Dry cut chop saw

[Jim Timber]

12" Slow Speed Cold Cut Saw with Stand | Grizzly Industrial

They run at 42 or 84 rpm and have a coolant pump.

Wow, those have come down in price in the last 10 years.

 

[mikefromnh]

This one is "only" 900. But it has a 9" blade.

Manual Cold Saw, Bench Top Circular Coldsaw CS-225M | Baileigh Industrial

 

[Jim Timber]

2.5" round capacity might work for a rollcage shop, but that's as useless as teats on a bull to me.

This one looks like a nice unit.

Cold Saw Manually Operated CS-315-EU | Baileigh Industrial

 

[Morning Wood]

I use cutting fluid with my dry cut carbide saw. The kind you mix with water. I soak the crap out of it with a spray bottle while cutting. I had to make a railing and decided to lube the cuts to extend the blade life. I cut a lot of 1 1/2" X 3/8" flat stock with no issues and the saw is fine.

 

[Jim Timber]

The teeth end up grabbing when you have thinner material. If you're over zealous at all, you end up chipping them out with too big of bite on too thin of stock. Heavier cross sections are easier on the blade because they self-limit their feed.

I do a lot of heavy shapes and have had reasonable blade life out of them. It's when you get into the thinner stuff or some of the higher tensile structurals that you kill your teeth. Can't ram it through like an abrasive chop saw, and I bent an arbor (well, the guy I allowed to use it did) when shoved through some steel exhaust tubing too fast. It caught and sent the part flying through the back of the saw. He ended up unhappy when I was extremely impatient about his taking out my saw's productivity. I ended up getting a blade out of him and Dewalt warrantied the shaft (which was nice of them).

 

[Rustyiron]

That's a mighty big hunk of wood in that saw Jim! Do you regularly cut heavy structural with it?
I have the same chop saw but I (previously) would use the horizontal band saw for that beam.

 

[Rustyiron]

A true cold saw's been on my "hope to find one at and auction for a deal" list for many, many moons:laughing:

 

[Jim Timber]

When I need to cut large shapes, I use the Dewalt or if it's big channel or plate then I use the Milwaukee 8" dry cut. 90% of what I do runs through my Jet 4x6. The 4x6 is set to as near perfectly square as I can get it, and it stays there. When I'm doing angles, it's almost always with the Dewalt, or I'll use an abrasive cut off wheel in my 4.5" angle grinder and free hand it (notching tubing at an angle usually is done that way - square fishmouths are done on the mill).

I sound negative about the 14" Dewalt, but it's still a useful tool. I just wish the blades lasted longer for how much they cost. My blade life on the little bandsaw is determined by how good an annealing job they did on the carbon back (bi-metal blades are the only way to go). I usually end up with stress cracks and broken bands long before I lose any teeth or they go dull. You guys talking about crooked cuts on your bandsaws need to learn how to tune them. My bandsaw produces the next best thing to being milled square.

 

[downsizingnow48]

My bandsaw produces the next best thing to being milled square.

I have the 12" Makita drycut saw, after two years of fairly steady use finally replaced the blade ($100). It cuts exactly square and looks like it has been filed clean. I have used it on 4x6x3/8 tube (once) and smaller stuff all the time. It is a life-saver. The table is solid as is the vise, at any angle up to 45 degrees.

Setting up the bandsaw makes it into a different tool. Using a DeWalt portaband in a home made table, I get perfectly square cuts and notches with no trouble. The picture shows a couple latches cut out of 3/4x2 bar. Using a 10tpi blade from McMaster-Carr.

 

[Jim Timber]

The Dewalt fence is anything but precise. The edge you line the pointer up on isn't in the same plane as the mitre gauge needle. It's also flexible enough to move in the vertical plane so if you've done everything right and got the fence true, the cut might still be off if your piece is heavy enough to flex it.

I use it exclusively for fast work. No one's taking a square to the t-handle on my tree planting tools. Those would've taken days to cut on the bandsaw unless I welded them into a gang.

 

[tjkubota93]

cut all the metal for this with the dry cut saw. I'm happy with it as long as the blade lasts a while.

It's so I can put a spray tank on 3 pt

 

[Rustyiron]

As compared to an abrasive saw, holding the material solidly seems to be much more important along with more concern for cutting feed rate for blade tooth) life.
tj, You do have a little more metal going on your tank frame right?

 

[tjkubota93]

As compared to an abrasive saw, holding the material solidly seems to be much more important along with more concern for cutting feed rate for blade tooth) life.
tj, You do have a little more metal going on your tank frame right?

I learned about holding the material.....my thumb still hurts.

Yes I'm not done yet. That's what I got done before supper 1 day after work.