The metal chop saws are much cruder and simpler, but cost as much. Why? What's the difference? I've chucked an abrasive wheel in my miter saw and used it to cut metal. Not a pleasant experience in general, but I don't know if a chop saw would be any better.

Should I...

Get this: http://www.dewalt.com/us/products/tool_det...p?productID=160

Convert my old miter saw to chop saw duty since I want a new miter saw

Get a hooker to cut my wood for me

I have one of these Makita slide compound mitre saw and also have an old Hitachi drop saw very similar to that cut off saw which I relegated to duty cutting Aluminium etc when I was a Cabinetmaker. The main difference with cut off saws is that they are usually designed to cut off square ( and sometimes 45 deg )whereas the mitre saws will cut at any angle 90deg to ~ 35deg and with the Makita I have it is a slide action and compound mitre which allows them to make the blade and therefore the machine smaller and lighter. The cut off saws do have the advantage that the clamp is usually quick action and pivots to accomodate odd shaped pieces of metal and the motors usually have a bit more grunt to spin the larger/heavier discs and the blade is shielded more to reduce sparks escaping. The important thing is If you convert an old wood saw to metal cutting is to have a new backboard on it with a gap just big enough for the disc to run in because if it is too big ( like they are on wood saws to allow for the mitre cuts ) then the offcut metal can jam

Ah, some useful points. I'll have to look closely at the options. The clamp is a good point, my miter clamps are small and puny in comparison, and they clamp vertically while all the chop saws clamp horizontally. I'm guessing that you don't want to cut metal just hand-held...?

Not if you like the current configuration of your hands, fingers etc.......

What are you gonna cut and how often? I put an abrasive blade in my miter saw years ago to cut some steel tubing. Some of the plastic parts on the saw weren't happy.

I then bought a Harbor Freight chop saw. Nothing fancy but no more than I use it. it gets the job done.

The term "Chop Saw" is from the early 70's when electric mitre saws first became common and affordable, the hitachi slide dual compound mitre saw was over a grand and very rare to see on a job. For fine trim we still used back saw's, you couldn't buy the 60-100 tooth atb and triple chip blades for cross cuts. Electric saw blades were mostly for ripping, table saws, radials.

I picked up the DeWalt DW871 chop saw. Lowe's was clearing it out, picked up the floor model for $140 plus a free 4.5" wheel grinder. I'll eBay that since I already have the high-powered DeWalt grinder, bringing the saw cost to $100-ish. The HF saw was on sale for $100, but as much as I love HF, they're not really comparable. So far I only cut a couple pieces of rebar but it sure cuts nice and the holding fixture works great.

I just realized one other difference is the lack of compound miter ability. This came up with angle steel, but I can put that in the clamp in the right orientation to get the right cut. However something like square tube wouldn't work that way. How do you make compound cuts on this thing? Make a jig?

First project: Build a stand for the new miter saw.

You can buy metal cutting discs for your dewalt grinder for angles that work pretty good if you got the touch, theyre about .090 and cut 1/4" steel pretty fast as long as you hold it straight without binding it.

You could use something like this for wood, but I always use a chop saw on the bench top if it's small stuff or leave it on the floor for lengths.

Hold it with your hand................

Well, my first project was to weld up a welding table. Welding on the ground sucks ass. Good thing I won't have to do it any more now that I have a table. Two 2'x4' sheets of 1/4" steel for the surfaces, 2" angle for legs, and 1" square tube for the frame. Yeah, it's solid.

I have a miter saw stand similar to that PDF right now, and don't really like it. My next one will be open framed with sheet metal in strategic places to catch dust/chips to picked up by the dust collection system. So that's the next metal project.

I was also thinking about adding on a little fold-up area on the side of the welding table to hold the chop saw, making the welding table sort of a miter stand for metal.

Where's the pics?

I guess I should take pics. No close-ups of my welds yet though...

They're not pretty, but it didn't fall apart when I jumped on it.

That's all that matters, my welding was described as "Pigeon Turds" one time.

Screw the chop saw. I got this:



$159

Where'd you get that for abuckfittynine?

A band saw is the dogs dangles!

Harbor Freight. Apparently it's the same saw that lots of companies rebrand and then double the price. And yeah, the bandsaw is fucking awesome, I can't believe I went so long without one. I had no idea it was so easy, useful, and clean (both in cut quality and the lack of mess in the garage).

The chop saw is going back.