metal chop saw

dirttrackracer · #1 12-12-2010, 12:18 PM

i want to get eather a bandsaw or 14in cutoff chop saw. i make stuff out of about anything. i just cant decide what to get. i would think the chop saw would be better but thought i would ask before i spend the $$. thanks for any input

MooDib · #2 12-12-2010, 12:52 PM

Chop saw would be good if you are working with only ferrous/hard metals that are not in sheets. If you want to cut a lot of steel tubing or pipes then it would be perfect. However, chop saws will not cut aluminum (or at least you shouldn't cut aluminum with it) or any other soft material such as wood, magnesium, etc. If you are looking into the 14" chop saw it will also be difficult to cut anything that is bigger than 10-12" if you needed any sheets cut. It would be possible to cut up to a 2 foot sheet by flipping it after one cut, but it's a pain in the ass. Now a band saw can cut through anything you want if you have the right blade(s) for it, whether you want to cut sheets or tubing of steel, aluminum, wood, etc. The only thing with that is if you cut steel, it can take a little longer than a chop saw.

Basically I would say if you do a vast majority of non-sheet steel work then get the chop saw, otherwise the band saw is more versatile.

TurdFX4 · #3 12-13-2010, 09:10 AM

We had one of these where I used to work, I used it quite often and it worked well:

We also had one of these for cutting rebar and angle iron:

We also had 2 of these, the Husqvarna chop saws you can actually flip the blade, guard, and belt to where you can cut parallel to a wall

All of these saws worked well for what I used them for, but I never used the Husky for metal cutting, only masonry

01_ranger_4x4 · #4 12-13-2010, 10:07 AM

a band saw would be more versatile and in most cases more presice than a chop saw. both have there pros and cons but if it was my money id invest it in a good horizontal band saw.

ObsoleteE · #5 12-13-2010, 05:01 PM

Check CL for used ones and get both.

dirttrackracer · #6 12-13-2010, 06:41 PM

thanks for the input. i would like boath, i work a a auction so we get some good tools cheaper. but as for now i think ill get the bandsaw, i never thought of the sheet and i hate usin the shears thats a pain

Clutch · #7 12-13-2010, 09:21 PM

I would recommend a bandsaw over the chop saw. Nothing like letting the bandsaw cut stock with out watching it and being able to talk to someone next to it. Its cleaner both on the cut and the slag and its quiet too.

TurdFX4 · #8 12-14-2010, 08:25 PM

If you do decide to go with a chop saw, make sure you get the right blades for it! Make sure theyre the correct RPM. My boss gave me a 4200 RPM blade to use with the Stihl I mentioned above, which that is a 5100 (or 5200 I cant remember) and I was using it to cut a bracket off of on of the metal racks, and it all of a sudden started to wobble and about 1 second later the blade exploded into about 15 pieces we found one piece about 50' away. Only after this happened that i found out that it was the wrong blade, I wasnt happy.

dirttrackracer · #9 12-14-2010, 08:44 PM

I will make sure of that. I have heard of that happening.

etrailer · #10 02-16-2011, 09:35 AM

It depends on what you're cutting. Remember, a chop saw with an abrasive blade will cut quickly, but the cut isn't very neat.

I used a high torque, low RPM cold cut saw for getting precise cuts on tube steel for furniture making. Very clean, true cuts. Lot less noisy than a chop saw too.

Botta Ranger · #11 04-14-2011, 06:59 PM

I have both and use the band saw most. Chop saw is dirty but cheap for lots of cuts on pipe or angle like making trailers. About any 4x6 bandsaw is a horz/vert. Horz with the attached vice and vert with a little table. Vert nice for heavy sheet steel, alum. Only about a 4" throat though. Decent blades are $25 but cut a lot of steel unless you make a mistake.