Metal Chop Saw Vs Band Saw

Yes, I wrecked a carbide blade on a piece of bed-frame angle iron - turns out they are hardened steel. I believe re-bar can be of somewhat unknown hardness too.

Also I am now more careful about how I feed the blade into the work-piece.

 

I have the bandsaw. Works great!

 

I've got a RIGID abrasive chop saw I've used for at least 17 years now. Noisy, messy, likes to trip 15A breakers, but it's cheap to use and great to have. I've cut a ton of metal with that thing. I do all my cutting on the floor for easier cleanup with a broom.

 

I have a portaband on a swag offroad stand. I use it alot for making brackets and tabs. I can get straight cuts on flat bar or plate but the blade flexes and throws off the cut on angle and square tube. If you plan on cutting mostly tubing and angle iron the cold cut chop saw would definitely be the better choice.

 

I’ve been meaning to get the SWAG stand. I’m very happy with their press brake so far and various other products.

 

An abrasive saw, as previously posted, will cut hardened materials the other will not. They still have a place but I'll bet I haven't used my DeWalt in over a year.

 

I have an old Ridgid (I think) abrasive chop saw. Bought it off Craig's List or Facebook for like $25-35 something like that. I haven't even replaced the blade. Being an abrasive it'll cut anything, albeit noisily and messily. But it gets it done. On the I'll get around to it list is a SWAG portaband stand. I build their press brake kit and have used it for both home projects and business. Happy with their products. Going forward I'll be shopping for a cold cut chop saw, the ones that run a lot lower rpm than the abrasive saws. The cold cut machines seem to not readily available used and are premium tools new. While I just looked on Facebook and your old fashioned noise and sparks chop saw can be had for $20-$150. It won't be a professional production machine, but it'll be a leap forward from burning up 4" angle grinder discs.


Matt

 

I have a cheap metal band saw and a cheap disc abrasive saw. If I could only have one, it would be the band saw. It does almost everything the chop saw does and a bunch more. If you take the time to set it up right, it will cut straight and do a great job, just slowly. I also use it to cut curves and such and made a bandsaw type table for it so I could use it upright.

 

This....

I have not used a cold saw, they look great, but for portability and versatility I love a porta band..

 

I use a portaband regularly.

So to update this, I bought this https://www.dewalt.com/product/dcs5...ordless-worm-drive-style-saw-90ah-battery-kit just to cut aluminum sheet. Got the aluminum blade and a steel blade. For the 10 or so cuts in 1/4" 6061 aluminum sheet, its has been as good as a corded worm drive. Zero bogging down or any of the irritating stupid stuff the old toy like battery saws used to be. I haven't used it to frame a wall or anything, so I cant comment yet.

 

I have that.. It should say Fisher Price on it.. It came in a set from Porter Cabbe.. The drill and driver have been tanks, the saw, not so much..

 

I got a flea market P-C skilsaw. Wasn't any good until I switched to L-ion batteries, then it came to life. Not a production saw, but very handy for working on a ladder or such.

Of course now I'm finding the chinesium L-ion batteries are about 50/50 on sudden failures...

 

I've got a Jet band saw, and an abrasive chop saw. I use the chop saw alot more.

 

Exactly. There is a reason why all these different tools exist; they are good at certain things and not others.

Axle shafts are case hardened, not through hardened. It toughens the "shell" of the shaft and the splines without making the shaft brittle. Under shock loading the shaft actually deflects in torsion just a tiny bit. A through hardened shaft would not tolerate that and would fail.

 

One thing to note is the heat put into the work by the tool. We use a band saw to slowly cut case hardened pressbrake tooling. It takes a while but the hardness is unaffected.

 

That is the case for common carbon steels used for axle shafts such as 1040, 1050, and 1541H, but less so for many of the chromemoly steels which are frequently through hardened. And yes, modifying stock axle shafts can negate that hardening.