abrasive cutoff saw : recommendations pls

[jwaterdawg]

I'm thinking of getting an abrasive cutoff saw for those occasional times when I need to cut a piece of steel or cast iron. I know better than to use it with aluminum or brass.

Any of you guys own one and how do you like it? I don't need it very often maybe 1-3 times a month. So I don't necessarily need the super-duper deluxe 5000 model; then again I don't want to have to grind all cuts to get them right. Budget is ~$200, which would seem to cover most of the ones carried by the big box stores: hitachi, ridgid, ryobi, dewalt, task force, milwaukee

I'm kinda leaning towards the Ridgid, just 'cause I like their lifetime warranty. Comments, suggestions, recipes for chocolate macadamia nut brownies, all will be appreciated

[mpc]

I have the Harbor Freight 14 inch one (whatever one normally runs 100 bucks and is often on sale for 50) and it works okay. I've used it to cut exhaust pipe mostly. The cuts are straight... but the cutting is done by burning/melting through the metal so I end up with a fair bit of thin flashing left over. That has to be filed or ground off.

I don't know if that's a problem unique to the HF saw or if any abrasive saw will suffer similar problems. I can't imagine it being HF-unique; it would seem to be a blade issue rather than a saw issue. Mine's still running a plain-vanilla HF blade.

mpc

[LCHIEN]

I was going to suggest an ocassional use tool might be an opportunilty for a harbor freight model or something. Under $100 if I recall and mpc is right.

[Thom2]

I too have the HF ($50 on sale) and found that it's met my occassional needs with flying colors. It's something that I don't use very often, but sure beats the dickens out of a hacksaw when I do need it. I really can't justify outlaying any more cash than that for the occassional user.

As far as the flashing, this is gonna be the case with any abrasive cutting saw, it's just the nature of the beast. A quick pass with a grinding stone or even a file pretty much cleans it up lickity split.

[jwaterdawg]

Thanks for the advice guys. I'll check out the HF model. It would definitely be the most cost effective solution. Looks like HF offers four versions: two "industrial" and two "heavy duty":

Which model(s) do you guys have?

44829-2VGA
1624-6VGA

91938-1VGA
47003-1VGA

[Stormbringer]

Another vote for the Harbor Freight. I think I have the first one that you list except mine is completely orange. I scored it for $49 six years ago and it has performed as it should.

[vanguard]

I have the Ryobi, but it's not my perferred tool for cutting metal. I switched to a harbor freight 4x6 bandsaw and much prefer it to the abrasive chopsaw. Cuts are much cleaner - both through the metal and in the work area. It's far less noisy and more precise.

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...emnumber=37151

I think its on sale in one of the flyers for $159.99. If you do go HF for any of the tools don't forget the coupon.

[Thom2]

Another vote for the Harbor Freight. I think I have the first one that you list except mine is completely orange. I scored it for $49 six years ago and it has performed as it should.

Same Here.

[Tom Slick]

I also have the $50 HF saw. it gets the job done but it is not as nice as the more expensive units. the biggest problem I have had is the stamped sheet metal base was warped so I was getting a compound cut on every cut. I bent it back into shape. HF cutoff wheels are terrible. I threw out a 5 pack of them because they were so out of balance the saw would jump off of the table!!
If I were to buy another cutoff saw it would be a ryobi, Milwaukee, or craftsman professional. the Ryobi and Rigid saw are identical. Milwaukee is nice but suprizingly the craftsman professional is the nicest one I have seen. it is very well built.

a bandsaw is superior to a cutoff saw in all ways except for storage size.