I have a 10" Delta vertical bandsaw that I have been using to cut steel
for over 20 years. It's a light duty home version.
The big issue is that you have to slow it down a LOT for steel. To
do that, I simply mounted a second, slow speed motor in the stand, right
above the "wood speed" motor. To change from wood to metal, I just
install a shorter belt to the slow motor, instead of the longer belt to
the "wood" motor. The slow motor I used is a gearmotor that runs about
105 rpm and used to run a copy machine. It has a 1 1/2" diameter
pulley, so I get about 125 sfm on the blade. I have other metal cutting
tools now, so I don't use it for heavy metal cutting anymore, but I used
to cut stock as thick as 1". Slow, but got the job done. I even had
blades made that were as wide as 1/2" and as narrow as 1/8". You'd be
surprised at how long the 1/8" blades lasted!

Pete Stanaitis
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Bob La Londe wrote:
Any of you guys use one for cutting metal ... and admit to it?

I've got one that has done a fantastic job for custom wood parts,
flooring, etc. I was wondering if it would be a stupid idea to pick up
some bi metal blades for some metal cutting that might be easier than
some other tools?

I guess my biggest concern might be driving metal particles into the
bicycle tire on the pulleys and messing them up.