Need a cheap saw to be able to cut material for my home shop. I like a bandsaw but I think they are out of my budget for one that will cut metal. I need a saw that will cut aluminum and mild steel.

Any suggestions? Best place to buy?

Thanks

Carbide chop saw

You do not give any sizes but metal cutting bandsaws (horizontal) with a capacity up to 4" square, or more, are less than $300; they are certainly the cheapest.

Various sizes of metal. I am thinking a max thickness around 1.5 inches and a lenth of around 6.0 inches . Anything more then that buy the material to size.

I am thinking chop saw but wasnt sure if there was other cheap options out there.

Cheapest option is an imported abrasive wheel chop saw.

around here a 'cheapy' chop saw is maybe $100 to $150...good for thin section steel, fair on aluminum, slow on thicker / wider pieces...
a cheapy import bandsaw starts at $200 to maybe $350 for the smaller sizes, some come with stand...work 'reasonable' on most small hobby shop cutting..
a cold cut saw [here anyways] starts around $550, but relatively quick, and nice clean cuts.....

then there's always the idea of building your own 'old style' saw, an old washing machine motor, pulley with pump jack style eccentric, and make up basically a heavy duty hacksaw holder...
the last is easy to build yourself, and lowest cost...slower to cut, but nice cuts, and cheap blades help..

here's a link to examples..
http://www.nucleus.com/~harlan/saw.html

enjoy

I have not found a abrasive wheel for a chop saw that works really good on aluminum.
budeP

I have not found a abrasive wheel for a chop saw that works really good on aluminum.
budeP

Yes abrasive wheels do not do well on aluminum. A way around it is to get a triple chip carbide saw blade for cutting plastics and non-ferrous metals. They make a very good cut in aluminum.

around here a 'cheapy' chop saw is maybe $100 to $150...good for thin section steel, fair on aluminum, slow on thicker / wider pieces...
a cheapy import bandsaw starts at $200 to maybe $350 for the smaller sizes, some come with stand...work 'reasonable' on most small hobby shop cutting..
a cold cut saw [here anyways] starts around $550, but relatively quick, and nice clean cuts.....

then there's always the idea of building your own 'old style' saw, an old washing machine motor, pulley with pump jack style eccentric, and make up basically a heavy duty hacksaw holder...
the last is easy to build yourself, and lowest cost...slower to cut, but nice cuts, and cheap blades help..

here's a link to examples..
http://www.nucleus.com/~harlan/saw.html

enjoy


A blade for carbide chop saw is $150 FYI

i bought a 14 inch carbide tipped saw blade at home depot for $50. for a chop saw. it worked great. the only problem is no key in blade hole. I didn't pull it that hard to spin the blade but I think I could by pulling a little harder.

Well I bought a chop saw fromg Grainger at a great price. 14" with a abrasive wheel. Like you guys said it didnt cut aluminum well at all. It took seriously 5 minutes to go through 1" thick x 4" wide and the piece was hottttt!

Anybody else know where to get a carbide wheel for a chop saw that is cheap??

Getting one at Home Depot option, it is just a standard 14" carbide tipped wheel? $50 sounds good.

Thanks

for thinner material, say 14 gau and under, I've had good luck with a standard 'skill saw' blade reversed..ie..backwards

very little chewing or deformation, again, for light material only, pretty well useless on thicker stuff..

just make sure there's a bit of tooth to web side clearance..:)

...enjoy...