Blade cutting tools.

J-siah

J-siah

Joined
Jan 28, 2008
Messages
1,876
I am looking to upgrade from hacksaws and angle grinders and get into some thing a little faster.

I was looking into getting a metal band saw when a friend told me how much better a plasma cutter would be. The advantages to the plasma cutter would be a faster cut and the ability to made inside cuts and skeletonise blade handles.

The plasma cutter also costs a bit more but I don't want to bring price into this discussion. I want to keep this all about what would be a better tool overall.

Is there anyone here on the site that uses a plasma cutter, if so do you like it and is it easier to use a band saw. Also If anyone here uses a band saw over a plasma cutter would you mind explaining why.

It seems that most makers use a band saw, I am mostly curious why I don't hear more about plasma.


All oppinions welcome. Thanks, J S. Gravelle
 
I don't think the plasma cutter is going to save you so much time. You get slag on the cuts that has to be cleaned up and you'll have a time and a half cleaning up the inside cuts for handles. Better just to mill them out if you're going to spend the money. I know guys that get large steel cut down with plasma, but they grind off all the slag and them take it to a bandsaw to do their profiles.
 
Thanks Stan, I monitor these forums daily I don't know how that got past me :rolleyes: .
 
If you learn how to get the most outta the machine, a plasma cutter can't be beat.
Unless, of course , you could afford a water jet. :-)
 
If anyone near me in Mooresville NC wants to come out and use a plasma cutter, you're welcome to try it. I don't think you'll like it, but I can't say for sure. It is a good one and works well, but I hardly ever use it for anything because there is always another better way. It sounds like birddog may know something I don't...
 
birdog4 said:
If you learn how to get the most outta the machine, a plasma cutter can't be beat.
Unless, of course , you could afford a water jet. :-)
Click to expand...

See, thats whats funny. No one thinks they can afford to get their blanks cut by waterjet until they call me!:D
 
The plasma cutter is good for cutting up cars while the bandsaw works well for knives. Especially the portable metal cutting bandsaw.
 
bandsaw is what I choose

....plasma wont be too much help with the extra effort to clean up the mess. I'd rather grab a right angle grinder than a plasma to profile:eek:

Small thin steel, plasma ROCKS though...
 
jim moyer said:
The plasma cutter is good for cutting up cars while the bandsaw works well for knives. Especially the portable metal cutting bandsaw.
Click to expand...


Ya see, that's what I thought too, until the salt proofing grease caught on fire and I had to stop that. SawZaw works better for that too!
 
birdog4 said:
Like I said, if you learn to get the most from your machine.........
Click to expand...


Don't keep us in the dark, I'd love to hear how the plasma will be a better tool for cutting blade blanks.

I have a Hypertherm 1000 that will cut up to 3/4" plate but I still cut out all my blades with a bandsaw. I find the plasma more troublesome than its worth for blade blanks especially when cutting air hardening steels. I may think differently if I had a Torchmate CNC machine to run the plasma. Cutting intricate shapes with the plasma by hand is somewhat of a pain. Cutting with a template is somewhat better but is still cumbersome. Then there is the slip factor, if you slip a bit with a bandsaw you and up with a nick in the edge of your profile. If you slip with a plasma cutter you end up with a notch.

Where a plasma really shines is any place you would use a cutting torch and for cutting non ferrous metals like stainless or aluminum for fabrication work. I love the plasma for cutting straight lines, curves, or circles in plate steel or stainless in a fabrication environment.

Brad
www.AndersonKnives.ca
 
If you use patterns (templates), There isn't much chance of slipping. One ofs, sure you can slip. That's where the knowing yer machine comes into play.
When done cutting, you have a coupla minutes in cleaning up the profile on the grinder. How long do you have in bandsawing out a profile and then cleanup on the grinder?
I've cut enuff cars in half and then reassembled them to follow the adage "measure twice, cut once". (BOG)
Oh ya, this is for oil/water hardening steels.
 
Thanks for the reply birdog, I would have responded sooner but lost this thread.

Most of the time I make one or 2 knives of the same design and it would take longer making templates and then cutting the blanks than it would to just cut them out on the bandsaw. I suppose if you were going to make 20 or 30 blanks it may be worth the time to make the template. I do agree, as you pointed out, a plasma cutter is an awesome tool when doing automotive body work.

I deal almost exclusively with air hardening stainless now and the risk of having to drill or do any manual shaping on hardened steel isn't worth it.

I'd love to hear what other makers that have a plasma cutter and a bandsaw have to say, any takers?

Brad
www.AndersonKnives.ca
 
I have a plasma cutter and a bandsaw. I tryed the PC a couple of times just didn't work for me.I think I shake to much. My brother-in-law now has it in his hotrod shop. It gives me more shop room and if I need it I just run down to his place and use it. I think it's still there, was 2 years ago.
 
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