What’s in your shop (tools)?

[bosco659]

Yeah, that's the beauty of it. Set a piece of bar stock in the saw, say 1.5" round stock, walk away, do something else, get a coffee, whatever and when the saw finishes its task, it shuts itself off. Beauty!

My saw raises the blade and disengages the drive. Right now it’s a 50/50 chance the arm will stay up. It depends where in the stroke it wad when the cut was completed. Still some tweaking to do.

I can’t find any ID plates on it. My limited research tells me the ID tag may have bern attached to the weight. I’m guessing the basic design might be a century old but the electric motor version might be circa 1940/1950’s.

I like the idea of flipping the blade direction for additional life.

 

[Jan_P]

Very common in shops here also -- Or was
cooling fluid and lifting the blade -- on --- if I recall right the forward strike.
Seen in use for 3 - 4 inch diameter steel bars
Most have a possible to set the downward force on the cutting blade.
The shop operator can do other work fex at the lathe
while it cuts
A stop as setting ..for the length .Makes it quick release the vice push the rod against the stop .
Tighten the vice
Push the on button and go back to the lathe or other.
Not been in a shop for a couple of years but if one needs a disc 10 -- 20 mm from a 100 mm rod
I think this is the real deal

 

[bosco659]

Well I braved the heat and did my cutting experiment. I only cut a 1/2” sched 40 steel pipe, but with the blade mounted tin the forward, or push to cut position, the pipe was cut in 51 seconds. With the blade turned around, it took 71 seconds. This was done on with a used blade but in theory should have had better teeth in the pull position. This was done without the large weight mounted on the cutting arm. That piece still needs some repair.

 

[atom4488]

Well I braved the heat and did my cutting experiment. I only cut a 1/2” sched 40 steel pipe, but with the blade mounted tin the forward, or push to cut position, the pipe was cut in 51 seconds. With the blade turned around, it took 71 seconds. This was done on with a used blade but in theory should have had better teeth in the pull position. This was done without the large weight mounted on the cutting arm. That piece still needs some repair.

Sounds like it is working well. My saw also has a provision for a sliding weight, but I didn't get the weight when I acquired the saw. I have been running without it with no complaints.

 

[bosco659]

Sounds like it is working well. My saw also has a provision for a sliding weight, but I didn't get the weight when I acquired the saw. I have been running without it with no complaints.

I’ve been looking for blades. And recommendations where to get them? 14” blades are at least $40 each and on line they sell in a 5 pack - not happening here!

 

[atom4488]

I’ve been looking for blades. And recommendations where to get them? 14” blades are at least $40 each and on line they sell in a 5 pack - not happening here!

There are Starrett and Bahco 1" x 12" hacksaw blades available from Amazon.ca for $53 and $47 respectively. KBC Tools Canada has much more reasonably priced house-brand blades in the $15 range in a multitude of lengths and widths. Being budget-minded myself, I'd give those a try, except that the 12" length has been discontinued .

 

[bosco659]

There are Starrett and Bahco 1" x 12" hacksaw blades available from Amazon.ca for $53 and $47 respectively. KBC Tools Canada has much more reasonably priced house-brand blades in the $15 range in a multitude of lengths and widths. Being budget-minded myself, I'd give those a try, except that the 12" length has been discontinued .

I looked at KBC and iirc, the pitch of the teeth was very coarse, something like 4 or 6 TPI. I’ll have another look though. Thx

 

[atom4488]

I looked at KBC and iirc, the pitch of the teeth was very coarse, something like 4 or 6 TPI. I’ll have another look though. Thx

I see what you mean. I believe that my current Starrrett blade is 14tpi. I could see 50% less tpi working, but 4 tpi seems pretty coarse for steel. My understanding is the softer the material, the fewer the tpi, so I could see 4-6 tpi working well for aluminum.

 

[bosco659]

I see what you mean. I believe that my current Starrrett blade is 14tpi. I could see 50% less tpi working, but 4 tpi seems pretty coarse for steel. My understanding is the softer the material, the fewer the tpi, so I could see 4-6 tpi working well for aluminum.

My current blade is 10 TPI. Seems to be good for steel but painfully slow on the piece of aluminum I tried cutting. For that I definitely need to add the blade weight.

 

[atom4488]

My current blade is 10 TPI. Seems to be good for steel but painfully slow on the piece of aluminum I tried cutting. For that I definitely need to add the blade weight.

I tend to think that the painfully slow cut in aluminum is a function of sawtooth count, hence the 4-6 tpi blades we're seeing offered on the KBC site. Think of cutting thick/heavy aluminum bar stock with a manual hacksaw; doesn't cut too well. Now imagine that cut with a coarse blade. I think the coarse blade clears chips more readily.

PS: I may be wrong here, as Google AI says the opposite!

 

[AUTOMAN]

Gummed up teeth, need lube for alum.

 

[atom4488]

Gummed up teeth, need lube for alum.

Right... on a vertical bandsaw, I would use wax on the blade to prevent gumming. On a hacksaw, maybe the same thing, but the best would of course be flood lubrication/cooling. No such provisions on our antique power hacksaws, but could be rigged if necessary.

 

[46th Georgia]

Gummed up teeth, need lube for alum.

Believe it or not, I have used beeswax on carbide grinding bits while grinding aluminum. Works great.

 

[atom4488]

Believe it or not, I have used beeswax on carbide grinding bits while grinding aluminum. Works great.

Absolutely... I recently gasket-matched an SBC intake manifold and used the stub of a candle on my carbides. Makes all the difference in the world.

 

[bosco659]

I tend to think that the painfully slow cut in aluminum is a function of sawtooth count, hence the 4-6 tpi blades we're seeing offered on the KBC site. Think of cutting thick/heavy aluminum bar stock with a manual hacksaw; doesn't cut too well. Now imagine that cut with a coarse blade. I think the coarse blade clears chips more readily.

PS: I may be wrong here, as Google AI says the opposite!

My local industrial supplier has decent prices on the Starrett blade but want a min of 5 as expected. I will go to Kbc and get one there. I might get a 6T house branded blade too.

 

[bosco659]

I just bought and received a cheap $35 Amazon plastic welding kit (SS wire melts into plastic). What a cool tool. It was one of the cheapest available and quite honestly I don’t know why you’d need anything better. It’s only 50W where tge expensive ones are 200W, but @ 50W works fine. A must have for your dyi tool box!

 

[bosco659]

Mandatory pics…. I think the case will last about 15 minutes. lol

 

[gggGary]

Mandatory pics…. I think the case will last about 15 minutes. lol

View attachment 354184View attachment 354185View attachment 354186

Great tools!
If you are working with polypropylene the welder and sticks of plastic also de rigueur.
A cheap one seems to work fine.
The side boxes on the Africa Twin needed a lot of work. So far the repairs are solid.

 

[650Skull]

Which way did you mount the blade? Cut on the pull or push? Yes looks like $40 a blade.

Bit late to the party

Working as a pipe fitter, our saws used a continuous liquid milk.
Wasn't milk but a special fluid, (Milk colour). Could set the weight on the blade for fast or slow cutting. To fast, (heavy weight), would heat and ruin the blade. Slow, ( lighter weight), blades would last quite a while.

Also the machines we had would cut on the pull, lift on return.

On aluminium I would b using more teeth pi not less. Lighter weight on the cut as well. It should take longer than steel. Cutting aluminium by hand with a hacksaw I do light cuts so I would use the same thought to the machine.

Cutting aluminium on my drop saw, the more teeth on the blade the better and again slow light drop onto the peice or the blade will grab. That becomes very dangerous and quick to loose a finger or two

 

[650Skull]

My latest aquision, 135amp portable welder. 4kg
My portable 170amp stick welder crapped out.

Local steel merchant had this little 135amp stick welder for $320. That's a good price over here. Have seen one place selling the same for $295. Would have to spend $60 in fuel to get it though.

Never learned to mig or tig so I am happy to stay with stick. Great thing about these inverter welders is the ease to start rods, even when a rod is used stop start when tacking.
Haven't tried with this one yet, the other one I welded a couple of plates together, about 2mm thick, as a trial, dropped the amps to 30. Worked a treat without blowing a hole.
Less splatter with these.

On fleece bay they are up to $460 with a 2.5 kg packet of rods marked as free. Yea free rods for $120, lol