cutting sheet metal straight....

[Joe Gwinn]

Damn good idea. Hmmmmmm ... This opens up a few options I hadn't thought of.

Thanks. I got the idea from seeing the sled that holds logs being sawed into lumber.

[Zhangliqun]

Joe, what do you use for a clamp? Do you happen to have a picture of this sled?

[Ampclutz]

Possum,

Do you have an answer yet?

Enco sells bench shears in 8 inch and 12 inch sizes that will cut 1/8 inch thick plate steel. These will also cut 1/4 inch thick by 2-3/4 inch wide steel bar.

No kerf so no waste... Might need flattening after shearing... I don't know.

They aren't gawd awful expensive.

AC

[Possum]

hmmmm.......

I'm going to look at a HB mill tomorrow. The shears I think are only good for rough cutting, not doing perfect paralell 3/16" cuts, how would you align it perfectly? Pricey too....

[Joe Gwinn]

Joe, what do you use for a clamp? Do you happen to have a picture of this sled?

The clamp is a standard toggle-clamp assembly, bought from MSC. There is an amazing variety, but here is a suitable one: http://www1.mscdirect.com/CGI/NNSRIT?PMAKA=66758707.

There are URLs for pictures of the sled in my posting about the sled.

You will also need countersinks, drills and taps to make the holes to receive the hex-socket flat-head screws that attach the steel rail to sled and the aluminum cross-bar to fence. The steel rail is standard 1018 mild steel rectangle stock from MSC.

[Ampclutz]

A mill can have hidden costs that have bitten me. A mill without some essential accessories won't really do much. And the accessories aren't that cheap. Some of the accessories needed include collets, a vise, cutters, drill bits, hold downs, a parallel set, an edge finder, cutting fluid, a stop fixture and measuring tools. These things can easily cost more than a cheap mill. Be sure you don't surprise yourself about how much it costs to actually be able to do useful work.

Don't ask how I know about these extra expenses...

AC

[Possum]

....

well not really, I've already been to Little Machine shop online and the stuff I need totals less than $100. Just to buy a drillpress and XY table is nearly $300 so why not get a mill and have alot of other capabilities? Little Machine shop by the way has excellent customer service and a wide variety of accessories from top quality to hobbyist budget stuff, I got all my lathe accessories there.

Not to bash my lathe, it was a frsutrating experience but I can cut slugs lickety split on it now. Funny thing I'm rewindnig some old TTops and I noticed on the slugs that the "nubs" on them were all filed off, that got a big laugh out of me after all my perfectionist facing each damn little slug, now I hit it with a cut off foredom bit and its done baby!

[corduroyew]

Getting straight cuts from a bandsaw is all about getting your fence set up correctly. Wider blades help too but you don't have to have a wide blade to get a straight cut.

What you do is set up your rip fence. Take a piece of scrap material, and cut into the material about 1". Now turn off your saw but leave the material in the saw. Look at the way the blade sits in your cut. Typically the front of the blade (the side with teeth) will be in the middle of the cut and the back of the blade will be slightly to the left or the right. Your blade is going to wander the opposite direction that the back of the blade is on.

What you have to do is keep changing the angle of your rip fence until you can cut into your material 1" and both the front and back of the blade centered in the cut. This means you will see a little bit of air between your material and both sides of the blade.

Getting the fence exactly right can take hrs if you are new to it, but once you get the hang of it it only takes a couple minutes. After you have everything set up just remember not to cut too quickly and always push the material back into your fence rather than forward into the blade.

I don't actually use this method for cutting steel anymore because I got myself the right kind of bandsaw for cutting large chucks of steel completely straight. I do still use this method when I am ripping lumber for guitar backs. I can cut an 18" tall 36" long board so it is exactly 4mm thick and it's so accurate that I don't have to bother thicknessing the board when I'm done. In fact, my results directly off the bandsaw are straighter and more consistent than when I get thicknessed parts from my thickness planer or thickness sander.

[David King]

Possum, a tiny vertical mill won't be all that helpful cutting straight pieces of 1/8" steel. If you use a small endmill to cut slots, that is going to be very slow and expensive and difficult to hold. Figure you can cut 1/2 the dia in a single pass, with a 1/16" dia cutter you would need to make 4 passes of 1/32" each at a speed of perhaps 2 inches per minute, that's 8-10 minutes for a 2" long slot. You will probably be eating a new cutter every few inches at that rate. You'd be much better off with a slitting saw on a horizontal mill, about 100 times more efficient.

You could use a larger endmill to straighten up your bandsaw cuts so that makes more sense but cutting steel in a tiny mill like that just won't be very much fun. I would probably use a 3/8" cutter (if they will even fit) and clean up two pieces at a time, side by side in the vise. Still very slow going...

No one in town has a water jet or laser you can get too? Those could cut 30-50 inches per minute with a kerf of just a few thousandths of an inch.

[Possum]

....

I was never intending to CUT on the mill , just clean up the edges from the bandsaw.

So what is a proper metal cutting bandsaw that cuts straight? A goodle search on metal cutting band saws pretty much onlly brings up the kind you take to a job site to cut pipes in half, I never found any vertical saws just made for metal cutting. I have the micromark band saw, its very small and doesn't have a fence, you don't see fences on bandsaws much either, would have to make one I guess. I haven't tried the new blades yet, they have teeth that vary in size and hardened teeth or coated with something, they look real substantial hope it works in my saw......

[corduroyew]

It is one of the big industrial saws used in factories for cutter RSA support beams and what not. Not something that saves the average joe any money. I got one from my old job when they were replacing it with something that was fully automated.

A bandsaw fence is easy to make. The ones that come with the saws are no good anyway so anybody that is seriouse about ripping material has to make one. They can be made from MDF and glue so they are not that time consuming or expensive.

[David King]

Possum, a "proper" bandsaw would be a doall 20"
http://www.emachinetool.com/used/cat...roductID=13151

You can pickup a used 14" wood bandsaw of the delta knockoff variety for $150 and change the pulleys to slow it way down. There are lots of great after-market accessories available for these saws including powerfeeds and adjustable fences. The Deltas are still a bit better than the rest but most of the parts are interchangeable all around.

Most of the horizontal cut-off bandsaws can be operated in the vertical position but you'd need to fabricate a table and fence for them. They sell for even less on Craigslist.

A 1 hp motor will make very quick work of your parts compared to the minimark.

[corduroyew]

this type of bandsaw would be better than an upright. It cuts metal better, has coolant, and doesn't need a fence. In addition, the hydraulic downward pressure helps keep the blade from wandering. The drawback is that even the small ones are big and they cost a lot of money. I've got a bigger model of these and it works great. A smaller one would work much MUCH better simply because there would be less room for the blade to roam. This is one of the situations where the smallest you can get by with will be the best for your specific application.

[Joe Gwinn]

I was never intending to CUT on the mill , just clean up the edges from the bandsaw.

So what is a proper metal cutting bandsaw that cuts straight? A goodle search on metal cutting band saws pretty much onlly brings up the kind you take to a job site to cut pipes in half, I never found any vertical saws just made for metal cutting. I have the micromark band saw, its very small and doesn't have a fence, you don't see fences on bandsaws much either, would have to make one I guess. I haven't tried the new blades yet, they have teeth that vary in size and hardened teeth or coated with something, they look real substantial hope it works in my saw......

That google search wasn't very effective. There are lots of metal-cutting bandsaws. I personally own a Wilton 8201 wood/metal vertical bandsaw. Jet also makes an equivalent.

http://www.amazon.com/Wilton-8201K-1...3390623&sr=1-1

This is the bandsaw I use with the sled. It would make short work of soft 0.125" steel. But you would need to clean the sawn edges up for sure.

And I bought the bandsaw with a full fence, which does work. I use it mostly with wood. Steel is too slippery, and the vibration from cutting steel caused the workpiece to creep, so I found that clamping the workpiece to the sled was more effective.

[Joe Gwinn]

this type of bandsaw would be better than an upright. It cuts metal better, has coolant, and doesn't need a fence. In addition, the hydraulic downward pressure helps keep the blade from wandering. The drawback is that even the small ones are big and they cost a lot of money. I've got a bigger model of these and it works great. A smaller one would work much MUCH better simply because there would be less room for the blade to roam. This is one of the situations where the smallest you can get by with will be the best for your specific application.

This is a horizontal bandsaw, intended for cutting long stock off to size, and would not be useful for cutting flat stock to shape. For this, one instead wants a vertical bandsaw.