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 Post subject: Re: Compound miter saw
PostPosted: October 14, 2014, 5:34 pm 
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Joined: October 24, 2008, 2:13 pm
Posts: 5326
Location: Carlsbad, California, USA
1tzoom wrote:
I have a 7-1/4" metal cutting circular saw I bought from Northern Tools a few years ago. I'm just finishing up building a 16' x 6.5' utility trailer. I've cut a lot of 1/4" steel for the trailer and have gone through a few blades but that's all part of the deal. The saw turns at 3600 rpms and the blade is shielded to help control the chips. The cuts made by this saw are straight and true and smooth with virtually no burrs. It cuts through 11 ga. steel like a wood saw through a 2x4. My concern with the compound miter saw is the blade speed and the lack of shielding. Even with the shielding on my circular saw chips do escape so a face shield is a must. I am thinking about buying an inexpensive double compound miter saw and using a reostat to slow the blade down but I'm not really sold on the idea yet. I have a vertical band saw and that may be better for cutting the second cut on the compound angles. Using a miter saw would make things go faster but I am concerned with safety. Any thoughts?


I like the idea of doing a compound miter saw conversion. Cutting steel is a tricky item in terms of blade speed, however. I've never done any research on it, but the speed is pretty darn slow compared to a wood saw.

Before I bought my used bandsaw, I tried cutting with an abrasive saw and cutting by hand with a hacksaw. A hacksaw and a good tilting vise is a workable option. But, it is tricky to cut compound joints on tubing with a hand saw. If you get started at the wrong angle, you're hosed and are just going to need to file and/or grind to get a really tight fit. I suggest doing one end at a time, if possible and leaving a little more material on than required and finish by hand. If you leave gaps, your chassis is going to distort some upon final welding.

Cutting compound joints on a bandsaw is nontrivial too. You can use the standard miter gauge to do one angle, but you've got to create something like a wedge out of wood or steel to get the second angle. AND, you've got to be able to clamp your work or accuracy goes right out the window. One bad thing about the bandsaw is that when you go to start your cut at a compound angle to a piece of steel tube or RHS, the blade is going to move some. It's just unavoidable. So, again, cut with a little surplus material on the joint and finish by hand.

Here's my Grizzly unit. The photo was taken the day I got it home and before I cleaned up the oxidation on the table top with WD40 and emery cloth. I got very lucky and got it for $500 off Craig's List. I really like it and it has a digital readout for blade speed (and for setting same) and it has a really solid, cast and machined table too. But, still, you're going to need to do some hand finishing of complex cuts even if you have a very solid jig for holding the tubing IMHO.
Attachment:
Bandsaw-3Qtr.jpg


I ran into a very interesting British saw for metal cutting while looking for a bandsaw. It was not a cold saw. It used a carbide blade much like a wood saw. I can't remember if it was a compound cutting saw or not. It might be worth poking around on the Internet to find it. If it's a compound cutting saw, you might be happy with it and forgo the conversion. There were some good videos of it at work on their website. I was favorably impressed, but found the bandsaw and thought it would be more versatile.

Cheers,





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Damn! That front slip angle is way too large and the Ackerman is just a muddle.

Build Log: viewtopic.php?f=35&t=5886


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