Oooooooo It's Rigid

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brokenparts said:
I have one of the cheapo harbor freight bandsaws. It's not the fastest, doesnt cut exactly on 90s but it does do an ok job for the price. Like Mace said throw the blade it came with away right away. I went to 18t bi-metal blade and it made a world of difference.

I also bought one of the HF chopsaws and it does and ok job as well.

Overall I'm happy with both but then again I'm not super technical fabber as some people are. Does it look like sh*t... yes but does it do the job... yes!
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WHICH HF bandsaw? i was just over there and they had what looked like a fairly heavy duty model for just over 2 bills.

i totally understand the quietness thing, at home i'd try to cut as much as possable before it got to late ;)
 
honk said:
Boyfriends easy to find in Florida? :flipoff2:

2bad, really, if you need to do a lot of stock chopping a horizontal band saw is well worth money. Better blades, auto stop, coolant delivered at the cut, and above all.....QUIET. You can walk away and do something else while it's cutting too.
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I have the Milwaukee 6190-20 dry cold cut off saw, which is very nice. Very few sparks, much faster cuts, far more rigid than an abrasive wheel and it does not heat the metal to the degree that an abrasive wheel does. The saw runs at 1500 rpm and is quieter than any of the abrasive saws I've used. It has a 14" 72 tooth blade that will cut 5"OD pipe and a 5"x5" Capacity in Square Stock. The cut material requires little clean up for the next operation. It is more expensive up front but when you add the cost of all those abrasive wheels it should be a cheaper cost per cut over the long run (in time I'll know). I was ready to buy another abrasive chop saw. I was out at Tim Hill's place and we got on the conversation of cutting birds mouths with bimetal hole saws and he brought out his Porter Cable dry cold cut off saw and proceeded to show me how he made them. Gosh, it was fast, easy and the fit was close enough that after welding you would be hard pressed to tell how the tube was notched. I justified the additional cost for this saw over an abrasive saw because of the money I saved using this method to notch tubes instead of upgrading to a $300 tube notcher.
6190-20-lg.webp
 
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The cold cut saw is a very nice unit. but it is not as quiet as a band saw and still requires more user input.

Both are great tools and options are great.

I prefer plasma cutters for the flat plate ;)
 
I have a Harbor Freight green one paid ~$135 on sale. It's stock with a Morse bi-metal 10/14 blade from Enco, works great! Took some adjusting, fiddling when new, but cuts straight and I prefer it big time over the chop saw.

There is an active group, http://groups.yahoo.com/group/4x6bandsaw/ and a bunch of web sites about them.
 
Mace said:
The cold cut saw is a very nice unit. but it is not as quiet as a band saw and still requires more user input.

Both are great tools and options are great.

I prefer plasma cutters for the flat plate ;)
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Very true. My friend has a stationary band saw that can be used horizontally or vertically and it is a fine tool. It is very quite compared to the dry cold cut off saw.
 
Waorani said:
I've got a couple of different band saws and an abrasive chop saw but recently bought a DeWalt DW872 chop saw with carbide tipped blade. I was a little skeptical at first but nice clean cuts fast with minimal setup. Slings a lot of chips though.
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We bought one of these for work. Most of my guys won't use it as they are scared of binding a blade and chipping a tooth which has happened several times. OTT, I really like using it for both the cold cuts and less smoke/crap than abrasive.
 
thanx for all the extra info guys.

part II
my PO$ lowes brand 4.5" grinder quit on me last night and they dont offer replacement brushews.
soooo what did i do?
went and bought a new RIDGID 4.5" grinder :D talk about being quiet, well for a grinder at least.
even came with a sweet storage bag, i'll be using that for tools ;)
lifetime warranty offered on it also:bounce:

i am very impressed with this company

:grinpimp:
 
Because I'm a cheap ass... and I work on my junk as a hobby and not for a living, I've been buying Ryobi tools while in the box stores. So far so good with my Ryobi grinder, 18v drill, 18v electric impact, and a couple other little tools.
 
2badfjs said:
thanx for all the extra info guys.

part II
my PO$ lowes brand 4.5" grinder quit on me last night and they dont offer replacement brushews.
soooo what did i do?
went and bought a new RIDGID 4.5" grinder :D talk about being quiet, well for a grinder at least.
even came with a sweet storage bag, i'll be using that for tools ;)
lifetime warranty offered on it also:bounce:

i am very impressed with this company

:grinpimp:
Click to expand...
For 4-1/2" grinders I have a Metabo that I love, but also several cheapo ones. Some times it's convenient to have several with different discs on them so you can just pick it up and go. I keep the Metabo for the hard core though and the cheap crap for the light work.
 
2bad...


See that chop saw down on the floor under the steel rack? That was purchased new in 1994. DeWalt rebuilt the motor on it twice. It has been used twice since the fall of ’03, when I decided that I needed something different.



Grinder5.jpg





Ellis 1600 mitre band saw



On the topic of grinders; as Junk states, get a few of them. Cone-shaped coarse wire wheel, thin cut off wheel, a 4.5” sander, and a dedicated grinder. You will also likely find that a 7” with an 80-grit sanding disc on it works wonders on things.



Hit up pawnshops, or used tool dealers. Most will let you run it before you pay for it, and you can find deals if you look. Not having to change tooling cuts fabrication time significantly.


I have rotary sanding, cutting, and reciprocating air tools, along with four electric grinders, three 4.5” and one 7” at the shop, and many times, EVERYTHING is out, and I could use more.


Do not even get me going on Vise-Grips..... :rolleyes:



:beer:
 
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