works well on aluminum. Coarser sawsall etc.
Zip disks like to explode on aluminum I find.
Thanks for the warning about the discs. My welder suggested cut off saw, but that's just a giant disc. I was thinking
7 1/4" saw, got a 40 tooth blade. I might just try it, blade depth control and angle/directional control being the reason.
My concern is hardness of the extruded aluminum, since I cut all that stuff for the boat trailer last year which was all
softer I think. Just don't know for certain. Guess can't hurt to give it a cautionary attempt.
If I need to grind aluminum I'll often just use a circular saw, hold the guard back and gently let it chew. Takes high welds off in seconds.
A good safety squint is important.
For cutting aluminum my go to is usually the compound miter saw at full RPM and a slow cut... cuts like a hot knife through butter.
While working with a locksmith I used a wafer thin cutoff disk in a die grinder to cut into a $10k+ commercial aluminum set of double doors. It did the job great, and it worked flawlessly. I realize they can potentially explode on aluminum but it was fine.
Carbide router bit with small incremental passes has also worked well for my... machined my hood spear that way since I didn't have access to a milling machine at the time.
While working with a locksmith I used a wafer thin cutoff disk in a die grinder to cut into a $10k+ commercial aluminum set of double doors. It did the job great, and it worked flawlessly. I realize they can potentially explode on aluminum but it was fine.
Carbide router bit with small incremental passes has also worked well for my... machined my hood spear that way since I didn't have access to a milling machine at the time.
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GTSSportCoupe
2LTE abuser
You know they make zip discs specifically for aluminum, right? Steel ones will clog, explode, do weird unwanted kinda s***.
The oceanic and tuberous one speaks truth, anything to cut wood will cut aluminum nicely. Carbide tips on anything work well on ally.
Isopropyl alcohol is a good cutting lubricant for aluminum or specific wax for aluminum cutting.
My current gig is exclusively T6 -6061 fabrication and welding. The shop I work at has heaps of cheap “wood work” kinda gear for dealing with that shiny weird metal
HTH’s.
Cheers
Crusty
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No. So yes that helps. I still haven't cut them as I'm attempting a mod to them and other
things have happened to delay this.
I have some… might even be down your way soon-ish.
I'm home alone for the next 3 days. Be nice to have company, always got coffee. I can show you my latest additions to myI have some… might even be down your way soon-ish.
fleet of 4 Toyotas!
Pretty happy, just bought myself a free standing overhead crane for the barn / shop... Been wanting one ever since I helped sea potato out up an i beam crane.
Need to do some disassembling and figure out how to get it home.
Measures around 3.5m high, 6m wide and something like 15-20m long.
Trying to think if there's some clever way to have it extend out the front of the barn so I can offload stuff outdoors or if I will need to live with backing in.
Any ideas?
Need to do some disassembling and figure out how to get it home.
Measures around 3.5m high, 6m wide and something like 15-20m long.
Trying to think if there's some clever way to have it extend out the front of the barn so I can offload stuff outdoors or if I will need to live with backing in.
Any ideas?
Is it just like 2 or 4 legs with an I beam across?
Ya pretty much, it's got 6 or 8 legs, then ibeams between those, then another beam on rails in between with a carriage that has the winch on it. Then another rail of some sort to carry the wires so they don't get bound up.
We found a stone mason going out of business so we bought some stone (marble / granite etc) from him... For kitchen counters and stuff And I half ass asked how much he wanted for the crane. He offered it to me for what I thought was pretty cheap, and I said I'd think about it. When I went back he offered it to me for 1/3 the price
Haha nice.Ya pretty much, it's got 6 or 8 legs, then ibeams between those, then another beam on rails in between with a carriage that has the winch on it. Then another rail of some sort to carry the wires so they don't get bound up.
We found a stone mason going out of business so we bought some stone (marble / granite etc) from him... For kitchen counters and stuff And I half ass asked how much he wanted for the crane. He offered it to me for what I thought was pretty cheap, and I said I'd think about it. When I went back he offered it to me for 1/3 the price
I mean you could have it so another beam was slung underneath the current one that'd extend out... probably could get a few feet of extension before things started to get weird.
Don't know if that's worth the hassle compared to backing in once in a while.
I've been tempted to pull mine down and build tracks at the ends, so the beam could move.
It'd be nice to have even 4' feet of movement the other way.
But it's only come up a couple times. Even as it sits it's great to have. Not even remotely in the way when not in use... unlike engine hoists you trip over and curse 364 days of the year
I could actually put another one in the other room of my shop running perpendicular...
Ya it's probably not worth the effort, I found some examples of T shaped doors to allow for a crane but I guess it's just overkill... Realistically anything I could pickup with the crane inside, I could back in the door.Haha nice.
I mean you could have it so another beam was slung underneath the current one that'd extend out... probably could get a few feet of extension before things started to get weird.
Don't know if that's worth the hassle compared to backing in once in a while.
I've been tempted to pull mine down and build tracks at the ends, so the beam could move.
It'd be nice to have even 4' feet of movement the other way.
But it's only come up a couple times. Even as it sits it's great to have. Not even remotely in the way when not in use... unlike engine hoists you trip over and curse 364 days of the year
I could actually put another one in the other room of my shop running perpendicular...
The cheapness is strong in this one. 
Linkage damper on the old JD. A new one is a stupid amount of money when all it does is smooth out the drive lever.
Should be able to top it up without too much drama when it inevitably s***s out it's fluid again.
Linkage damper on the old JD. A new one is a stupid amount of money when all it does is smooth out the drive lever.
Should be able to top it up without too much drama when it inevitably s***s out it's fluid again.
My mom was clearing out her storage room.
