Coldsaw or bandsaw for home fab work

[sht50]

Which one do you recommend for home use? Would you recommend one over another?

[Ice]

Which one do you recommend for home use? Would you recommend one over another?

ive got both

[sht50]

Do you use one over the other more? Which one do you recommend?

[bru21]

Cold saw hands down.

If I was starting out I would buy one right after a welder.

Best tool I own.

I have 2 band saws, vertical (Grob) and horizontal (pos that I never use).
The Grob I love, but the horizontal is not too flash @$350

Cheers bru

[sht50]

Sorry May have got my terminology mixed up. I was referring to a normal abrasive drop saw.

[chris_stoffa]

Sorry May have got my terminology mixed up. I was referring to a normal abrasive drop saw.

Bunnings have a litle 1280W 180mm cold cut drop saw for $139 at the moment

if you are only doing light work it works a treat.

Cheers

[80's_delirious]

Sorry May have got my terminology mixed up. I was referring to a normal abrasive drop saw.

if you can stretch the budget to a cold saw, its a far better option than an abrasive cut off saw. You can get a cheap shit cutoff saw for around $100, I have a cheapy, it does an ordinary cut OK, but try doing mitres, or cut heavier guage stuff and it really doesn't cope. Cold saw is more expensive, but is also more quicker, more cleaner, more accurate, more quieter, more adjustable, more capable of cutting heavier guage, more capable of cutting mitres and angles accurately, more able to cut non ferous materials, more betterer!

from what I've seen of bandsaws, you have to spend quite a bit to get a decent one and if blades aren't kept in good nick, they wander in the cut.

[Ice]

i use them all for different things,

drop saw with a metal cutting blade is really nice for tube and quieter than the abrasive drop saw

a bandsaw for cutting metal is kinda a bit big for a garage setup though, i have a smaller one i use for cardboard templates and wood,

the old horizontal bandsaw was great in the day but its only a small one and struggles on anything thick.

[bru21]

Mitre 10 has a good deal on the dewalt abrasive saw - with free grinder. I think it was $279 from memory.

I bought a metabo one and it has never cut straight. The Hitachi I had previously was a great unit, but wore out from over use.

[chris_stoffa]

Another possibility is a"Rotary Hacksaw" from Total Tools

come in a number of sizes from 100 mm to 350mm - It is a tugsten carbide tipped weapon! !!!

I have one in my 115mm dewalt . Anything that you want to cut up to the size of a double sided cut is toast.

It is an amazingly efficient cutting tool BUT used incorrectly or absent mindly it would remove body parts in a heartbeat.

I use it for rough cuts and docking . Although used with care it does do a very neat clean cut. I have used it to cut 50x50mm solid bar and now it comes with me on every trip with a couple of spare batteries. If I hit a roo or have body damage that is stopping me moving i would just simply amputate the bits and continue.

I reckon its the handiest blade in the shed but it also the most dangerous

http://www.austsaw.com.au/saw-blade-pro ... ry-hacksaw

[phippsy]

We use the smaller blades for cutting ally. One guy didn't think and had it kick back into his shoulder. Plenty of blood and lots of stitches. Otherwise they are an awesome piece of gear.

[ttf100]

jepson dry cutter, best type of metal saw hands down, beats everything i've ever used including BROBO's

http://www.drycutter.com/index.php?id=28&L=1" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[uninformed]

edit: wrong thread lol

but I do have the Jepson 9430, and I dont rate it any where near the likes of a Brobo

[AFeral]

Jepson noisey messy. Very nice cut and can be very accurate. Easy to fuck the blade. If i had the money I would replace with a brobo.

[mick3434]

These days nearly every work shop I've worked in the brobo sits in the corner and a Thomas zar sip bandsaw is set up. There fairly accurate, quick to use, no noise swivel head up to 60 degrees 240 volt. For site work we had a small bandsaw similar set up that are not very expensive would take one of them over a abrasive saw or even a brobo any day.

[ttf100]

the reasons i like the jepson best are because its cuts bar stock and thick sections better than the brobo,you can cut i thin sliver [say half the blade width] which you cant really do with the brobo and the fact it is dry is a big positive to me [no cleanup for welding].
every shop ive ever worked for [including the current one] has had brobo's and i think there fantastic but i like the dry cutter better for those reasons, you do have to be careful cutting strips under 5mm thick though as they can go up into the gard and fuck the blade,thats the only downside.
just thought id clarify why i like the thing,
band saws are also fantastic and are the king of very large bar stock/thick sections but dont quite have the accuracy of the brobo or dry cutter [still very good though if used properly].
so i guess in the end it depends on what aspects are most important to you.

[mick3434]

Any thing that needs more accuracy than a band saw would need machining, seen many people do pipe work 1.6 stainless which is fused no wire Thomas zar zip band saws, swivel head can be adjusted upto 60 degrees in 10 seconds I can't see any benefit of a cold or a abrasive saw over one

[Struth]

For home use a hot saw should be fine, they are noisy, messy and tend to not cut straight, but they will suffice.

A cold saw beats a hot saw hands down for speed, accuracy and noise, but they are very expensive.

Cheers

[joshy]

I just bought a hare&forbes bandsaw. was tossing up between bandsaw and cold saw but couldn't justify the extra cash for the cold saw.
very impressed with the bandsaw so far, easy to set up and can walk away while it cuts the bigger stuff. Squareness on the cuts straight out of the box is way better then I expected and finish is good.