Need metal working bandsaw for new shop!

WilliamWoods

WilliamWoods

Joined
Apr 22, 2011
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460
Well I finally have the space I need to make a go at creating a limited production run for my designs. I have wired a 4 bay garage for 220 and 110v and am in the process of stocking up on tools and material. One of the last things I need is a decent metal cutting upright bandsaw. I will be cutting blanks up to .25" thick tool steel for the prototypes and need a machine capable of that. It doesn't have to be fast just capable.

What are your suggestions? I know a good 15-25 tpi blade makes a big difference but can a woodworking bandsaw with a metal cutting blade cut a .25" plate? I'm looking at a budget of $300-600. I know its not much but i have to keep costs down to afford other items like a quality grinder.

I'm sure you guys have some innovative solutions to my dilemma. Thanks!

-William
 
Hi William, I have a small band saw that I use. I use 14 tpi for the band saw blade. It will cut 1/4" pretty good. But 10 or 12 tpi works better for the thicker stuff.

Not sure if that helps you or not.


Bryan
 
Last edited:
sicily02 said:
Hi William, I have a small band saw that I use. I use 14 tpi for the band saw blade. It will cut 1/4" pretty good. But 10 or 12 tpi works better for the thicker stuff.

Not sure if that helps you or not.


Bryan
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Thanks for the info! What brand? Model #? Size?
 
Harbour freight sells a metal cutting bandsaw for around $200 that works fine. Buy better blades online as the one that comes with it will not last long. And no a wood cutting saw will not work...Too fast...
 
rocketmann said:
Harbour freight sells a metal cutting bandsaw for around $200 that works fine. Buy better blades online as the one that comes with it will not last long. And no a wood cutting saw will not work...Too fast...
Click to expand...

I saw that Harbor Freight Horizontal/Vertical Bandsaw, quite a deal. Does anybody have experience on the performance of the vertical position? All the reviews i see only discuss the horizontal sawing. Is there some sort of attachable work surface for the vertical position I'm not seeing?
 
You can make a simple enlarged work table easily. The HF saw with lennox or Starrett blades is very capable.
 
I use my horizontal and vertical a lot. It works fine and the red version is much better then the green version they use to sell.

Just be sure to keep the top guide as low as possible and it will save you a lot on broken blades.. Also you can make a better table top for it and you will like it even better.
 
I actually took my saw off of the base and mounted it to my work bench and welded on a small table. It works great and takes up less room with out the base.
 
Well thanks for the information fellas! Looks like I'm gonna save a bit more cash than expected. More money for 2x72 belts :)
 
Find an old atlas powerking on craigs list. Overhaul it and use roller guides and add a adjustable belt and it will handle metal just as well as wood. Also probably run ya around 300$ once finished depending on the deal ya get. Its what I plan on doing to mine. Just gotta get the parts and stop using it long enough to overhaul the thing. The thing is about 60-75 yrs old and figure once I overhaul it it should last another 50 or 60 years.

Ofcourse craigslist is a great place to start looking for stuff. Lots of times I see metal shops that are shutting down or people got way to ambitous buying tools and are getting rid of there garage setup for half of what the stuff is worth new. Just be sure to test it out and take a close look at everything.
 
I have been looking at the Grizzly, Jet, and a few others... hoping to find an old Powermatic vertical table metal cutting saw but they are tough to find.
 
The thing about the HF 4x6 bandsaw is they are assembled in many small factories, not all are equal and some downright suck. I had one for a while that was intractably problematic, I sold it for $100 and good riddance. I have one now, just about exactly the same, that ran fine from day one and does a real good job sawing both horizontal and vertical.

You may have to adjust and shim things to make your saw run how you want it to. Mine has a crooked lower guide casting, when I built a bigger steel table for it I had to shim under one of the mounting bolts to bring the table perpendicular to the blade.
 
i made 2 4x6ers last about 3 years (im hard on tools )
got fed up and bit the bullit and got a USA made roll-n-saw and its worth every penny (got mine used for 2k$ )
 
As Butch said, it is a BIG jump to go from the typical vertical/horizontal saw sold as places like HF, Whoelsale tool, etc up to a real vertical bandsaw. He got a hell of a deal. The HF saws work well enough, but I don't know if i would trust them if I was cutting a lot of metal.
 
I've cut a lot of metal with mine!
How much metal (at $200 per saw) would it take to equal a $3000 saw?
 
Well doing customs at 1-5 blanks at a time makes sense to use the HF saw. When I start doing runs of 20-50 the waterjet is more cost/time effective.
 
bill i can saxy this let me know how little fun cutting a 2x3 foot of steel into kitchen knives on the 4x6 when i have a 18x 30 inch work table and 14 inch of clearance to work with

if i was not making kitchen knives i might think differently (tho the power feed and auto stop are great when wanting to cut large bars )
 
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