I have a small hobby shop and acquired a Fein Slugger (rebranded Jancy) carbide dry cut chop saw for cutting mostly steel square tube stock. It worked fine, and I probably got 250 cuts out of the factory blade before it started getting stuck. I've purchased a replacement Diablo Metal Demon 14" blade which was about $80. Other replacement blades seem to cost in the $80-140 range, and there are poor reviews across the board for "stainless steel" blades. I know stainless is way tougher on blades than mild steel, but I want to do more stainless work in the future as I'm learning to TIG weld, which got me thinking...
Should I sell the dry cut saw, purchase a portaband, and add or fab something like a SWAG portaband table? I know replacement blades for portabands are in the $10-20 range.
Also, while the dry cut saw doesn't heat the parts much, it makes a massive mess of shavings in the shop which are a pain to clean. I mostly do woodwork, and I hate mixing metal and sawdust (I know, it's a bad combination that can lead to fires).
Thoughts?
Should I sell the dry cut saw, purchase a portaband, and add or fab something like a SWAG portaband table? I know replacement blades for portabands are in the $10-20 range.
Also, while the dry cut saw doesn't heat the parts much, it makes a massive mess of shavings in the shop which are a pain to clean. I mostly do woodwork, and I hate mixing metal and sawdust (I know, it's a bad combination that can lead to fires).
Thoughts?