Thread: Cutting metal with miter saw

its not the base plate you need to worry about .......its the plastic drop down blade guard that will get hot and will melt, and I strongly advise against taking it off ....personal injury WILL occur from flying sparks and debri....

take it to someone in the "steel" industry and pay to get it cut to length req'd....much safer all round

Or go and buy a GMC Cutoff Machine. A bit over $100 at Bunnings dedicated for the purpose.

Just noticed you're in Indonesia, dare say there are no Bunnings there but should be able to buy one where you bought your Mitre Saw.

I have an old table saw with embedded T-Track and use a thin kerf metal cut off wheel. Using the standard mitre guide/slide I can make very accurate albeit slow cuts with this set up. As thin kerf wheels are limited to 125 mm the tallest cut I can make with a fresh wheel is about 30 mm. For taller cuts I use an 8" wheel.

The words GMC and accurate do not go together.

Besides the major problem of hot sparks melting/burning parts of your saw there's the problem of cutting depth. The closest size abrasive disc you'll get for your 10"/250mm saw is 9"/235mm. So you'll need to adjust your stop (if possible) 1/2" or so downwards to be able to cut through the stock. Of course, as you cut the abrasive disc will wear down and you'll need to readjust the stop further down. I doubt you'd be able to adjust the stop on any mitre saw down far enough to get get much use out of a disc so then you'd need to pack the stock up after (or possibly during) every cut. Not worth all the mucking around. If you mark your stock and use a handheld angle grinder you'll get a decent cut without the safety issues of using your drop saw and without all the mucking around.

Mick

Originally Posted by lance_lot2004

...thinking of using a ferrous metal cutting blade on a 10-inch gmc miter saw to cut steel angle bars and square tubes. .....

Do you mean one of the cold cutting blades or a friction/abrasive cut off disk?

Everbody else has answered assuming the friction/abrasive disk.

If you meant the cold cutting wheel, the problem is not the sparks 'cos there aren't any, the problem will be the strength of the hinge on your saw. Most of the cheapies do not have a strong enough hinge to survive using a cold cutter blade.

What size steel do you want to cut?

I have the Triton Cold Cutter which will cut upto 50mm.
The problem for you may be finding one over there.
It is accurate & doesn't heat/burn the cut end.

Hey guys, thanks for all your input. I really meant the cold cutting blade, not the abrasive disks. So there may be a problem with the hinge if I try it? I could buy a used gmc sliding miter saw here for about US$75. I intend to use it only for one or two steel cabinet projects to cut up to 2" x 1/8" angular bars. After that, I'll throw it away. I might give it a shot.

Thanks again guys.

lance - I've got a GMC 10" slider and put a ferous cold cutting blade into it recently to cut steel rails for a fence. It does this fine. Not super accurate, but OK.

If it is only for a short project & you don't lean on it too hard I can't see why it wouldn't do the job.