I'd be interested in cutting mild steel plate up to maybe 1/4" and perhaps angle or thicker bar once in a while, also Aluminum up to 3/4" thick.
I rather avoid anything by Central Machinery or other PRC manufactures.
Would be happy with new, rebuilt or used.
Any recommendations?
New? Try: (14" Wilton wood/metal vertical bandsaw, about $1000)
You could adapt an old cast iron jigsaw to cut metal sheet and other shapes. I'm referring to a real jigsaw with the solid overarm as part of the one-piece casting, and has a return spring for the blade (not a light duty scroll saw and not a sabre saw, as some folks refer to as a jigsaw). I've adapted an old Craftsman to use 5" sections of hacksaw blades.
The 4x6" bandsaw won't allow very wide parts to be cut for any considerable length of cut. A bandsaw is faster of course, but the 4x6 doesn't accomodate a piece like an 16" square cut from a 24x48" section of sheet.
I made some blade holders for the jigsaw to hold blades sideways, instead of teeth normally facing forward, so that long pieces of sheet can be cut. This way, a long section can be cut without running into the back of the frame casting. I needed to fabricate another stock holding foot (the part that holds the metal down on the table), because the position of the blade was different.
The turning cuts are sacrificed when using wide blades, but hacksaw or bandsaw blades will provide a lot of 5" sections.
WB ................
I just bought an OLD Delta Vertical metal/wood 14 inch bandsaw for 500. This model has 4 metal speeds and 1 wood speed. Needs paint but seems like it will keep on going for a long time.
chuck
I have a 1950's Walker Turner 14" wood/metal bandsaw that I've been pretty happy with. Any big stuff gets cut on an old Wellsaw 8M horizontal bandsaw. Not sure the vertical bandsaw with a 1/2" blade would be so good on really thick stuff. I've seen big Do-All vertical saws go at auction between $600 and $1000, although that was a few years ago and auction prices seem to have rebounded, unfortunately.
Was wondering if there were any smallish metal cutting bandsaws on the market other than the ubiquitous HF horizontal/vertical, and evidently there are not. There are smallish wood cutting bandsaws.
I had been planning on getting a 12" or 14" bandsaw for wood, it looks like the best route would be to get one that does both wood and metal. Although I only have plans to do relatively small metal parts, it is much easier to cut small stock with big tools than to cut big stock with small. Contour cutting is important to me.
So it looks like I'll be looking for a 12" or 14" used Delta or similar. Deltas seem to be the most common but Powermatics are good for wood, do they make a metal/wood bandsaw also?
If you've got a little more room than the Delta needs, don't count out a
16" DoAll. The old MLs and Metalmasters are tough as nails and 10x the machine the Delta is. The downside is that they top out at 1500 FPM in high range, which is a little slow for serious woodworking. The newer DoAlls generally go up to ~5000 FPM.For example...
Ned Simmons
You might consider a portable band saw:
I made a holder that I can clamp in the vise to hang it on. I've rigged a way to work the switch and added a very small "table" held on with a small vise grip. Mighty handy for the small things of life. I even own a horizontal, but use the daylights out of this simple piece.
I don't think you will succeed in the contour end of this world. Metal cutting blades of which I am aware start at 1/2" and get larger (deeper). Curves and contours do not lend themselves to deep blades. Steel and it's blades are just not the same as wood stuff.
(top posted for your convenience) ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Keep the whole world singing . . . . DanG (remove the sevens) snipped-for-privacy@7cox.net
That sounds pretty cool.
Well then, how does one cut curves in aluminum and steel plate? One wold suppose the minimum radius would be a function of the width of the blade, how tight a curve could be cut with a 1/2" blade?
Gunner
"War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things. The decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks that nothing is worth war is much worse. The person who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing which is more important than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature and has no chance of being free unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself."
- John Stewart Mill
blade?
cutting
OK and a tighter radius convex curve can be cut by taking a series of cuts tangential to the curve followed by a bit of grinding.
Indeed. Which increases your production time dramatically.
Gunner
"War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things. The decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks that nothing is worth war is much worse. The person who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing which is more important than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature and has no chance of being free unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself."
- John Stewart Mill
Pictures? Plans? Hints? C'mon Dan, quit holding out on us!
Increases it with respect to what alternative?
Using a thinner blade that will turn tighter. Up to a certain point. After that..its waterjet, lazer or edm time. No free lunches Im afraid.
Anything that requires additional steps in production increases your time...ie the tangental cuts themselves take a great deal of time, as does the finish grinding. Which is why bandsaws are seldom used in contour cutting anymore (relatively speaking)..there are faster alternatives with far less second operations attached to them. Shrug.
Gunner
Liberals - Cosmopolitan critics, men who are the friends of every country save their own. Benjamin Disraeli
Thanks.
That is sort of what I figured. Those alternatives are somewhat out of the reach of the home hobbiest who simply wants to upgrade from a hacksaw.
Hacksaw upgrade? I found an old Craftsman/King-Seeley (wood) bandsaw at a garage sale, $10, same model as this one:
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