Harbor freight bandsaw for cutting mosaic tiles

PaulDiStefano

PaulDiStefano

Joined
Nov 14, 2016
Messages
636
Hey everyone. I’ve seen a few things on here about the harbor freight 4x6 metal cutting bandsaw but not much about cutting damascus billets.

I want a metal cutting bandsaw purely for cutting tiles for mosaic damascus. Is this bandsaw good enough to get the job done. I wouldn’t use it too often. Really one billet every maybe 2-3 months at most.

and if so which saw blade would work best. I see they sell 10-14 tpi and 18tpi bimetal. And then 24,18,10 tpi metal cutting bandsaw blade it says.
Thanks boys
 
I have been using the same one for 19 years.
Your blade choice depends on the metal you are cutting and the thickness.
 
I have that saw. It takes a bit of tweaking to get it cutting square in the horizontal position but once adjusted it works well. It not great in the least but as long as it spins the blade it'll cut. Forget about their garbage blades though.

Also you probably need about 6" of material at lest to be clamped in the vice so if your planning in using the horizontal function you'll have to weld an extension to the work piece to clamp it or modify the jaws on the saw. The jaws are set back quite a bit from the blade
 
PaulDiStefano said:
Hey everyone. I’ve seen a few things on here about the harbor freight 4x6 metal cutting bandsaw but not much about cutting damascus billets.

I want a metal cutting bandsaw purely for cutting tiles for mosaic damascus. Is this bandsaw good enough to get the job done. I wouldn’t use it too often. Really one billet every maybe 2-3 months at most.

and if so which saw blade would work best. I see they sell 10-14 tpi and 18tpi bimetal. And then 24,18,10 tpi metal cutting bandsaw blade it says.
Thanks boys
Click to expand...
I used one for years with a 14 tpi bimetal from Norse. I cut .110” to 3/16” . I keep a piece of candle wax to dress the blade with, helps cutdown on chatter noise etc. May help the blade last longer?
 
Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith said:
It 4X6 works pretty good for cutting sheet abd bar stock, but for cutting up tiles I would suggest getting the 7X12 with a feed rate damper and coolant flow.
https://www.harborfreight.com/1-hp-7-in-x-12-in-hydraulic-feed-metal-cutting-band-saw-63469.html
Click to expand...
Ok I see. Tiling is really the only thing I’ll ever use it for. For that price there is a grizzly 7x12 for 950. Do you know which is the better tool if I’m going to end up having to spend 1000 on the saw
 
early on i killed 2 of those 4x6 saws one ate the bronze gear and the other cracked the housing at the drive wheel cause i needed to be so tight to keeep the blade tracking right. make no mistake i was hard on them and im a stock removal maker and was cuttig up full sheets of steel. i found a used roll-in-saw was worth every penny jet imported a copy tht was much cheaper might sbe able to find one made by them used closer to budget. i have slabbed off 1.5x6 inch .200 thick with no drift and little waver over the entire length. over kill for most any maker in here but talk about a nice saw to use
 
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