Well, I put the new saw together in about 10 minutes and started cutting. It still took a long time. After about 5 minutes, I up'd it from slow to meduim. 5 minutes later I was still only about 1/4 way through, so I up'd it to the high speed. At that speed I could actually see the blade moving through the material. When it hit the side walls, which would be when it was cutting approximately two 1/4 inch pieces at the same time, it was moving about 1/2" down a minute. That translates into an inch every two minutes, or 6-7 minutes to do the sides when allowing for the top and bottom. For some reason, the top and bottoms seemed to take a little less time than the sides. I can't figure that out as it would be cutting more steel on the flats than on the sides. Anyhow, the motor started getting warm, not hot, but warm. I could keep my skin in contact with the motor casing, but it was vey uncomfortable. I decided to stop after about 10 minutes and let it cool down for 10 minutes. Then I finished the job. Lets face it, the motor is just not up to continous operation for 20 minutes at a time. Maybe this is just really hard steel. I don't know. It didn't seem like that big of a load, so the motors shouldn't be getting that hot. It didn't seem to matter what speed I ran the saw blade at. I think this motor would burn up if left to just run with no load. Oh well. Get what you pay for. The good news is those are the largest cuts I have to make. If any of you downloaded the plans from the link I provided, the cuts I made were the 20 degree cuts in the main boom section. This, in effect, took out a wedge of steel, so that I can put the two cut faces together and weld. This will form a 40 degree bend in the boom a little more than halfway up the boom.
I will need to cut off one piece of the 4x4 tubing for the main frame and one small piece to add tp the area where the pivot brackets will attach. Then there is the section for the dipper that will be cut to length. So that is three more cuts in this 4x4 material. All other cuts will be smaller. I have to round off a few ends of the 4x4 tubing, but I will probably rough that out with my torch and touch up with the grinder.
My plan is to cut out all the pieces of the thing before I start any welding. That way, it will take up less room in my already crowded garages.
I need to get a good scribe, a center punch, a compass, a hole saw or similar device, and, believe it or not, a ball peen hammer. I don't have one.
The good news is, not counting the saw, I have spent $0.00 of my budget so far. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
I will have to lay out $$ for four hydraulic cylinders, hoses, valves and connectors. I would like to get two joysticks to control the four cylinders and two seperate valves to control the outriggers. I think I have some cylinders for the outriggers already. They may work. Those were free, so I'll try to make them work.
Joysticks look to be about $250.00 each.
Cylinders go anywhere from $75.00 to $150.00 each, depending on what I get. So I'm probably looking at $1000 to $1500 for the hydraulics.
I also need to buy some tubing and rod for bushings and pins and some 3" by 1/2" X about 8' plate. I'll see what I can scrounge up for the plate, but want to go new with the pins and bushings.
If I can get away with under $2000, I'll be very happy.