air pneumatic saw at HF

[LCHIEN]

http://www.harborfreight.com/high-sp...saw-91753.html

does this saw take standard reciprocating saw blades?

Is there any value to a $10 air recip saw? Is 9000 RPM too fast for wood? stroke too short? for trimming trees and roots?

I guess its intended for sheet metal auto body work?

[Stytooner]

I think it is used in auto body repair mostly. Speed is probably way to fast to be useful with any standard reciprocating blade. Jamming one at that speed could be very bad.

I think it is for cutting out rusted or badly creased panels mostly.
I imagine most shops use plasma cutting where possible, but sometimes you can't get fire proofing behind the cut. That is where this or a small grinder with cutting wheel might be used.

I have never owned one of these. I wonder how well it would work mounted vertically in a small table?

[RAV2]

I've used one of these at the body shop and they are very handy. They were extremely expensive about 20 years ago and now with HF are rediculously low in price.

Also, the blades were expensive and HF has this covered as well.

This was such a costly tool that we avoided using it until there were no other options.

The big thing with these, as with most low cost air tools, is consumption. You need a very large compressor set up to support any sustained cutting.

If you are paying the bills, you don't want an employee using a 10+ HP motor (running your compressor) when another eletric powered tool will do the job. (Same with air powered drills).

Paired with a nice flexible air line, this could be a nice setup for getting into tight spaces.

At my home now, I don't think I could support the demand for air that this tool requires. I'll stick with my $20 HF reciprocating saw and use a jig saw as needed as well.

[JSUPreston]

The big thing with these, as with most low cost air tools, is consumption. You need a very large compressor set up to support any sustained cutting.

^^^What he said!

I bought one of these for the T/A project I'm working on. Neither one of my compressors can keep up. I have a little portable one and an 8 gallon, 2HP model. With the 8 gallon, I can get 5-10 seconds of sustained cut before the compressor has to recycle.

So, it there anything that I need to cut on the car, I get the electric version. I can't afford a huge compressor right now, and the car is too far from the workshop to run hose.

[Tom Slick]

I have one and it's worth $10. I make my own blades out of hacksaw blades, they are the same width and thickness or you can buy blades for them at Home Depot. It works good for anything that you would cut with a hacksaw.