Dry cutter or bandsaw.

[Plasma-art]

Have been cutting everything with an angle grinder or at the local company that sells steel however looking to get myself a saw.
Mainly looking at the lower end dry cutters or a bandsaw like the harbor freight stuff.
My preference goes towards a bandsaw due to noise but I dont have any experience with a dry cutter so looking for some feedback from others.
Would like something portable and I only have single phase power available. (Looking to get 3 phase 380v but that's going to take atleast a year)

[djreiswig]

The harbor freight portable bandsaw is a great tool for the price.

[plasmanewbie]

I use a Dewalt carbide tipped chop saw. Love it. It is noisy but it doesn't stink like an abrasive chop saw and it cuts fast and cuts square. Its just like a chop saw for wood but turns at half the rpm I believe. Blades are costly but I have them sharpened for $20 so its not bad once you have a couple.

[cstroke]

https://www.zoro.com/fein-chop-saw-14-i ... R0QAvD_BwE
I have this saw and have been very happy with it..
I didn't buy it from there but it's the saw. The only things I don't like about it.. Chip tray fills super fast, stainless steel the blades don't last long, I won't use mine for stainless anymore.

[Plasma-art]

The harbor freight portable bandsaw is a great tool for the price.

Not going to be the harbor freight version because I'm from Europe but the machines here are pretty similar overal.
The prices of those are indeed good.

Blades are costly but I have them sharpened for $20 so its not bad once you have a couple.

Blade prices are indeed pretty steep, didnt think about getting them sharpened and I am going to look into that.
Especially considering the low price of bandsaw blades they are expensive.

I won't use mine for stainless anymore.

Stainless is something i am going to be cutting a decent amount of so that's a bummer.
Did you use any lubricant/cooling when cutting stainless?

[acourtjester]

I have both metal cutting band saw and dry saw, I actually have 2 band saws. One is use as normal the other is for vertical cutting small parts by hand.
The dry saw is very nice for clean cutting different shaped stock, I have this one.
https://store.evolutionpowertools.com/p ... JFSjk3YymM
I don't cut much stainless so cannot say which is best for that. The band saw type are mostly made in China (lower cost ones) so there should be a vender in Europe.

[adbuch]

Have been cutting everything with an angle grinder or at the local company that sells steel however looking to get myself a saw.
Mainly looking at the lower end dry cutters or a bandsaw like the harbor freight stuff.
My preference goes towards a bandsaw due to noise but I dont have any experience with a dry cutter so looking for some feedback from others.
Would like something portable and I only have single phase power available. (Looking to get 3 phase 380v but that's going to take atleast a year)

By "Dry cutter" I assume you are referring to a "chop saw" with an abrasive cut off wheel. I have had one for years, and it has seen much use. But lately I am relying more on my horizontal band saws for that sort of operation - much quieter and less mess. I still use the chop saw for hardened materials where I don't want to damage an expensive band saw blade. If you need portability, I would consider the Milwaukee cordless hand held band saw. I have one and it works great. I mainly use it for hand work, but there are stands available to convert it to a nice stationary band saw.

David

https://www.swagoffroad.com/products/sw ... -pro-table

swag band saw stand.jpg

Or maybe something like this one.

vevor band saw stand.jpg

[Plasma-art]

Yes I meant a chop saw with abrasive or carbide tipped blade like a metal devil.
When I take noise and stainless steel into consideration I think I am going for a band saw.
I can get the blades for a bandsaw locally and if I need blades for a chop saw I need to order them and wait for them so that's another important consideration.

Probably getting the cheapest one I can find to test out how how that goes and if I like it I'll get a better one and mount the cheap one as a stationary vertical one.
Feel like alot of these machines probably come out of the same factory anyway just like the small lathes and mills do.

I do like cordless tools however for something as a bandsaw I would like a battery pack that can plug into power so you can still use it on mains power.
Especially for a bandsaw that's most of the time just a stationary tool.
And I got a generator if i need mains power where there is no mains power

[cstroke]

I'm out of room for a big band saw, but I'd love one.
Automatic feeding etc...

[arnegrant]

Evolution chop saw is good.

Band saw is better.

I do not like making sparks with an abrasive saw unless I have to.

They all work.

Stainless eats blades in everything, eventually. Best to have a band saw with water cooling if you do a bunch of that (I just factor in using some blades up on stainless jobs tho)

Good luck

[cutnweld]

I have a Hydmech S20, I like it a lot.

[adbuch]

I have a Hydmech S20, I like it a lot.

s-20 1.jpg

That's a nice looking heavy duty saw! I'm using a scaled down Grizzly version, which suits the sort of work I do very well.
David

grizzly g0613.jpg

[Plasma-art]

Some of those grizzly's are also import machines right?

[adbuch]

Some of those grizzly's are also import machines right?

Yes. Most of the equipment I have from Grizzly is manufactured in either China or Taiwan. The Taiwan stuff is better quality.
The largest piece of equipment I have purchased from Grizzly is this lathe - bought it back in 2007.

David

More photos of some of my other Grizzly stuff here.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/7yQ4prPpiJJrCgmE7

lathe.jpg

[Plasma-art]

Nothing wrong with import as long as you don't just order it but pick it up and inspect it.
Just checked and alot of the grizzly stuff is also available as HBM brand here in the Netherlands.
Lathes for example.

20230104_163305.jpg

20230104_163315.jpg

Only difference is going to be the electronics, here they are single phase 230v and there its 110v and maybe the lead screws if they don't just slap a different set of dials on instead.
In some cases some extra addons like a DRO or a safety screen are added but no major differences.

I was looking at this bandsaw.
Probably also available as a different branded one and 110v in the US

Screenshot_20230104-162402_Chrome.jpg

[acourtjester]

The lead screw cover on the HBM is nice, and the safety covers too. I cannot tell you how many hot chips have landed on my hands. You can still make lots of parts with an 8" swing.

[Plasma-art]

The lead screw cover on the HBM is nice

Until you realise there is no way to get a threading dial onto it so you need to keep the halfnut engaged while single point threading.
Another issue is getting metric threading dials for it in the first place because those are uncommon.
I can get them for the imperial leads crew no problem.
Might be threading dials aren't as popular in metric as they are in imperial for some reason

The safety cover that is going over the chuck so you can not turn it on when you have the key in gets in the way when ever you do any work on the faceplate.
I rather have a chuck key with a spring that pushes itself out instead.

And the cover over the sadle scratches up so fast its unusable in no time is my experience not to mention it gets in the way.
when ever you turn your compound to let's say 45 degrees you can no longer get to your work or have tailsupport because the cover is mounted to the compound

When engineers design something without consulting a machinist

[acourtjester]

Sad but true, Many time you need to remove an assembly and you cannot get to the bolts. We joked that one bolt was suspended in the air and the machine was built around it. No disassembly can be done until that bolt is removed.

[Plasma-art]

I got one better.
Take a 6 foot U channel and fit a 6 feet plate on to the U channel to make a box section.
Now weld the entire thing on the inside and outside including end plates to cap it off
Had an engineer make drawings like that on a monthly basis
Every time he came with the project folder for a new project we would ask him which apprentice we should sacrifice to weld it shut and stay on the inside forever.

Regarding the bandsaw I am going to take a look at a second hand bandsaw that popped up for not alot of money.

[adbuch]

Nothing wrong with import as long as you don't just order it but pick it up and inspect it.

I live in Arizona and the closest Grizzly outlet is very far from me. I have always "just ordered" and inspected it after uncrating and setup. Pretty much never had a problem except for a damaged cover on a band saw. Grizzy is very responsive, has great customer service, and very promptly sends replacements at no charge. That is the one big reason I went with Grizzly back in 2007 when I made my first purchase from them for that metal lathe.

Simply outstanding customer service!!

David