cold saw recommendations?

I would only reccommend German brands, so I shut off. ;-) But what you have to pay attention to is that the rear (fixed) jaw of the vise and the axis of rotation (vertical) of the blade are in one line. If not, the backgage doesn't help at all when making mitered cuts. Yes, that crap exists, mostly coming from China.

Nick

Hi Grant.

Can't help a lot, (I'm not a local) but I use a Brobo cold cutoff all the time, and love it. From memory (I'm not at work) its wheel is about 300mm and it runs at about 40-60 rpm (guess) in a constant wash of suds.

I am (was) amazed at its speed through mild steel and the magnificent quality/accuracy of the cut. I will *never* go back to abrasive cut-off.

Negs? Not many:

• Messy to clean up, but so what?
• Has to be attended at all times (unlike the old power hacksaws) and the operator has to exercise judgement in feeding the expensive blade into uncooperative material. No big deal, though, as the cuts are completed so quickly.

It beats the alternatives (incl. bandsaws) hands down, IMNSHO.

No idea about DRO - never seen one on a saw. Mitre accuracy - once set up - would be to the limit of your measuring ability.

Yes - I like it.

-- Jeff R.

One of the places I get steel at has a DeWalt cold saw that works well. Nice portable, much like a regular chop saw. Nothing digital or precision on it, but I expect you could buy this saw and fab up a workstation around it with all the adjustable stops you want for a lot less than it would cost for a cold saw that included those features.

Pete C.

Grant..Call Leigh at MarMachine. He may be able to fix you up.

Gunner

"Deep in her heart, every moslem woman yearns to show us her t*ts" John Griffin

I have a brand new "Scratch & Dent" MEP cold saw available for $3000. It is in perfectly new order but was tipped over and needed minor repair, now accomplished. You'd save about a grand on it if your brother was headed north or you could wait until April and meet me in Portland. Comes with a couple of blades and manual. The newer Brobos are crap. I have one of the old ones and it is OK but no parts available. If you buy a cold saw make sure it was made in Italy or Germany. The rest of the world "doesn't get it". Leigh at MarMachine

Those DeWALT saws are not properly considered cold saws though, right? You are talking about ones that run at 1300 RPM and have carbide teeth, right?

I never looked that closely at it or checked the RPM. It's certainly not a hot saw and it leaves a nice cut. I'd certainly consider it acceptable for railing fab use and indeed that steel place also fabs railings.

Less money spent on the saw = more profit from the jobs and since the DeWalt saw seems to work just fine that's what I'd get personally and just fab a little workstation around it like people do with wood chop saws.

Pete C.

"Ignoramus13628" wrote

IIRC, the last cold saws I looked at had about 50 rpm.

Steve

Of course, maybe I did not RC.

Yep, it is 1,300 RPM. It's still "cold" and leaves a very clean cut, unlike the abrasive chop saws. It's also

Grant,

I just recently picked up the Hitachi CD14F dry-cut saw and it's been terrific. Very powerful and has a good clamp and miter set-up.

I compared it to the Milwaukee and Dewalt while shopping and it just seemed to have a beefier build and less needless frills/plastic.

My previous experience with Hitachi tools was also a guide for me to expect good things.

The stock blade is very high-quality. I'm curious to try one of the Tenyru blades for SS next.

Chris

I was just looking at the Dewalt DW872

Well, Ernie touts the Porter Cable 1410. If I were going to go with a small unit like this, I'd probably use that one. But please keep us posted on how the Hitachi unit holds up. It cuts steel OK?

Grant

cpetrauskas wrote:

Those little Hitachi and Dewalt things are NOT cold saws. They are "dry cut saws", but a 100lb tool that is made from stampings, uses a little half horse or less plastic motor, and runs a carbide blade at a couple thousand rpm is a whole different beast from a cold saw.

Those little saws have their place- they are cheap and portable, and will work fine on thin wall or small stuff. The blades can be resharpened, but are more or less disposable after a couple of times.

A real cold saw will weigh 3 to 5 times as much, be made from really solid castings, and have a lot more power and torque. My Haberle is 3 1/2hp, and at 50 rpm or so, the torque is unbelievable. I can easily cut 2" solid square with it, pretty quick.

A real cold saw will have built in flood coolant- this is essential to keep the toothed carbon steel blade from burning up.

A real cold saw costs- because you are paying for mass, machining time, and qualtiy components.

If you can afford one, it will last forever, cut accurately, and handle material the little home depot saws could never do.

My saw, which I bought used in 92 from a production shop, is still tight and accurate, easy to set angles on, and should outlive me. You get what you pay for.

I think a real cold saw is a bit overkill for tube railing fab where the pseudo cold saw should do just fine. I don't think Grant is building many container ships where he needs to cut solid bar.

Pete C.

--Remember if you can wait 'til March and don't mind a trip to Los Angeles you can see all the brands in action at WESTEC. Go to sme.org for more info on when/where. Usually you can buy new there with a discount during the week of the event.

Plus, the Dewalt can be had for $400 delivered. The similar but cheesier Chinese model is $270 from Northern

Wayne

What does this word mean- "Overkill" ?

I have never understood this.

Bigger, better, higher quality, heavier and harder to move are all positive attributes, in my book.

Of course, I read tool catalogs in the bathtub.

But why would anybody ever want LESS tool?