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Carbide Chop Saw or Cold Saw?

micro

Stainless
Joined
Jan 26, 2005
Location
NYC
We have a Haberlee350 in the shop, Great saw. I need something for "home" and though I'd pick up a use cold saw. However I've been looking at some of these carbide "Chop saws" and thought maybe that is all I need. I cut everything for .049" wall CroMo tubing to 4"Square steel, Aluminum and sometimes stainless. Can anyone give me an opinion about how these carbide saws work? I realize a chop saw isn't going to be a $5000 cold saw, but I don't think I need that, and even a good used one is $2K+

Thoughts?
 
We use the evolution brand saws and love them for chopping steel and aluminum bars up.

They hold good cut tolerances and last a long time.



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4" square steel bar will be no fun with a dry cut carbide blade. The saw will not have the power to keep that many teeth engaged in the stock making chips. Carbide teeth may not be happy either as longer engagement will stock will be a lot more heat because the teeth are rubbing the material away.
I did see a cold saw at a show cutting 3" solid steel round stock like it was butter. A few seconds per cut. Not a home shop saw as I think it had something like a 30 HP motor. It was auto fed.
 
Going by this video: YouTube it's a step up from what you'd get at a Home Despot, but not a commercial grade saw. Sort of a semi-premium home shop tool. Aluminum base, small motor that likely will overheat with prolonged use, wimpy vise, etc.

Might work for your application, but I'd want to see a fine tooth blade for your moly tube, or better "anti drop" blade design to prevent straddling teeth with thin wall cutting.
 
I use one of the Evolution saws at home for cutting thin wall 4130 tubing and the occasional piece of steel pipe or bar also, works great for that. I recently did a bunch of 304 s/s 1 1/2"-.049 for an exhaust system, and after about 12-15 cuts the blade was getting pretty dull (it wasn't a new blade to start with), I think s/s is asking a bit too much for this kind of saw. I also wouldn't think it would work too well for any solid section thicker than an inch or so. Generally I'm very happy with it for the hobby work I use it for though.
 
A cold saw is a completely different class of tool than those carbide chop saws.
The chop saws are OK for thin wall tubing, or angle, but they are lightweight, built to a (low) price point, and will bog down pretty fast even cutting 1" solid, much less 4".
You gets what you pay for.
A decent cold saw can easily weigh 400 pounds or so, versus 50 for a chop saw.
And a blade turning at 50 rpm, with continuous coolant, is going to outlast one turning 1200 rpm with no coolant every day of the year.

Personally, I have found the best combo is a real cold saw, and a good bandsaw. But it costs more. My coldsaw blades run over $150 each, and, if you dont break em, can be resharpened for years.
 
I had the DeWalt version of a dry cut carbide saw and agree with the other posters. It was great for round steel tube, OK for square and angle, but it really didn't do well with solids. Mitering square tube worked OK with a sharp blade, but one that had some wear didn't like cutting the flat surfaces of the square section. One downside to these saws is they're LOUD. The other is the chip collection isn't great. Still they make less mess than doing the same things with an abrasive chop saw and tend to cut straighter in my experience.

I had a local guy that would sharpen the blades pretty cheaply, and would even braze new carbide on if you lost a tooth or two. He was very cost effective relative to buying new blades when they got dull. I could get 2-3 sharpenings on a blade before needing to replace it.
 
We have both a fixed in place Hyd-Mech cold saw, which is great for fine finish cuts on Aluminum, and a Dewalt carbide chop saw. The Dewalt is amazing where you wouldn't expect like cutting 8' steel C-channel. As noted above it's more like 30 lbs so we keep it stored away and bring it out to cut long stock in the middle of the floor of our limited space shop when needed. The vise on the Dewalt is rudimentary though, so setting up a square cut is a bit of a task. So they are sort of complementary but the chop saw is more of a production cutting tool to feed a machine shop where the Dewalt seems optimized for fabrication projects. I don't think we've tried to cut large solid stock on the Dewalt and the Hyd-Mech has a max size of like 90mm diameter. The Dewalt is overall great and would be ideal for home use by the serious fabricator/machinist.
 
Hmm, I think you can find models that will cost less than two thousand dollars. There are a large number of circular saws that can be used at home. I have a WORX WX429L Circular Saw in my garage for many years and I can say that it has never failed me. You can learn more about this at trimthatweed.com, WORX WX429L will be the first in this list. the main thing that I can note is that this saw is Easy for one-handed use and that its weight and shape makes it very compact and convenient to work around the house. There are some other good models on this list. I think you can find something for yourself.
 
That slugger one looks great. I had an evolution, couldn't stand the noise when cutting stainless. The vise was so cheaply made that it couldn't hold tolerances. It was just a crappy piece of bent material instead of a casting like the slugger appears to be

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Just got a Morse 14" Metal Devil, for angle and tubing. Seems to work great. Construction and vise is quite good. Get the optional vise jaws.
 
Hmm, I think you can find models that will cost less than two thousand dollars. There are a large number of circular saws that can be used at home. I have a WORX WX429L Circular Saw in my garage for many years and I can say that it has never failed me. You can learn more about this at *spam removed* WORX WX429L will be the first in this list. the main thing that I can note is that this saw is Easy for one-handed use and that its weight and shape makes it very compact and convenient to work around the house. There are some other good models on this list. I think you can find something for yourself.

Oh for spamming out loud...
 
Hey Ya'll,
Not to hijack the thread or anything like that.. Could I ask the wisdom of those present as to what type of blade life one should expect from a cold saw mitering 3 inch by 1/4 angle ? ( 45° mostly) (( a real cold saw, not a chop saw ))
Tangentially to the OP.. I'm struggling through a job at the moment mitering the above material with a 14 inch bench top metal chop saw. ( Jepson ) Saw seems sturdy enough but the blade quality is all over the map.. Any suggestions as to what type of blade for 1/4 steel in a cold cut chop saw would be of help.
Thanks in advance
Stay safe
Calvin B
 
I just bought a femi xl120 portable miter bandsaw for job site use. I think it’s way better than any dry cut saw. It’s light weight, quiet and I can easily change the blade for the stock. It does not compare to my hyd mech coldsaw but for way it is it perfect. We only cut stainless steel with it abs just did a job where we had to cut a bunch of 3/4 x 2 true bar abs it worked like a champ. The head miters to 60° and it cuts up to 4”. I also have a Milwaukee cordless miters as for brass, but I would never put stainless or steel in it. The one I got cost $1300, but I think they have one size smaller for 8-900.


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Hey Ya'll,
Not to hijack the thread or anything like that.. Could I ask the wisdom of those present as to what type of blade life one should expect from a cold saw mitering 3 inch by 1/4 angle ? ( 45° mostly) (( a real cold saw, not a chop saw ))
Tangentially to the OP.. I'm struggling through a job at the moment mitering the above material with a 14 inch bench top metal chop saw. ( Jepson ) Saw seems sturdy enough but the blade quality is all over the map.. Any suggestions as to what type of blade for 1/4 steel in a cold cut chop saw would be of help.
Thanks in advance
Stay safe
Calvin B

280 hss 3x3x.25 parts 45 on each end is one blade. Running a little on the hot side, but not all out. Blades are cheap to resharpen, keep a few on hand to never be without. On a scotchman cold saw with air over hydraulic feed. The cylinder leaks so I know I am starting the cut way to fast.
 








 
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