Steel cutting method
 

Hi Chaps,

I'm *still* in the planning/saving stages at the moment, and I'm thinking about my options for the chassis steel. I will either buy a chassis pack from armoto, or cut the steel myself.

The question is, if you were building your chassis again, which of the options would you choose?

Thanks chaps :)

I've just started my build and im using a hacksaw. It really doesnt require too much effort to get a good cut, you just need to take your time and let the hacksaw do the work, never force it into the metal. I'll have saved £140 by using a hacksaw instead of buying the chassis kit.

Oh, and if you use the other option... can you please let me know what your 'other' is?

Ta :)

Scoob

i use a rage 3 compound mitre saw to cut my steel

How are you getting on with it? I bought one and have been very disappointed. I don't know what is more annoying, being showered in little bits of quite hot steel, or the way it is inclined to snatch.

I'll be getting a bandsaw shortly, had one before and it was excellent.

Bandsaw
 

I used my trusty old bandsaw to cut all of my steel. Place the metal in it, then walk away & leave it to cut. well handy for some of the thicker stuff that I often cut :cool:

Chopsaws do the job but to be honest, I hate the sparks & all the fettling involved. :eek:

A mitre saw such as the Rage3 is a much better tool but as with the chopsaw It still needs personal effort to make the cut.

As and when my bandsaw bites the dust, i'll certainly replace it PDQ :D :D

Personally i used a rage 3 mitre saw and thought it did quite a good job too :D

As somebody mentioned though you do get showered in hot pieces of metal :eek:

But i dont think there is a quicker way of cutting a compound mitre so quickly and accurately :cool:

Where accuracy is a concern I use a cold cutoff saw - the Makita one is probably the best all around, it's got a good solid base.

Mostly I use a 115mm angle grinder with a 1mm disc and a file for quick and dirty operations. I found that I can be as accurate with this method as using my cold saw.

I would love to have a bandsaw, but just cannot afford one. I'm thinking of building an old skool power hacksaw for cutting thicker stock.

i have a rage 3 as well and actually gte on with it very well. I have learnt to wear full sleeves though as it is annoying getting hot sparks on your arms, how ever there are very few sparks compared to using as cutting disc in a angle grinder. however i really only realise how useful the rage 3 is when it compes to cutting compound miotre angles or cutting angles greater than 45 degrees as the rage cant cut it and a hacksaw takes considerably longer and is only as accurate as you measuring where as on the rage you just set and angle and your off. i also contacted Evolution as some cuts werent very good as it wasnt cutting a flat surface so they reccommended i get their steel cutting blade, which i havnt yet, but overall the rage 3 has been of great help.

I started by hand,used an air hacksaw and then the chop saw. To be honest the air hacksaw for me produced the best results,bit noisy but little mess.