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What kind of saw for rough cutting? Chop saw of band saw

BlazeBicycles

Plastic
Joined
Sep 15, 2020
I’m looking to get a new saw. I want to use it to prep material for CNC machining. I work with alu but also titanium and steel. I also cut a lot of thin walled titanium tube. .035 ish thickness. How about one of of those Fein metal chop saws? Is that a good investment or do I need a different saw? I have a combo band saw shop fox saw but I hate it. It’s slow and not very accurate.
 
I’m looking to get a new saw. I want to use it to prep material for CNC machining. I work with alu but also titanium and steel. I also cut a lot of thin walled titanium tube. .035 ish thickness. How about one of of those Fein metal chop saws? Is that a good investment or do I need a different saw? I have a combo band saw shop fox saw but I hate it. It’s slow and not very accurate.

I wouldn't call it "rough cutting", rather it's called (at least for lathe work) "Slugging".

IF you had something like a very rigid cold saw, and it made very accurate length/squareness parts, WOULD
that eliminate some downstream machining ?
 
The chop saws and proper cold saws are fast and usually cut more accurately -- as Digger suggests -- than a cheap bandsaw. But they can eat blades if you use the wrong material in them.

The metal-cutting chops saws (Fein, Milwaukee, lots of options) typically typically run a 10" blade around 1300 rpm. There are portable versions as well. That works very well for aluminum and can do for a while if not abused (e.g. actually chopping down on edges) in mild steel. But a proper cold saw with a much higher cost, even more expensive blades, and a much lower rpm is what you'd want for cutting a lot of steel.

A metal-cutting bandsaw, from cheap to expensive and even automated, will have lower speeds available, longer blade life, maybe coolant.

If most of your work is aluminum, the 1300 rpm chop saw could save you some time. I'd still want a bandsaw for more difficult materials, including your titanium tube. The cheap chop saws wil work on steel, but expect to buy blades more often than you'd like. Don't know about titanium tube, I'd think it would be problematic on a chop saw.
 
I’m looking to get a new saw. I want to use it to prep material for CNC machining. I work with alu but also titanium and steel. I also cut a lot of thin walled titanium tube. .035 ish thickness. How about one of of those Fein metal chop saws? Is that a good investment or do I need a different saw? I have a combo band saw shop fox saw but I hate it. It’s slow and not very accurate.


I purchased this saw a while ago and I am very happy with it. holds pretty good tolerances and cuts down on machine time. I have 2 blades 1 I only use for aluminum and the other for steel/stainless.
https://www.amazon.com/DEWALT-DW872-14-Inch-Multi-Cutter-Saw/dp/B0000302QS
 
Mind your clamping whatever you do on thin wall. You can get the smallest dimples/dents from the clamp that don't show up until finishing.
 
At work we had a project for some work platforms out of SS 1.5 square tubing. A lot of cuts and some at 45 deg. I told the boss the best bet was a cold saw. Relatively bur free cutting. To expensive, so one of the other guys picked out the Dewalt. I looked at the RPM and said I wouldn't touch it. As expected it tore up 2 blades right away. Way to fast for SS. Did a bang up job on 6" pvc though even with the bad blade. Now it sits gathering dust.

One thing that may have given it a chance would be to put a clamp on both sides of the stock to keep the vibration down. The stock fence and clamp is not too good in my opinion.

Dave
 
What sort of finish/accuracy do you need on the cut? For "rough cutting" you might consider relatively cheap cutoff blades in what thermite would call an ignorant angle grinder, or maybe in a Foredom for small diameter stuff.

-Marty-
 
Are you doing really, really high production or a more moderate rate?

Your answer will make a big difference in recommendations.
 








 
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