Thread: Table saw for metal lathe

Looks like a good way to lose a finger.

Not happy about cutting steel like that - looks pretty dangerous hand held/pushing into the blade.

No thanks, not for me.

Rob

Originally Posted by nearnexus

Looks like a good way to lose a finger.

Not happy about cutting steel like that - looks pretty dangerous hand held/pushing into the blade.

No thanks, not for me.

Rob

My sentiments exactly

Bill, the idea to make table saw and jigsaw and hacksaw attachments and power file attachments as well as milling attachments and the like for the lathe came from Europe. You had model engineers living in rented apartments or townhouses, and the lathe was in a spare bedroom or in a minuscule garden shed. These guys simply had no space for standalone machines. Some people even had to store their small unimat lathe under the kitchen table whilst the tabletop was needed for preparing food.

If you are not limited by space, you are FAR better off with standalone solutions. I think a mini-mill besides your Hercus is a much more versatile alternative. It can do all that you would do on a tablesaw attachment, and much more. Instead of a miniature hacksaw lathe attachment, get a cheap 6x4 metal bandsaw, you will never look back. And for the jigsaw, well get a real jigsaw.

Of course it is a completely different proposition, if you were considering making such attachment(s) just for the fun and satisfaction of making it. But if you were thinking of making a table saw attachment instead of having a milling machine, think again.

Originally Posted by nearnexus

Looks like a good way to lose a finger.

Not happy about cutting steel like that - looks pretty dangerous hand held/pushing into the blade.

No thanks, not for me.

Rob

no more dangerous than a vertical bandsaw and probably less dangerous than a wood table saw as the rpm would be much slower
it also looks like you clamp the part to the table and use the cross slide to advance the part into the blade
looks to be a good solution to me if your on a budget or space is a restriction and a nifty project

cheers
Harty

Originally Posted by harty69

no more dangerous than a vertical bandsaw and probably less dangerous than a wood table saw as the rpm would be much slower
it also looks like you clamp the part to the table and use the cross slide to advance the part into the blade
looks to be a good solution to me if your on a budget or space is a restriction and a nifty project

cheers
Harty

I agree with your comments. I hadn't considered advancing the job with the cross slide, and that makes a lot of sense.

I don't like feeding anything by hand into blades, especially steel, but I take your point.

Rob

I am sure there was someone on the forum who has done something like this, but a lot simpler. A slitting saw in an arbor and a vice on the cross slide maybe? Specifically for cutting off short lengths.

I understand the cost of it all. Up until i bought my first bandsaw last year i used the angle grinder a lot, i did have a chop saw but i killed it after not much work. There is always something else to buy, whether you "need" it or just want it....

Ew

About 8 years ago I bought a new 12" WW table saw and dragged my ageing 35 year old 8" Ezycut outside the shed and left it there for a few months.
I was just about to put it on the verge for the council pick up when I needed to rip some 2 mm thick 600 mm long pieces of sheet metal so I whacked a thin kerf cutting wheel in it and it worked a treat.

At ~2850 rpm (1425 motor with a 2:1 pulley) 1.5HP motor it's way quieter and safer than an angle grinder so I have no worries about using it at night without it annoying the neighbours.
I can use the fence and mitre slide just like WW TS
I added water cooling so I could cut tool steel but I use it on other steel as well as it means the metal stays cool so I can keep holding onto the steel, and it reduces the amount of grit and dust generate and scattered by the wearing wheel.
The water and metal dust runs down the sawdust chute into a metal can.

When I bought a 6x4 metal cutting BS I thought that would see the end of my use of this machine but I'm still using it as much as I ever did.
I have no worries about holding and cutting small odd shaped pieces with it that are just too tricky for the BS vice to hold.
The thickest cuts I have made are ~25 mm but it was sloooooowwww. Cutting 12 mm steel is about the realistic limit for this thing.
Multigrips come in handy holding really small pieces e.g. cutting 25 mm long 1/8" screws in half, otherwise I hand hold everything else.
I have used it a few of times with a TC tipped blades for aluminium and brass but I don't let my hands anywhere near the blade when doing this.
I also use it with 5" thicker grinding wheels to dress the bar rails of my chain saw bars and it does a great job on these.

I reckon I have gone through more than 200 thin kerf cut off wheels with this thing over the years and its one of my most used machines especially for Q&D jobs that seem to be the case with most of what I do.



A friend of mine has a similar set up using a 10" table top table saw he bought at a garage sale for $20 but he can't use water cooling as his is a direct drive and his motor is too close to the blade and he is worried about getting water in the motor.

Lots of people out there with not quite the full compliment of fingers and thumbs thanks to tablesaws, router tables, bandsaws and the the like. Some with less than the full compliment have told me me eight or nine are just as good - but that would depend on what or how many are missing I guess. Thumbs are the important bits they say; that aside, being somewhat less in number you need to watch them a little closer I think. I've still got all mine (fingers and fumbs that is), although they're not quite the same shape or as touchy feely as they once were. One or two accidents teach you to be a bit more careful. Finger extensions and vice grips are always handy.

Originally Posted by BobL

About 8 years ago I bought a new 12" WW table saw and dragged my ageing 35 year old 8" Ezycut outside the shed and left it there for a few months.
I was just about to put it on the verge for the council pick up when I needed to rip some 2 mm thick 600 mm long pieces of sheet metal so I whacked a thin kerf cutting wheel in it and it worked a treat.

At ~2850 rpm (1425 motor with a 2:1 pulley) 1.5HP motor it's way quieter and safer than an angle grinder so I have no worries about using it at night without it annoying the neighbours.
I can use the fence and mitre slide just like WW TS
I added water cooling so I could cut tool steel but I use it on other steel as well as it means the metal stays cool so I can keep holding onto the steel, and it reduces the amount of grit and dust generate and scattered by the wearing wheel.
The water and metal dust runs down the sawdust chute into a metal can.

When I bought a 6x4 metal cutting BS I thought that would see the end of my use of this machine but I'm still using it as much as I ever did.
I have no worries about holding and cutting small odd shaped pieces with it that are just too tricky for the BS vice to hold.
The thickest cuts I have made are ~25 mm but it was sloooooowwww. Cutting 12 mm steel is about the realistic limit for this thing.
Multigrips come in handy holding really small pieces e.g. cutting 25 mm long 1/8" screws in half, otherwise I hand hold everything else.
I have used it a few of times with a TC tipped blades for aluminium and brass but I don't let my hands anywhere near the blade when doing this.
I also use it with 5" thicker grinding wheels to dress the bar rails of my chain saw bars and it does a great job on these.

I reckon I have gone through more than 200 thin kerf cut off wheels with this thing over the years and its one of my most used machines especially for Q&D jobs that seem to be the case with most of what I do.


Snip


A friend of mine has a similar set up using a 10" table top table saw he bought at a garage sale for $20 but he can't use water cooling as his is a direct drive and his motor is too close to the blade and he is worried about getting water in the motor.

Bob.

For cutting small bits have you tried a small drilling/milling vice upside down to hold them. The workpiece still rests on the table and a fence can be used. I think it was Tubalcain I got this idea from.

I have an 8 inch Ryobi circular saw that is almost always used with an abrasive wheel for cutting steel. The max I have cut is 1/4 inch thick. I have the need to cut some 6mm checker plate exactly in half lengthways at some time to make a firearm safe. It is going to be a good one. I think I need to cut 3 pieces of about 750mm length. I had not thought of a thin kerf cutting wheel with this saw. I was going to use an angle grinder. I guess the slight difference in kerf would not make any difference that could not be addressed with the welder anyway.

Dean

Originally Posted by Oldneweng

Bob.

For cutting small bits have you tried a small drilling/milling vice upside down to hold them. The workpiece still rests on the table and a fence can be used. I think it was Tubalcain I got this idea from.

I have an 8 inch Ryobi circular saw that is almost always used with an abrasive wheel for cutting steel. The max I have cut is 1/4 inch thick. I have the need to cut some 6mm checker plate exactly in half lengthways at some time to make a firearm safe. It is going to be a good one. I think I need to cut 3 pieces of about 750mm length. I had not thought of a thin kerf cutting wheel with this saw. I was going to use an angle grinder. I guess the slight difference in kerf would not make any difference that could not be addressed with the welder anyway.

Dean

I have cut quite a bit of steel plate, and do it easily with a hand circular saw with a friction disc in it (set blade depth to less than 10 mm).

To get a straight cut clamp a piece of timber to the steel plate as a guide for the edge of the cutting plate, so that the disc can reference along the cutting line.

Then progressively grind down through the plate in multiple passes.

This ensures a straight cut and conserves the disc.

If you try cutting straight into the plate edge it will destroy the disc pronto, and always pull off line.

Rob

Originally Posted by Oldneweng

Bob.
For cutting small bits have you tried a small drilling/milling vice upside down to hold them. The workpiece still rests on the table and a fence can be used. I think it was Tubalcain I got this idea from.

I've tried just about everything,small drilling vice, clamps, mutigrips, etc,
Using a small drilling vice requires the vice to be tipped on its side otherwise it is too high for the wheel but for anything that fits in such a vice I usually use the bandsaw, and for things that are small I use multi grips.
I found it you use the same principle as one would use on a WW TS to handle material that I don't need to use any thing other than my hands.
I have on the odd occasion with awkward shapes even lightly welded a piece of steel bar onto the workpiece so that I can hold that while cutting.

Here is an example of something I knocked up the other day where all the cutting was done with the little table saw.
I needed a 2 arm puller to remove a plastic fan from a motor shaft. I have several 3 arm pullers but no two arm.
I was going to use a couple of the arms from one of the 3 armed pullers but the pulling points on the fan were small holes that none of the 3 puller arms would fit through.
The paired brown-red coated arms were first ripped lengthwise from 25 x 3 mm flatbar that was about 300 mm long so my hands were well back from the wheel while that was being done.
The all rod like sections were cut with the mitre slide and squared off and tapped with a lathe.
The 5 mm thick wings and arms with the hooks on them, were cut free hand

I have an 8 inch Ryobi circular saw that is almost always used with an abrasive wheel for cutting steel.

Before I had the table saw I had used a circular with a cut off wheel a number of times and it just didn't feel right

• First thing is the noise, I might as well use and angle grinder
• It's just not safe on small pieces
• It's hard to see where you're cutting and the thin kerf wheels sometimes wander a bit so correction may be needed.
• To get around this I used the 2.5 mm thick wheels which reduced the wheel wander, these also came is larger sizes as well.
• Angle grinders are sort of made to handle a metal and wheel dust but I'm not sure circulars are the same.

I suppose if you only are going to do a few cuts it would be OK.

Hi

If you keep an eye on ebay, you will see cheap power hacksaws . They are pretty much obsolete in industry and there are some good ones out there going cheap I picked up one for $50 at a swap meet ........... Mike

here is one -- http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Industria...item3a8b8a9f56

- plenty of things above to digest and think about. Its interesting and also frustrating being a newbie. My next visit to H&F will be far more meaningful as a result of the various things I read and ask on this forum. Many thanks for all responses.

Didnt realise that the metal cutting bandsaws were relatively cheap - simply assumed they'd be dear as poison.

Looks like a few people have "metal cutting table saws"

.............. and I'm sure other folk will also benefit from my question ......................... if people are good enough to answer them I'll keep them coming for a good while yet.

FYI : From what I've read so far I get the impression that Myford made one of these things and put their name on it as a genuine accessory for the 7" lathe.

Bill

Aren't there now thin kerf reverse rake TCT circular saw blades specifically designed for use in circular saws to cut sheet metal? There are also some bloody good recip saw blades out there; we use them regularly for cutting steel up to 3/4" thick beacuse they're much safer than cutting discs.