Cutting Intercooler Or Exhaust Pipe

[Muff]

i got the smaller BS-5, if i was going to buy again i would buy the BS-5S, the swivel head is much better.

also just after i posted that last post the motor on the band saw burnt out. Hare and forbes were great covered it even tho it was out of warranty.

Just don't expect it to cut Al (3") in less than a min, mild (3") in less than about 2.5 min, Stainless (3") in about 4.5 min.

sometimes it gets annoying but the cut is near perfect everytime. don't even need to deebur...

[blackrex]

I have one of Hare & Forbes EB260A bandsaws, they are a good unit but the standard blades are the weak point, for occasional usage they are fine, but you can get a lot better blades for them, and that totally changes the cutting performance, especially if you are willing to change the blade to suit what you are cutting. You can run a variable pitch blade to get you around most of the need to change, but if you are going to be cutting the same material of approximately the same dimensions, get the blade to suit, you will find that the performance of the unit will increase, and the blades will last longer as well.

[boxheadmr]

That makes a lot of sense. What made you go with that model?

[blackrex]

A mate of mine had the previous version of the unit, and I had used it a number of times and liked it, They also had a good sale price on them at the time that I was looking and then gave me a trade discount on top of that.

Also, if you are going to be cutting material that is longer than 1m in length, get some sort of support for the material, as the vice isn't designed to hold that sort of force (especially soft materials), and the material can move during the cut. Also use cutting fluid, the blades will last a lot longer, and will also cut better/cleaner.

[scotty nm35]

I have the BS-7DS, it is a very capable bandsaw with a decent blade fitted (as Blackrex mentioned) and running coolant.

http://www.machineryhouse.com.au/B008A

I use it to cut anything. Mufflers fit in it, I can make 2 x 45 bends out of a 90 which the Brobo can't do. (the motor hits the pipe.) It should easily cut the 6 inch alloy pipe I need for the GTX45 intake I am fabricating next.

[boxheadmr]

Looks like they have a sale on that ends today. Some reasonable discounts are on these machines

[paul_psi]

Im starting a little fab shop from home mostly ally and at the moment iv got a little drop bandsaw from gasweld and it is unreal cuts upto 4 1/2 inch its straight and true I just tapped a hole exactly at 90 degree so all cuts are perfect. Even set up a jig to make 6 into 1 merge collectors. Another way is a circular saw (mikita drop saw) with a alloy blade works well but get a couple black specs in the welds sometimes. What is everyone using to cut sheets?

[boxheadmr]

Good question, I would like to know as well?

[scotty nm35]

I use the bandsaw if I can, otherwise the little dual cut saw makes short work of alloy sheet.

[boxheadmr]

Has anyone tried those nibblers for stuff?

[paul_psi]

Iv got a set of air nibblers but they are only good on very thin material

[jase_c]

What do you guys that do a lot of fabrication work on exhausts and intercooler piping in stainless use to drill holes for entry points for external wastegates, BOV's etc?

[paul_psi]

Step drop for mild and stainless holesaw for alloy

[boxheadmr]

Why not the step drill for alloy?

[paul_psi]

smaller holes like dash fittings on surge tanks or catch cans I use step drill but on the bigger stuff like bov holes or caps on resivor tank I use a hydrolic punch or holesaw it's cleaner and easier

[boxheadmr]

Didn't know hydraulic punches existed, look pretty cool

[paul_psi]

It's definately the best tool for putting 4 inch holes in air boxes

[jase_c]

Tungsten holesaw on stainless??

[paul_psi]

Never tried tungsten on stainless

I'm using Milwaukee ones at the moment and they are unreal for going through alloy but any bi-metal ones would be fine don't even try to go through stainless with them

Edited December 5, 2013 by paul_psi

[FBRacing]

I've been doing fab work like this for over 20 yrs. My personal opinion is if you're a weekend hobbyist, use a cheap cut off saw with a general metal blade. Generally used for cutting mild steel like 1020 cold rolled or lesser. Then get yourself a 4" hand grinder and various grinding disk. I love flap disk. Great for knoching tubing for caging. I did this for years till I upgraded to a over sized mill with a end mill bit. I also now use few different methods of cutting now. To cut DOM and chrom-moly tubing for cages, I like to use a horizontal bandsaw. It's liquid cooled and kept from distorting the metal. For intercooler piping or coolant piping like aluminum or stainless, I cut up u-bends with a vertical bandsaw at low speeds. Makes it really easy to get those angles needed to make manifolds etc. I am in the process of setting up my CNC plasma table up for tube knoching. A simple chop saw and angle grinder would run you around $200 for both. Great to get you by for a weekend hobby guy. Build a cage here, maybe intercooler piping there. Put it away for the next 6 months until the next project. If you're into the gadgets and greatest, expect to pay thousands. But unless you're running a fab shop to justify that purchase, don't. There are hole saw kits that can produce knochs. Seen them put into a table vise and use a 1/2" corded drill to spin it. I actually bought one long ago to try it. They're cheap but where I found the limitation of it was how good your hole saw you put on it. A good hole saw can cost $80-200 easy. Also found it was hard to hold on to the drill and spray cutting oil on it. As soon as I let off one hand to spray oil, damn thing would grab and twist. Either getting me in the chin or twisting my wrist. Kinda two guy tool which sucked. And as soon as you don't oil the saw, it was cooked. So went back to the chop saw and grinder. I'm a huge fan of Makita tools. They make very dependable tools. Personally, stay away thumb switches. Only get a dead man or full hand switch on an angle. Prevents accidental switch on when plugging it in. Nothing's worse than having a grinder fling around the shop floor when you plug it in. If you have any other questions, you can PM me. I can give you tips and suggestions to make fabbing faster. Hope this helped.