Thread: Poor man's Brobo?

Looks to be $800

SYDNEY TOOLS - Makita 305mm Metal Cutting Cold Saw

Still pricy compared to a Horizontal Bandsaw.

There was one of those in the workshop I worked in last. It seemed like a good machine, coped with plenty of work in a busy shed.
It was a quiet saw, and didnt heat up the steel being cut

I asked at the time if I could fit one of the blades onto my dropsaw, was told they ran at different speeds, and wasnt do-able.
I didnt check to see what the speeds were at the time.

At that price it's not far off a new cold saw for $1265 and the blade would last longer cutting cold.
https://www.machineryhouse.com.au/Pr...stockCode=S816

I have seen these saws and the blades to use in power saws, but am still not convinced. For a builder or someone that needs portability on site they would be good, but for a work shop I think the tried and tested machines are better.

Dave

Originally Posted by Ironwood

I asked at the time if I could fit one of the blades onto my dropsaw, was told they ran at different speeds, and wasnt do-able.
I didnt check to see what the speeds were at the time.

I have one of those little triton steel cutters 7 1/4" blade, worked great and a solid build but the max it will cut is 40mm box. Would be an excellent machine for people who cut stock for a lathe, from memory it ran at 4000rpm but going from the sydney tools link it runs at 1300 rpm, wood drop saws run at 3600 rpm dont they or therabout?
{EDIT}
Probably thinking of the circular saw

We have one in our work shop, great unit!

Works a treat untill the Electricians start cutting things they shouldn't

I looked at cold cut saws early this year and for the workshop. I ended up buying another bandsaw. I wasnt too worried in the shop environment about weight and portability of course. Not to mention the extra capacity I now have. Recon whether its a cold cut or bandsaw coolant really helps wrt blade life, and from what I have seen cold cut blades arent a cheap excercise. My sml portable bandsaw costs me more to run than the big unit, why? cause I cant run coolant thru the sml unit. No complaints tho, I can buy a few blades for the same cost as one cold cut.

Have a triton 7.25 inch as well, only disadvantage is capacity, will cut solid as well as tube. Bought it and spare blades in the GMC ebay runout a couple of years back and bought a load of blades over Christmas break in the saw and bits sale for about $1.20 ea. Shipment of 10 circ saw blades, 2 ali table saw blades and 10 steel cutter blades was $35 delivered, and $19 of that was TNT shipping.

There are a number of makes and models around, biggest I have seen is a 14 inch unit. Australian Saw company do a line of blades called Rotary Hacksaw, which is the blade technology that they use, available ina range of sizes.

They can be used with a normal drop saw but you need to clamp the material well. The swarf tends to damage the plasitic case/guard components and could embed into plastic clearence inserts etc as it comes of the work warm (150 deg C ish) and sharp. I have suggested to people who want to use a woodwork drop saw that they buy a cheap one for metal to avoid stuffing a good one for future woodwork.

The boiler maker here in town has one ,I quizzed him on it when I first saw it ,he uses it mainly for pipe and shs and aluminium .He reckons its a great saw , quiet and doesn't throw sparks all over his stainless steel work .The blade runs at around 1200rpm.
When my makita friction saw ##### its self I will get the slower toothed carbide bladed saw like the one above.

Kev.

kev

According to the manual they have a no load speed of 1300 rpm.

It has slightly limited working range depending on blade and material.


Relatively unnecessary for ally though if you already have woodworking gear. All that is needed is a negative rake blade on a woodworking saw. My ally boatbuilder BIL showed me around his workshop - It's almost all woodworking gear and rods of hard wax.

An interesting project would be a 3 Phase SCM saw, a VSD and one of those blades.

Bob,
Very interesting. My mate has one of those saws and has always thought "its the blade you are paying for"(something over $300 for the complete saw). I didn't know the blades couldnt be sharpened. I don't think they are that good on solid stock, but the saw hasn't been used that much. BTW don't pick up solid thats been cut in a cold saw, cold it isn't lol
Stuart

You can buy TC replacement blades for friction saws, as for not sharpening no body told me that and I have had no problem

Originally Posted by Stustoys

Bob,
...I didn't know the blades couldnt be sharpened.
Stuart

I once quoted on a control system for a saw sharpening machine for TCT blades, diamond wheels, all the angles were adjustable, that particular model Vollmer couldn't do skip tooth circular saws, but the later model Vollmer's I believe can do the different height profiles on every third tooth and so on.

Can't see immediately why these couldn't be sharpened? Any more info?

Regards
Ray

Ray,
Sorry I was just going by the last line in BobL table. I can't remember enough about what the blade looks like to even have a guess. I'll have a look next time I am around there, but that might be awhile.
Stuart

Hi Stuart,

Maybe it's a safety issue of some sort?, either that, or they figured out this is a good way to sell more blades..

Regards
Ray