Chop Saw Reccomendations

[Big Barn]

All valid points on the abrasive saw as well. None of you has made the decision any easier, but have all given good points It sounds like all three will work with their own pros/cons. I guess my cut-off wheel works too. I already own it, and the replacement discs are even cheaper. Need to think through it to see what price point works and is worth it.

My post was certainly not intended to shed negativity on options other than an abrasive chop saw. It was merely a personal opinion based on usage.

Let budget be your guide.

 

[Citydude]

Poor performance from abrasive chop saws are the result of improper use.

It is a CHOP saw and needs to be operated like one. Steady continuous pressure will cause the blade to overheat, deflect and glaze.

To use properly, chopping motions are required as opposed to a steady cut for dry and cold saws.

I guess I should of read the directions for my abrasive saw. Thanks for the info!

 

[dragoneggs]

All valid points on the abrasive saw as well. None of you has made the decision any easier, but have all given good points It sounds like all three will work with their own pros/cons. I guess my cut-off wheel works too. I already own it, and the replacement discs are even cheaper. Need to think through it to see what price point works and is worth it.

I'm in the same boat.

I use my abrasive saw in the shop that is primarily a woodworking shop. Did I mention I hate it? The dust and mess is far worse than my portaband or plasma cutter. I wish I could get more skilled in cutting other than flat pieces with my PC.

 

[user.69169]

Fix de problem. I like way S Berry did with old house oil tank. Cheap and pretty easy.

 

[bigtiller]

Seem to be a bit of ??? bout de saw in de link.

Scrolled down lookin for more nfo and found dis.


☆☆☆☆☆
☆☆☆☆☆3 out of 5 stars. MRagonese ｷ 4 months ago
Not "fine"
Putting the Fein name on this certainly baited me into buying this saw because all of the Fein tools I have are Made in Germany. Nowhere on this saw is the name Fein. The tag does say "Made in Taiwan". Talk about misleading. I've seen the name Jancy on it elsewhere. Also note there is no way to adjust the blade perpendicular to the table. Most machinery would provide some form of adjustment for that. It is what it is now and after it wears out to any degree. While the saw table and vise are better than the Dewalt, there's nothing else that strikes me as great. It cuts the same as the Dewalt. The blade has a bit of a vertical oscillation too for some reason. Overall, it was ok to keep but I do have a fair amount of disappointment

✘ No, I do not recommend this product.

Just to debunk this gentleman's opinion, the name Fein is on the saw, about 3 inches away from the hand that turns the blade on.

The name Jancy is not on the saw but that company does make the blade.

And as I said earlier, it was square out of the box, hard to improve on that.

This all make me wonder how much of it is embellished, maybe from a Dewalt employee?

 

[user.69169]

Pittsburg address sort of interesting given Fein world headquarters is
C. & E. Fein GmbH
Hans-Fein-Str. 81
73529 Schwäbisch Gmünd-Bargau

URL on dat label leads to "fein" US site - different from company main site.

As I said before Fein site says company makes tools in US, Germany and Denmark. US production is Jancy product Fein owns.
Absolutely no mention of Taiwan on main site.

Might be deal like Porter Cable or Rigid or Vise Grip, got no idea and don't much care, but sure is funny business goin on, and price don't be in line wid Fein tools.

True to tell, I don't much care. Got no plan to own such a saw.

 

[crazyal]

A coworker gave me his abrasive saw when he went to a dry cut. I used it for a month or so. I can't remember which brand he bought but the base is aluminum and he loves the saw other than that. Cutting metal leaves lots of shavings and the aluminum is gouged from sliding metal on the saw. So I bought the Evo and then gave away the abrasive saw. If I need to cut something with an abrasive wheel I just use my 4 1/2" grinder. For a few bucks Harbor Freight has 10 packs of wheels. I can't say I like the sharp nasty shards from the dry cut saw (most go into the chip tray) but it's a lot better than the sparks and dust from the abrasive saw. If I did lots of steel work I probably would have kept both saws.

 

[swines]

All valid points on the abrasive saw as well. None of you has made the decision any easier, but have all given good points It sounds like all three will work with their own pros/cons. I guess my cut-off wheel works too. I already own it, and the replacement discs are even cheaper. Need to think through it to see what price point works and is worth it.

I have the bandsaw, an abrasive blade saw, and always keep a grinder with a cutoff wheel on it. I haven't used the abrasive saw in at least three years. If I don't use the bandsaw, I mostly use the grinder with the cutoff wheel. For some specific types of cuts and sheet metal work I use a plasma cutter. You can do a lots of work with your grinder.

I do work with repetitive cuts. The last piece I fabricated used square tubing and I had to make 48, 45 degree cuts and the pieces had to match very closely in length. I made a fixture setup for the bandsaw and the pieces came out within 0.05 for the 24 pieces (one miter on each end = 48 cuts). That's the kind of work the bandsaw makes relatively easy. It could be done on an abrasive chop saw, or dry cut saw, but not with that kind of ease or precision.

If you can do the work with a hand grinder - stick with that. If you really want a cutoff saw, an abrasive saw is a good place to start. That's what I used for 10 years until I wanted something that generated less dirt in my shop. That's when I purchased the dry cutoff saw. I used that for about three years and got disenchanted with it after I put a number of blades on it due to trying to make cuts on it that were beyond what it was really meant to do. When I started doing work with a lot of repetitive cuts, the bandsaw made more sense.

You need to evaluate the kind of work you want to do and pick the tool that will give you the most effective workflow at the price you want to pay. If you can do it with the grinder + cutoff wheel, stick with that until you get into projects where that's either too slow or doesn't give the precision you need. Then decide on the next step. The more experience you have in metal fabrication, the clearer the choice will become.

 

[Leejohn]

The abrasive blade saws work good if you don't mind the hot sparks. Just get you a dressing stone for grinding wheels and when it gets loaded up just touch the wheel with it and that well clean it. And away you go again with cleaner cut and less heat.
Now I don't mean that wheel dresser with a lot of little star wheels , You want the dressing Stone !!!!

 

[WranglerX]

Personally if you want chop saw I would go with cold cut..... Abrasive is ok and I have one but blade will flex and cut will not be quite as accurate.....With chops saws the biggest mistake is forcing the cut, go lightly and let blade do the work....

IF you want real precision go with stationary band saw... Even cheap crap HF $279 one will give good precision if you don't abuse it and keep it tuned, of course a better machine will hold it's accuracy longer.... Biggest thing with band saw is same as chop saws, it's mostly in the blades... Most HF blades suck...

Dale