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Cutting tools
I'm a contractor by trade. I have many tools
many in duplicate. A very handy tool for cutting 2x wood as well as aluminum angle is an inexpensive Ryobi 10" mitre saw with a carbide blade. Works very Well for cutting angle perfectly. A bench top Ryobi Band saw with a metal blade for cutting sheet stock works Great for the price. Keep the bearings adjusted properly to keep The blade from twisting. Ryobi tools are inexpensive and in this case Both work very well. Clean up the cuts with a belt sander and A 3m polishing wheel. |
I love mine
I found a Sears Craftsman 12" Bandsaw on Craigslist for $50, almost new, but with wood blades. I bought a Lenox BiMetal variable tooth blade for another $50. All I cut is aluminum, and that thing will cut .063 sheet, and .125 angle like butter. It will cut as fast as you want to push through, and with the fine blade, the cut marks buff out easily. I use it daily.
Take care of the blade, and it will hold up well. NO steel or fiberglass!! Edit: On the longer angle pieces (over 12") I just use a hacksaw and a steel miter box. |
The cheap harbor freight saw has been doing just fine for me. I didn't even change the blade. Cuts like butter. Of course...it isn't for steel. Just wood and aluminum.
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My first one was a machinist band saw from Harbor Freight. It cut one piece of metal, then would never hold on to a blade and defied all efforts to make it do so. When I moved, I just left it in the shop. I also had an HF drill press that wasn't much better (would drill a 1/4" hole with a 1/8" bit:rolleyes:). I've since vowed never to buy anything else from HF that has a cord.
I replaced the HF POS bandsaw with a 9" Craftsman bench type (actually measures out to 9-1/2) and have had good service from it for 15 years. The only problem was that it threw a "tire" off one of the wheels recently, but it was cheap and easy to replace. The original 6tpi blade is quite noisy on the thin stuff, and noisy AND slow on the thick stuff. I really need a finer blade, but the saw itself does just fine. |
Ryobi and Harbor Freight Work Fine
I bought a $99 Ryobi bandsaw at Home Depot and put a metal cutting blade on it. Cuts all alum like butter. Finished my RV9A now and I still have the same blade. I also have the HF metal cutting bandsaw I bought for $149. The saw works fine but the original blade was junk and kept coming off. Changed to a quality Starrett bi-metal blade and the saw has given me a good 10 years of service cutting steel. Those 2 saws cut everything I need.
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Ryobi from Home Depot
I've been using an inexpensive Ryobi band saw. It has worked okay, but this week I switched to an 18 tpi metal cutting blade. It took me a bit to figure out how to do the swap, but now is better than okay. It's quite good.
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It's all about the blade....a good blade can make a cheap bandsaw act pretty well for what we use them for. In the big picture, building one airplane is very light duty for even a cheap bandsaw...unless you're putting the cheapest harbor freight junk blade in it.
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The blade
I ordered my blade from http://www.magnate.net/
Looked back for the receipt, and it was $31 with $9 for shipping. I had a hard time finding a blade since the Craftsman uses an 80" blade. Could only find wood cutting ones in that size. Magnate welds them in any length out if Lenox blades in any tooth count, in bi-metal. They even sell carbide tipped if you want to spend the money. I even cut some solid aluminum block 2"X2". Money well spent. Works great for the nylon blocks too! |
Quote:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0010QTZ5Y/ |
I use a Delta 3 wheel band saw. It has a deep "throat" allowing me to make quick work on some of the larger pieces. I use a wood cutting blade, and it goes through aluminum easily. If I am cutting extruded angle, I use my power mitre box with a 80 tooth carbide blade.
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