After having to saw through a 3/4" steel plate with a hacksaw I decided
it was time to look into purchasing a cheap chinese import bandsaw from
BusyBee Tools (same as Grizzly) and would like to purchase some
adequate blades for cutting aluminium and stainless steel (if it's much
different from cutting mild steel). Any recommendations on the number
of TPI I should be looking for? Blades are cheap so I'll probably grab
a couple.

I figure a bandsaw is probably a beter choice than a cut-off saw with a
grinding wheel, especially if I want to cut some aluminium even once in
a while. Unless someone has a better solution...

I'm also wondering if acquiring this metal cutting bandsaw would let me
get rid of my wood cutting bandsaw which isn't seeing much action
anyways. Is it adviseable to cut wood on a metal cutting bandsaw or
will I end up gunking up the mechanism with saw dust? If it's do-able,
I wonder if I can fit a 1/4" blade on a metal cutting bandsaw to cut
tighter curves in wood...


Thanks for the help

"JonJonJon" wrote in message
ups.com...
After having to saw through a 3/4" steel plate with a hacksaw I decided
it was time to look into purchasing a cheap chinese import bandsaw from
BusyBee Tools (same as Grizzly) and would like to purchase some
adequate blades for cutting aluminium and stainless steel (if it's much
different from cutting mild steel). Any recommendations on the number
of TPI I should be looking for? Blades are cheap so I'll probably grab
a couple.

I figure a bandsaw is probably a beter choice than a cut-off saw with a
grinding wheel, especially if I want to cut some aluminium even once in
a while. Unless someone has a better solution...

I'm also wondering if acquiring this metal cutting bandsaw would let me
get rid of my wood cutting bandsaw which isn't seeing much action
anyways. Is it adviseable to cut wood on a metal cutting bandsaw or
will I end up gunking up the mechanism with saw dust? If it's do-able,
I wonder if I can fit a 1/4" blade on a metal cutting bandsaw to cut
tighter curves in wood...


Thanks for the help

I have cut wood on both machines. I still keep my wood cutter, because it 3
or 5 times faster, when cutting a 4x4 or 6x6 block of wood. The metal cutter
is slower, can't use that special jagged blades, that rip the wood apart...

xman

I recently aquired a portable (hand held) metal cutting band saw. I
also have a HF 4x6 horizontal band saw and use it for more precision
cuts and lengthy cuts. If you can get your bandsaw to cut metal
efficiently, you might consider a portable. Depending on what you are
cutting, there are situations where one would be a better choice over
the other. Would give you a wider range of options.
-Mike

JonJonJon wrote:
After having to saw through a 3/4" steel plate with a hacksaw I decided
it was time to look into purchasing a cheap chinese import bandsaw from
BusyBee Tools (same as Grizzly) and would like to purchase some
adequate blades for cutting aluminium and stainless steel (if it's much
different from cutting mild steel). Any recommendations on the number
of TPI I should be looking for? Blades are cheap so I'll probably grab
a couple.

10/14 bimetal seems to be a good universal choice.

I figure a bandsaw is probably a beter choice than a cut-off saw with a
grinding wheel, especially if I want to cut some aluminium even once in
a while. Unless someone has a better solution...

You will want both. A chop saw is much handier when you just need to
wack 2" off a length of iron pipe or angle iron.

I'm also wondering if acquiring this metal cutting bandsaw would let me
get rid of my wood cutting bandsaw which isn't seeing much action
anyways. Is it adviseable to cut wood on a metal cutting bandsaw or
will I end up gunking up the mechanism with saw dust? If it's do-able,
I wonder if I can fit a 1/4" blade on a metal cutting bandsaw to cut
tighter curves in wood...

I'd keep the wood saw. While you can cut wood with the 4x6, it's far
from ideal. The metal saw will end up with oil on it, which won't do the
wood much good. I'd say if you need to cut some blocks of super-hard
oak from a pallet, it might occasionally be good for that.

You will wonder how you ever got by without it.

My HF 4x6 was made in Taiwan, not China. Quality is a little better.
You can't get by with just one blade, I've got 12, 18 and 24 TPI
blades, what I use depends on the material thickness. If you use a
coarse pitch one on chrome moly tubing, you can be sure it'll rip a lot
of teeth out in the process. I've been using Lenox blades because I
could get them off the shelf at the local hardware store. 5-10x the
life of those pallet bands they sell with the units. There are other
good brands out there, too.

You can't really use anything other than 1/2" blades on the thing,
there's no rubber tires. A 1/4" blade would rapidly lose any set that
it had on the wheel side.

I've used the 4x6 for cross-cutting wood slats in a pinch where I
didn't want to get out the table saw, very slow. It's not a
replacement for a wood bandsaw, either. It does take a little tuning
to get the thing cutting square, there's a number of good sites that
explain the procedure. Some of the folks have had motor problems, one
reason I bought locally. I wouldn't be without mine.

Stan

I would add that, when changing the blade, tighten the hand hand
tensioner knob as tight as you can get it by hand, then retighten after
it's run a little while. You cannot over tighten it by hand.

wrote:
My HF 4x6 was made in Taiwan, not China. Quality is a little better.
You can't get by with just one blade, I've got 12, 18 and 24 TPI
blades, what I use depends on the material thickness. If you use a
coarse pitch one on chrome moly tubing, you can be sure it'll rip a lot
of teeth out in the process. I've been using Lenox blades because I
could get them off the shelf at the local hardware store. 5-10x the
life of those pallet bands they sell with the units. There are other
good brands out there, too.

You can't really use anything other than 1/2" blades on the thing,
there's no rubber tires. A 1/4" blade would rapidly lose any set that
it had on the wheel side.

I've used the 4x6 for cross-cutting wood slats in a pinch where I
didn't want to get out the table saw, very slow. It's not a
replacement for a wood bandsaw, either. It does take a little tuning
to get the thing cutting square, there's a number of good sites that
explain the procedure. Some of the folks have had motor problems, one
reason I bought locally. I wouldn't be without mine.

Stan