OutbackL130
Silver Member
I need a fast quiet way of cutting steel tubing, flat bar and angle iron in my shop. Currently I have 2 abrasive chop saws, a dry cut saw with shop made outfeed table, a horizontal bandsaw and the newest addition is a baleigh cold saw.
With my dry cut saw and outfeed table I can grab a piece of tubing off the metal rack, line it up to a specific length on the back gauge, lock in the vice and cut to length in under 10 seconds. The chop saws while fast are much too loud and messy for the shop's daily cutting requirements.
It takes 30 seconds for the bandsaw to cut through 1 1/4" x 16ga round tube where as it takes 1.3 seconds for my dry cut chop saw. My first question is are all horizontal bandsaws very slow like mine? In searching the internet it seems most people prefer a bandsaw handsdown over any other method of cutting. People on the interent claim the bandsaw is nice because you can start cutting and walk away while it cuts. Let me say this if there is enough time to walk away from the saw while its cutting then that saw is taking too long and slowing production down! My dry cut saw is so fast there would be no time to walk away and come back before you have to set up for the next cut.
I do on average 150 cuts per day of all different lengths which makes my bandsaw WAY to slow. I like the bandsaw though for its quiet noise level and clean cuts. Are there any bandsaws that are faster?
Recently I purchased a baleigh cold saw and it's living up to my expectations cutting fast, precise and very quiet compared to my chop saws. I am new to cold saws and never used one prior to this. The only thing I dont like about it is the mess you get with the coolant.
How hazardous is the coolant soaking into my hands all day and breathing the fumes burning off from welding? Even if I wipe down the outside of the tubing there will still be plenty of coolant on the inside to make fumes when welding.
Here is the msds on the coolant I am using. I called the company about it and their answer was they dont know whats in it and that plenty of welders use it. That response does not satisfy me. I want to know what I'm breathing using this product frequently.
http://metal.baileighindustrial.com/media/uploads/manuals/baileigh-coolant-msds.pdf
With my dry cut saw and outfeed table I can grab a piece of tubing off the metal rack, line it up to a specific length on the back gauge, lock in the vice and cut to length in under 10 seconds. The chop saws while fast are much too loud and messy for the shop's daily cutting requirements.
It takes 30 seconds for the bandsaw to cut through 1 1/4" x 16ga round tube where as it takes 1.3 seconds for my dry cut chop saw. My first question is are all horizontal bandsaws very slow like mine? In searching the internet it seems most people prefer a bandsaw handsdown over any other method of cutting. People on the interent claim the bandsaw is nice because you can start cutting and walk away while it cuts. Let me say this if there is enough time to walk away from the saw while its cutting then that saw is taking too long and slowing production down! My dry cut saw is so fast there would be no time to walk away and come back before you have to set up for the next cut.
I do on average 150 cuts per day of all different lengths which makes my bandsaw WAY to slow. I like the bandsaw though for its quiet noise level and clean cuts. Are there any bandsaws that are faster?
Recently I purchased a baleigh cold saw and it's living up to my expectations cutting fast, precise and very quiet compared to my chop saws. I am new to cold saws and never used one prior to this. The only thing I dont like about it is the mess you get with the coolant.
How hazardous is the coolant soaking into my hands all day and breathing the fumes burning off from welding? Even if I wipe down the outside of the tubing there will still be plenty of coolant on the inside to make fumes when welding.
Here is the msds on the coolant I am using. I called the company about it and their answer was they dont know whats in it and that plenty of welders use it. That response does not satisfy me. I want to know what I'm breathing using this product frequently.
http://metal.baileighindustrial.com/media/uploads/manuals/baileigh-coolant-msds.pdf
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