1. Still best maker intro on YT 2. One thing helps viewers on sped up vid segments- show the speed multiple &/or the machining time like you did on the abrasive cleaning vid on the old vise or just verbalize it on completion
Thank you for sharing the knowledge. I’m a blacksmith and toolmaker and struggling to find the right metal cutting saw for my projects. This helps a ton!
In my shop I run only one tooth pitch on the 350 cold saw and that is a corse pitch and high speed on all thin tubing up to 5mm Thick over that or solid I use slow speed. I find with this setup I get the most number of cuts per sharpening as I use the saw daily. For some ideas on the drilling video I use a wood splayed drill when drilling plastics as they don’t bite as hard and Clean out better.
My new favorite show includes one of my favorite wood workers, April Wilkerson and then who shows up on their third or fourth show? CHRIS! You were great and totally blasted the competitor in Assembly Required! I told my wife, this guy will totally wipe the other guy out and you did! CONGRATS!! Great job as usual!!!
This video was super usefull to me. Thank you. Just small tip: put a stopwatch in background, so we can see for example real cutting time if you speed up the video.
Thanks for the great video. I found a Powermatic 143 at a garage sale years ago at a bargain price and it is also my favorite saw. I bought rolls of bandsaw blade stock on eBay and a Harbor Freight bandsaw blade welder because of the cost of blades. There were many failed attempts to anneal the weld, but finally I turned off the shop lights and could see the color of the metal easier. My success rate went way up and I no longer worry about breaking a blade.
I have an 80-90 year old power hacksaw. Its quiet and it cuts through big material like butter. It's got a hydraulic lift so you are only cutting with the blade in one direction. It has flood cooling. I think I paid 300 for mine. It's really big too. It infinitely adjustable. And the blades are really easy to find. I love the thing. I put a piece of material in there start it up and I can make a phone call while its running. It turns off when its done. It weighs about 400 lbs..... It's super accurate and the finish on the cut is outstanding. They are really hard to find. Everyone who's seen mine has wanted one. I only know of two who have found one.
The "Dad's saw" story was nice to include. I have an old shovel from my Dad. Those thoughts add to the enjoyment, in my opinion. Thanks for the video. KK
I make things out of old "bed frame" angle iron, utility trailers, truck racks, that sort of thing. It is hard to drill and hard to cut, but it welds up very nicely. Is it tempered or spring steel that makes it so hard to work with? I don't think a porta band saw will work with it. It eats up sawzall blades in no time. I use a 14 inch abrasive chop saw and thin abrasive blades on my angle grinder. Of course my plasma cutter makes short work of cutting it, too.
WOW. I've seen all these tools in different shops, but never in 1 shop! Closest 2nd was at a shipyard. Thanks for sharing. I still use abrasive saw like your inherited one for the reasons you pointed out. I use a carbide blade and reostat control to slow it down a bit also.
Congratulations on winning “Assembly Required”! I was watching the show a day later on DVR and I told my wife that I watch you on RU-vid. It was like watching a friend and pulling for them to win. Enjoy learning from your channel. What new tools will now be showing up in the shop or do you have other plans for the prize money? Blessings!
Evolution has a newer version of the 14" "cold" saw. It has a swivel head for miter cuts and can cut 4x4 square tube at 45°. Seems like the best affordable option without having to buy an expensive bandsaw.
I’m surprised you didn’t bring up a hacksaw, jigsaw or Sawzall. When I was a kid, a hacksaw (I hated using them) and a Black and Decker jigsaw (blade design caused the blades to break constantly) were all I had available to use. When I was 28, I got a two-speed Milwaukee Sawzall and still use it today, 42 years later.
Excellent video on comparison of all--all types of metal cutting saws. Very professional video, descriptions, printed costs, pros & cons, watch actual cutting of solid bar & tube. Well done Sir! A++ !👍👍👍🍺
Holy crap. That’s a lot of saws! 😅 I’ve a few cold cut saws and it drives me crazy how expensive the blades are. How often do you have to replace that cheap blade on the portable bandsaw? Just wanted to know how many cuts it will do before it completely dulls. Thanks
I've been cutting 6" square tubing 1/4 thick I've been cutting it with my grinder with Metabo cutting wheels I've been looking for a chop saw that can do the job on 45 degrees any recommendations.
The problem with abrasive saws is not only the huge amount of hot metal sparks, but the large amount of fiberglass and abrasive dust that spreads throughout the shop, linger in the air for hours. You breath that in, which is very unhealthy, and the abrasive powder gets on, and sometimes in, other machinery, damaging slides, bearings, etc. you need to at least wear a good dust mask, and safety glasses. If you must use one, it’s best to use it outdoors, weather permitting. My Diablo cermet blades on my 14” saw are made for steel and stainless steel (same blade). I’ve had one for two years, and it still works well. About $65-70. Not expensive. A stainless blade usually costs between $110-140. That’s expensive! Wear hearing protection with ALL these saws, even the bandsaw. They are LOUD, and will damage your hearing. Guaranteed. Metal cutting is loud, even if you don’t think so. It’s true that small bandsaw blades cost less, but because they’re shorter, they wear out faster. A 32” blade will wear out twice as fast as a 64” blade, which will wear out twice as fast a a 128” blade, which is close to the standard blade for a 14”-16” bandsaw.
I've often wondered if a site could be set up to look just at specific time spots and Yahoo, I see you have done it, fantastic, also I love the way that you put the various items to purchase in the way you did, you are obviously a damn smart person and very practical and I am going to be watching you and appreciating your expertise, thank you thank you thank you
This ones pretty simple, basically made of wood, with a piece of aluminum screwed to the plate that came on the saw. If your looking for a mount for that saw, or any porta band, look up Swag offroad, they make really nice tables and brackets to turn porta bands into bandsaws
Nice presentation, I like that you covered the whole topic with video and descriptions. I got a some good stuff from it. Even with years of experience in cutting different materials. The basics covering the portable band saws gives me a thought for my setup.
At this time I have the abrasive chop saw, Evolution shop saw and a band saw with coolant. I don't use the abrasive saw much but have it for hardened steel. Love the Evolution saw it is my newest. But now I want one of those Milwaukee battery saws. Thanks for the video.
Great job explaning. On the metal band saw. I usually have a spare blade for it on hand. When I break a blade in the middle of a job I always have a spare blade to get the job done. Then I order a new blade. As a rule I only cut metal from known stock. No used metal from scrap.
Thanks for the video. Over decades, I've acquired pretty much all of the tools mentioned costing under $250 as well as a jigsaw and sabre saw. Low cost bandsaws (as you mentioned) drift a lot, but are convenient. I also have a 14" abrasive cutoff saw which I almost never use because it is WAY too slow. The abrasive cutoff demo brings me to a confusing aspect of your video. In several instances, it appears as though you show a cut, but change the replay speed mid cut. But it is not explicitly clear that you have. For example, it is unclear if the abrasive cutoff actually cut that tubing in just 7 seconds 3:40 (mine takes many times as long). It would help the video to show replay speed up or add time stamps.
@@aberba I am by no means an expert on power tolls, let alone metal cutting. But, the right tool would fundamentally depend on what your trying to cut - both the material being cut, as well as its shape. For example, a bandsaw will be useless on a large flat sheet of sheet metal. But, assuming you're cutting tubing or rods, plate strips, etc., my preference is a bandsaw over an abrasive cutting disk. The bandsaw is quieter, does not produce dust (let alone dust that includes fine particulates from the abrasive cutoff saw), and does not shower the area with sparks when cutting steel. Also, I found that at least MY abrasive cutoff saw is slower than my bandsaw.
You spoke of knife making as an example in describing work applications. Yet not a word about the radius the different types of band saws and blade width will be able to accomplish cleanly.
Just found your site and I am about to go out and buy a metal cutting saw but was uncertain what is the best option for me at this time. Thank you for your sharing. Blessings from Australia.
I bought a new Milwaukie cold saw, $600 Canadian, first piece of metal I cut was 1/16" wall 1/2" square tube, it jammed right as it was finishing the cut and ripped off three of the teeth, that blade was done, bought a new blade for $160 Canadian, next I tried to cut 1/8" X 2" angle iron with the outside corner up, blade went dull instantly, so I installed an abrasive disk, used the saw for about a week and oil started running out of the gear box, sold the saw for $200, went back to my Milwaukie abrasive saw I had since they were first sold.
I’m shocked you had that experience. I’ve made literally thousands of cuts with mine… I use the Diablo cermet blades they are about $40us, and work great. I have noticed if the battery is low it’ll run slower and cause more binding…
Any dry cut metal saw with the carbide teeth blade is gonna FAR SUPPERIOR to band saws that cost thousands and definitely better than an abrasive saw which is the worst of them all. People complain about the cost of blades for the dry cut machines or that stainless steel is a problem? Why not just purchase a stainless steel cutting blade? Expensive? well let's add it up band saw is way too expensive cuts SUPER SLOW and takes way too much space also takes longer to replace blade add to that coolant cost and ALLOT OF MAINTENANCE. abrasive saw just flat out SUCKS BALLS. that leaves the dry cutting saw which cuts by far the fastest about 10 times faster if not more cuts super clean very easy and fast blade change no maintenance small foot print can be purchased for about $500 for a good one. but they complain about the blades costing over $100? The time saving alone more than justifies the cost of blades.
Very nice video this week Chris. Great info thanks. Keep up the great craftsmanship and hard work my friend. Can't wait to see ur next videos. Fab On. Keep Making. God Bless.
It was a pleasure watching the wide variety of saws that you have in your arsenal. Very educational, enlightening and it seemed like visiting a museum. Your explanation skill is exceptional I must say. Having seen all of your robust, best in class collection of saws I am a bit hesitant to ask you about hand held grinder machines which I wanted to know about. They too cut material, right? I had heard these hand held grinders are dangerous machine. If you could highlight some day about their usefulness vis-a-vis the hazzard it would be helpful. I like easy to operate small machine that does not give out sparks and doesn't split with pieces flying all around causing injury, yet does the job well and quick. Is there any thing of such sort?
I'm totally down with Making but I'm mainly using wood. I need to up my metal working game and the benchtop horizontal bandsaw or a screaming dry-cut chop saw seems just the ticket. In the review you said the bandsaw is going to be quieter. I'd expect that from the good ones but is that cheap WEN quieter than the dry-cut?
I have all these saws but 2 years ago I purchased a dewalt dry chop saw with the carbide blade. EVERYONE IN THE SHOP COMPLETELY FORGOT WE EVEN HAVE THE OTHER SAWS. we even sold some and put some in storage. The dry cut metal chop saw is just WAY TOO FAST SAVE TOO MUCH TIME AND CUTS THE CLEANEST TO CARE FOR THE COST OF BLADES.
hi, got a burning question, in our shop we just got cold saw just like u have and we cut square tubes but it cuts kinda slow, a lot slower than chop saw with abrasive disc and its also loud when cuts a tends to vibrate a lot, do we have wrong cuting disc on it or theres something else?
Thank you for the great video. I made my mind thanks to you and will buy a band saw for my non pro needs. One question, excluding the portable saws you have, why would you have any other saw if you already have this last professional 7000 dollar one? Great video.
So for my $1K budget would you go dry cut chop saw, or horizontal bandsaw? I almost exclusively cut mild steel, and have a very small shop. Trying to get into fabrication as a side gig.
bandsaw for straight cuts only, its probably the most convenient, likely-hood of finding one that miter cuts under 1k isnt that great. I will recommend looking into Diablo brand "Steel Demon" carbide blades for metal cutting miter/chop/cold saws. These blades are a tad bit cheaper than evo blades and also come in about any size you want, and turn any circular saw into a portable metal cutting saw with no clean up. Was pretty game changing for me.
@@BudMasta Thank for the reply! I actually got one of those diablo blades for my skill saw. Used it to cut up a sheet of 1/4" steel and was very impressed. I think I'll up my budget to $2K and get a 7x12 horizontal/ vertical bandsaw.
@@wannabejeeper That would do just about anything id imagine, badass saw. In the meantime, if you want something sooner rather than later, one of those diablo blades and a sliding miter saw for around 250-300 depending on the brand, isnt a bad way to start or move up from a circular saw.
My brother in law has a machine shop and a tool called a power hacksaw to cut metal stock. Industrial and large but what I noticed was that it would shut itself off when it finished cutting through the stock. It seemed to be slower than the machines shown in the video but he could do other things while it was cutting.
When I bought my 'cold cut' Milwaukee corded version (five years ago or so) one of the biggest drawbacks was that you could not see the cut line or the blade as you worked. Did you customize yours with that blade slit for the cut line?? The other thing I found was that there was really very little difference in rpm from my worm drive SkilSaw that I put metal blades on and have used for decades. So the "slower" rpm for metal just wasn't there. The chip catcher is nice but not totally effective. Much better than the SkilSaw but I will still use my worm drive instead as I can see exactly where I am cutting with different models and styles of blades. It is a decades long habit that I watch the blade not the shoe to confirm I am on the cut line and find I can't give that up. Also for some reason I find that the Milwaukee 'wanders' much more than the worm drive which I attribute to the awkward balance in comparison to the weight down low on the SkilSaw. So my Milwaukee sits unused in the cabinet.
Thanks! I am looking for a small metal cutting saw that will cut 1" square aluminum tubing with a 1/8" wall. Will be cutting the same sizes over and over. I have a VERY SMALL shop. I have saved your video.
Power hacksaw Similar to a band saw but just uses large hacksaw type blades, my dad's had one for years and it's way cheaper to run then a normal bandsaw with the blades only being $1 To $3 each when buying bulk it's just not as fast Also, flood cooling really helps them
What happens when the metal is of the same hardness as the drilling bit or drilling saw? The manufacturing of these metal cutting saws and bits too were cut by other bits and saws
Besides circular and bandsaws-don't overlook reciprocating saws like"Sawzalls" and hand held jigsaws.Then there is also stationary jigsaws-fit them with appropriate bladess and variable speed will cut wood or metals. These machines can be good for home hobbyists-since they are available at any home store along with the blades.They can't make as precise or as smooth of a cut.
Will you be doing a video changing the coolant system on the big horizontal band saw? Also, on the subject of saws, have you seen Jason's (Fireball Tools) big saw that has an automatic self feed system for when you need 60 identical pieces and you don't want to spend then next 3 days baby sitting your bandsaw LOL That machine is a beast!!! Having said that, most of his machines are beasts 😂🤣😂🤣😂👍👍👍👍👍
Very nice guide to all these saws. Where do I get the saw blades for a 14" cold (real slow-cold) saw?? I have a cold saw (30-180 rpm) but nowhere on Amazon I can find circular saw blades for these saws. Where do you get yours from? I'm usually looking for 280 teeth HSS for cutting steel profiles. Thanks!
Thanks! My last blade I for from California cold saw. They had a great purchasing guide and it made it really easy to get exactly what I needed to cut the material I usually cut. Pretty good price snd fast shipping. I got a 240 tooth 14” blade with titanium coating for $190 shipped
I bought Diablo steel diamond 10 inch for cross cutting 8 to 10 inches using my old dewalt radial arm saw what do you think I don’t cut metal that often I cut mostly with jigsaw or reciprocating
I have 3 different bandsaw in my shop. All 3 are for wood. There isn't any switch to change to a metal cutting saw. What is the difference, as far as speed is concerned, to go from wood cutting, to metal cutting.
For a new born everything is new. Every circular metal-saw blade is material specific, If you use the right blade for right material you wont have any issues, you blade will last for a very long time, also advised to clamp your stock on both sides in order to avoiding flyaway while using circular metal cutting saw. I would not grind on the side of the abrasive cut off saw blade. lastly cold saw in general have a coolant running while cutting: hence cold saw. coolant gives longevity to your cutting blade, mainly heat what kills all cutting blades or violent movements
Should mention that the abrasive saw is probably best for really thin wall tubing (like EMT and metal studs) as the abrasive grains are effectively a very fine tooth. For that same reason, they're not very efficient at heavy sections. A popular misconception about blades is that coarse tooth blades are for non-ferrous materials and fine tooth blades are for ferrous. Not so. The rule of thumb is to have a minimum of 3 teeth to a maximum of 7 teeth in contact with the work. Less than 3 teeth and you risk stripping teeth and on really heavy sections, the 7 tooth max is not achievable. The material being cut does affect the blade material and mostly the SFPM.
I run one of the evolution sliding compound mitre saws and have found that the blades from evolution are terrible. I switched to using a Diablo Cermet steel cutting blade and it's been a big improvement. I keep two of them on hand so one can be sent out for sharpening if it fills during a job. Great little saw for the money.
Great video....what do you use for stainless? I have an old horizontal saw made in Minnesota (No coolant with hydraulic drop. and an old Delta Wood/Metal bandsaw. I'd like a cold cut saw. One of the neatest little bandsaws I have seen is made in Brazil by Piranna.
Thanks for sharing the info. Would a portaband be suitable for aluminium plate ie the cutting speed? I have been using grinder, circular saw and jigsaw and either the teeth clog of the grinding discs where down in minutes. I use aluminium flatbar upto 20mm thick. Thanks.
Hey man I need to cut two things I need to cut wood for a shed project and I also need to cut a trailer coupler witch is 1/4 thick I'd like to buy a saw that can handle wood and thick hard metal my budget is a big deal so I'd like to know what saw should I buy to cut metal and 2x4s ? I don't mind buying multiple blades and 1 saw I want a saw that will cut the metal perfectly.
Great vid! Could you maybe do a special video on cutting stainless and titanium? Maybe some other more exotic materials as well. For example, I know Evolution has a special blade for cutting stainless, and I suppose one could use he abrasive saw to cut stainless as well, but is he heat of the abrasive going to damage the chemical composition of the stainless (make it more prone to rusting?). Are thee any other options? (Other than plasma cutting)
