miter vs. chop saws

two thing I could think of;

on the chopsaw it is all metal construction with heavy shield (fence) over the blade the mittersaw has plastic shied, and it will melt when the spark shower starts to fly, believe me mine did. (under continuos use.)

also if you use your mitter saw for wood , you will have lots of wood particle and dust in the collector area. sparks and saw dust = fire hazard.

chop saw also has quick adjust clamp to secure a wide variety of material, with the mitter saw , not so.

mitter saw can be used for cutting metal, if you do it once in a while, and clean out the sawdust. Even tho, my mitter saw manual specifically highlighs "not to cut metal" with the saw ever.

oh yes, make sure you remove the cloth type saw dust collecter at the back of the saw. or the flying sparks will burn a whole through it with in 5 seconds. mine did.

i h>I am considering purchasing a miter saw to use for cutting steel. I

For the difference (very little) I'm considering buying a cheapo horizontal/vertical 4 1/2" bandsaw. You can buy new imports for under $130 and they cut cleaner, faster, much quieter and more accurately than a chop saw, plus you get the choice of vertical or horizontal cutting. I do a lot of tubing and angle, so this works out good for me. Blades are cheap as well.

I would *not* use a wood miter saw for metal. Speed is wrong and the motor will suck up bits of metal and die an early death.

Other >I am considering purchasing a miter saw to use for cutting steel. I

If you are going to cut any quantity of steel, buy yourself an abrasive cutoff saw designed for cutting steel. Big box stores have these for under $200 as does Harbor Fright. Even the cheap ones will have metal guards that won't melt/catch on fire like most plastic miter saw guards. Makita, Dewalt, Milwaukee and other make these saws.

If you only need to cut a few pieces of steel (ever), then try to find a beater miter saw at a garage sale. Expect to kill it quickly. These tools are not shielded like a metal saw and the abrasive dust will wreak havok on the motor if the saw doesn't melt or burst into flames first.

The only saw I can think of that will cut wood and steel is a worm-drive circular saw equiped with a wood OR a metal cutting blade. Search through the recent archives here to find discussion on these blades.

Google groups: Times change - A new way to cut steel by Ernie in this group recently

Another way to cut steel is with an angle grinder and cutoff wheel. That way you can keep your miter saw nice for wood. And you will need the grinder for other uses like getting rid of the burr from the cut.

Mixing woodworking tools (sawdust) with metalworking tools (abrasive dust, red hot metal & sparks) is not a good idea and is false economy as far as I'm concerned.

Good luck,

Jeff Dantzler

Your best option is a Dry-cut saw like this

One of the best budget metal cutting mitre saws here in the uk is this:

regards Tim

If I could do it over again I would never have bought a 14" abrasive saw. Instead I would have done the 4x6 band saw that Jamie mentions. Faster, nicer cuts, cleaner and quieter. The $10 HSS blades from Home Depot have worked out fine for me. One day I'll try a high quality bi-metallic blade.

I got mine at Harbor Freight on sale for $140. I think Enco has something similar. Add a water cooling hose and you've got a cold saw baby! Lots of posts about modifying these saws on rec.crafts.metalworking and a couple of websites too.

For just some quick cuts, you can use abrasive cut off wheels in your

The +$400 dewalt and porter cable saws with the metal blade sound pretty nice - I can get 2 or 3 saws for the same money though - one for 90s one for 45 angle cuts and one spare. :-)

It would have helped if the original poster mentioned exactly what type of steel will be cut. If it is mostly thin stuff - gauge sheet metal - the abrasive cut offs are okay. I would rate the Ryobi ~$160 as the best buy compared to the ~$160 milwaukee or the $180 Dewalt.

Then there are those handheld bandsaws by porter cable and milwaukee.

Jay