Portable band saws

"Don D" wrote: Would the portable band saw work better that a sawsall for cutting steel? ^^^^^^^^^^^ Yes. I use a Milwaukee portable band saw all the time, and before that I had two Portabands. By comparison, the Sawsall vibrates horribly. ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ and how thick of stock can you cut before you should use a torch. I used my sawsall to cut a bed frame over the weekend and I made one cut and dullened a new blade ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Bedframe material is very high in carbon--it's really hard, and hard on saw blades. You might have dulled a bandsaw blade doing the same thing. I think it would be cheaper to buy regular mild steel angle iron. You can cut that all day with one blade ^^^^^^^^^^^ I see HF has a sale on

it worth the money for minimum use for now till it dies or over abuse? ^^^^^^^^^^ HF tools vary widely in quality. Hundreds of people swear by their little 4

1/2" grinders, but many of their other tools are crap. This one is a LOT cheaper than the name brands, and, in IMHO might be worth the gamble. ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ It does not say how thick of stock just capacity. What about say used 3" gas pipe or just 1/4 angle iron? ^^^^^^^^^^^^^ I cut anything that will fit under the blade. If the stock is thick, the cutting goes slow, but it can be done. Rocking the saw slightly reduces the width of blade contact, and makes things go better

Get yourself some good bimetal blades. I think you'll like them better.

Do a search for bimetal.

There are many other sources. Not trying to push the Chinese stuff this site just came to mind.

Actually, they had a good port-a-band style saw on sale recently. A search for "bandsaw" will probably turn it up - as a portable bandsaw.

D> I used my

Don't sell your 000 tip short. With practice you can get very good. Cut from toe to heel. Use a piece of one inch solid square bar as a guide for your torch. Scribe your lines and use a relatively light shade of lense.. I use a number 4 Lastly, use small preheat flames. Randy

Thanks a lot guys. I do like the 000 cutting tip, nice and clean, very little grinding to clean it up. I found this saw in NORTHERN TOOLS

may try this one for the cuts that have to be right on the mark. At least things can be clamped down... I do not know if the cuts angles. It looks like it may be for straight cuts only, I could not tell in the pic.

abuse?

"Leo Lichtman" wrote: (clip) HF tools vary widely in quality (clip) many of their other tools are crap. This one is a LOT cheaper than the name brands, and, in IMHO might be worth the gamble. ^^^^^^^^^^^^ My curiosity , and my love of a bargain got the better of me, and I just ordered one of these HF portable band saws. I will be happy to report back after I have had a chance to try it, but 1.) I'm sure the sale will be over by then, and 2.) You won't want to sit around that long waiting to finish your project. However, next time it goes on sale I'll be ready to help others decide. Of course, one saw is not a very good statistical sample.

I understand that bedframe material is made from scrap steel and very little attention is paid to batch and uniform quality. Consequently, carbon content can vary from piece to piece and within each piece. It is possible that a weld in a high carbon area on a bed frame could result in a very brittle and, hence, failure-prone weld. My personal conclusion is to avoid bed fram steel for something that will carry a load. OTH, I sometimes find bedframes for free and for the right project you cannot beat that price. Hummm....It just occurred to me that because I ought to avoid cutting bedframe steel on my dry cut saw.

BTW, have you considered a dry cut saw?

Ciao, David Todtman

"David Todtman" wrote: (clip).It just occurred to me that because I ought to avoid cutting bedframe steel on my dry cut saw.(clip) ^^^^^^^^^^^^ Doesn't a dry cut saw use an abrasive wheel? That is an ideal way to cut hard material like bed rails.

I am sure you are right about the sloppy control of the metal that goes into bed rails. However, I have never run across any that are mild or soft. I have the impression that they always have high carbon, so they won't sag when the occupants of the bed bounce (or whatever.)