Date: Fri, 2 May 2014 19:20:05 -0700
Reply-To: Alistair Bell <albell@SHAW.CA>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Alistair Bell <albell@SHAW.CA>
Subject: Re: LVC: Cutting Metal (sheet, plate, box, tube)
In-Reply-To: <CAB2Rwfhf96dqe4LHbyRUWrae_Jq=9m2skP0h9kne4vXs9cm8bg@mail.gmail.com>
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Sorry Neil, I was scribbling too fast.
The dry cut saw I was talking about is a chop saw, but with a special blade, carbide tipped, than can take the stress of chopping steel. You can get a skilsaw type saw with similar blade, I think Milwaukee seeks one, and you can plough yer hogue some thick steel as if it was wood. Quite amazing, and maybe I exaggerate about the cutting speed.
I suppose you have to consider what you are making. The chop saw would be used to cut bar or tube stock to length. Then the metal cutting bandsaw takes over for refining the shape. You might understand now why I like working with aluminum, easier for us regular folk to cut and shape.
Don't give up on the angle grinders. Buy a few, Bosch makes one for around 50 bucks that seems to be holding up to production work. Get at least two so you don't have to dick around changing blades or blending disks. Buy some zip cut disks and some blending disks. I like Walther brand for both, especially the blending disk as the orange plastic backing can be cute away to give a soft edge.
And the disk that comes with the grinder is good for steel. Oh by the way, if you are going to be working with aluminum or stainless, keep your disks separate for plain steel. Not so critical with steel or carbide tipped tooling, less chance of cross contamination ( apart from angle grinder wire brushes, only use stainless brushes on stainless or aluminum). I mean, when you are going on to welding the stainless or aluminum.
Buy some files, don't waste your time with old files. And hacksaw, same thing about using old blades.
It really is amazing what you can do with a few tools. I understand your worry about dust etc, but the angle grinder will be your main tool.
Again, a rushed reply, I bet I have overlooked a lot.
Alistair
> On May 2, 2014, at 5:51 PM, Neil N <musomuso@GMAIL.COM> wrote:
>
> Thanks Alistair and Scott.
>
> I too like my angle grinder, bench grinder and wire wheel and may
> continue to use them. Just anticipating possible scenarios in terms of
> tool useage; this garage "shop" is in a residential area. I'll build a
> welding area with welding blankets on a steel frame. This area would
> also work well for sparks from angle grinder use.
>
> I made all cuts for my engine carrier with a hack saw. Good work out. ;)
>
>> A cheap chop saw, .... with a neg rake
>> carbide toothed blade is perfect for the rest of the aluminum cutting.
>>
>> If you do a lot of steel, then a dry cut saw works well.
>
> Alistair: blade types aside, is there a difference between a dry cut
> saw and chop saw? Or have I misread your post?
>
>
>
>> On 5/2/14, SDF ( aka ;jim lahey' - Scott ) <scottdaniel@turbovans.com> wrote:
>>
>> congrats on your new shop !
>>
>> I am fairly adicted to having grinders to work with ..
>> mainly bench grinder and angle grinder ..I have a Makita with 200,000
>> miles on it that I just love.
>> that and a wire brush wheel ..
>> and a polisihing type grinder wheel ...I can go just nuts.
>>
>> for cutting ..I use hack saws n' saber saws.
>> A band saw is always a luxury ..and nice to have for sure.
>>
>> Dust..I'd make a dedicated corner with small walls around it ..
>> even fan blowing outside if it's that big a deal.
>>
>> I doubt I'd ever use a big sheers like that. I'd use a saber saw to cut
>> anything very thick.
>> I tend to 'hand form' a lot .....whether sawing metal, filing edges, or
>> hammering to shape.
>> Defenitely 'by hand' a lot though ..very rewarding.
>> I only use a hand sheers on sheet metal .
>
> --
> Neil n
>
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