Chop saw for metal?

Allan

Allan

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I bought a chop saw for a decking project, a couple of years ago. It did a great job but has been sat in a corner doing nothing ever since. I now have a few projects that will require some metal cutting and I'm wondering if the chop saw would do it? Does anyone have any experience of using a 210mm chop saw to cut metal section? I'm thinking 25mm angle, up to maybe 50mm box section.
Allan
 
You just need to source a blade for the metal you are cutting have a look at Freud blades, for one offs with aluminium if you go steadily it would be OK with the standard blade but for steels you need a dedicated blade, cooling isn't a problem.
 
There are multi use type blades availible, but broadly there's two types of metal chop saw

Hot with an abrasive cutting disc. You may be able to find one that will fit your machine

Cold much slower with a cobalt toothed blade very expensive!

The DIY type multipurpose stuff is OK for Alimium and small bits of steel work but not stainless or anything substantial.

Incidentally most things that work with wood works with aluminium but slower and blunts quicker!
 
jwfrary said:
There are multi use type blades availible, but broadly there's two types of metal chop saw

Hot with an abrasive cutting disc. You may be able to find one that will fit your machine

Cold much slower with a cobalt toothed blade very expensive!

The DIY type multipurpose stuff is OK for Alimium and small bits of steel work but not stainless or anything substantial.

Incidentally most things that work with wood works with aluminium but slower and blunts quicker!
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I tried a plane but it didn't work.
 
The tool manufacturer Evolution make circular and chop saws which will cut steel and steel sections. The actual machines are not much different to other makes but the blades have different geometry so maybe one of their blades in your chop saw?
I have used one of their chop saws on 41x41 Unistrut and it certainly cut, though the noise was unpleasant.
 
An angle grinder with a cutting blade will work pretty well for a limitied number of cuts. Mark with a Sharpie and make passes over the mark for the neatest cut with least over heating.

A Port-a-Band is another popular way with welders, but it's another tool to buy. Does not overheat the metal and the blades last a LONG time, even on stainless.
 
I have an 230 angle grinder in a tilt frame for cut off with thin discs and a 355 tipped blade in a purpose made chop for metal. The angle grinder turns at about 6K rpm, but the big toothed blade needs to turn much slower, at 1,500 rpm.
So, check the blade speed before fitting one to a chop saw.
I use tipped blades in another purpose built cut off for ally sections, they have a backward slant to the teeth. They also work in the standard wood chopsaw, but not so accurate as the dedicated one.
Before the tipped blades I used HSS blades, but again, not too fast and they like lube.

Abrasive is noisy, sparky and dusty, so toothed cutting is the way, but my first big blade suddenly lost all it's teeth halfway through a cut. Still puzzled by why and, at 80£, pricey.
Ideal for noise and dust is a bandsaw. Must get one....
BTW, as above, cutting steel with tipped blades is noisy with lots of little bits of hot metal flying away.
 
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DownWest said:
I have an 230 angle grinder in a tilt frame for cut off with thin discs and a 355 tipped blade in a purpose made chop for metal. The angle grinder turns at about 6K rpm, but the big toothed blade needs to turn much slower, at 1,500 rpm.
So, check the blade speed before fitting one to a chop saw.
I use tipped blades in another purpose built cut off for ally sections, they have a backward slant to the teeth. They also work in the standard wood chopsaw, but not so accurate as the dedicated one.
Before the tipped blades I used HSS blades, but again, not too fast and they like lube.

Abrasive is noisy, sparky and dusty, so toothed cutting is the way, but my first big blade suddenly lost all it's teeth halfway through a cut. Still puzzled by why and, at 80£, pricey.
Ideal for noise and dust is a bandsaw. Must get one....
BTW, as above, cutting steel with tipped blades is noisy with lots of little bits of hot metal flying away.
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Yup I used to use either angle grinder or a purpose small mitre saw with blade but when I bought a bandsaw with speed control they were surplus, I sold the mitre saw but kept the angle grinder as that's useful for cutting rebar and mesh outside.
 
Fr J Hackett said:
Yup I used to use either angle grinder or a purpose small mitre saw with blade but when I bought a bandsaw with speed control they were surplus, I sold the mitre saw but kept the angle grinder as that's useful for cutting rebar and mesh outside.
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Yep, but the bandsaw I used to have (italian?) was horizontal, built for metal. It could cut 160x160mm solid steel.
 
If you are cutting aluminium, use a ZTR tungstone tooth blade. This has 3 cuts, left, right and centre. It works better than a 2 cut blade of left and right, as per woodworking blades, and leaves a much smoother finish. A ZTR blade is used for aluminium profiles, rather than solid bars or rods. It runs at the same speed as a woodcutting blade. I must stress when cutting any metal it must be clamped to the machine.

Never had to cut steel, so cannot comment.

ZTR circular saw blade aluminium - Google Search

How to cut metal with a circular saw
 
DownWest said:
Yep, but the bandsaw I used to have (italian?) was horizontal, built for metal. It could cut 160x160mm solid steel.
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Nowadays I don't have need of such a beast and in the past on the odd occasion I did and when I needed access to a surface grinder or bigger lathe or milling machine than I had the works fitting shop was available.
 
Just had a glance at Evolution 225 blades and they are happy at relatively high RPM, so, if you can stand the noise and chips for occasional use, sounds like OK for a chopsaw.
 
Fr J Hackett said:
Nowadays I don't have need of such a beast and in the past on the odd occasion I did and when I needed access to a surface grinder or bigger lathe or milling machine than I had the works fitting shop was available.
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Looking at horizontal bandsaws now, in my budget, tend to from the east and delivery times are unknown.. So sparks and dust are in the near future.
 
Quite, LBC has some real chancers. I could probably run up something like that for less money.
Just had an old friend stay over. He is looking for wood tools, as his kit in the Carib will be too expensive to get over to Portugal. Down there, little available, here too. UK bursting with decent cheap kit. But.... tax etc after Br+++t.
Wait a bit and put in an offer, suitably cheepy :)
 
DownWest said:
Quite, LBC has some real chancers. I could probably run up something like that for less money.
Just had an old friend stay over. He is looking for wood tools, as his kit in the Carib will be too expensive to get over to Portugal. Down there, little available, here too. UK bursting with decent cheap kit. But.... tax etc after Br+++t.
Wait a bit and put in an offer, suitably cheepy :)
Click to expand...

No it's knackered I wouldn't pay €50 for it and it needs converting with an inverter cheaper to buy new even in France, I will either buy a new Axminster Trade one or a Jet one in France unless something crops up in the next week or two. What I find strange is the reluctance in France to use fleabay. Wood turning isn't a particularly cheap hobby I expect to end up spending about €3K by the time I am done more if I change my grinding system.
I still buy hand tools from Axminster get him to have a look on their site.
 
Fr J Hackett said:
No it's knackered I wouldn't pay €50 for it and it needs converting with an inverter cheaper to buy new even in France, I will either buy a new Axminster Trade one or a Jet one in France unless something crops up in the next week or two. What I find strange is the reluctance in France to use fleabay.
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LBC is free... Flea not.
 
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