I need something that will cut aluminium rods and tubes reasonably accurately, are all mitre saw’s about the same or are some far more accurate than others?

Please help I’m knackerd and my eye’s are stinging from research into lathes and other shit.

😀

How accurate are you looking for?

I’d be surprised if any mitre saw was sufficiently accurate or straight for bearing spacers, unless there’s a lot I don’t know about them (which may well be possible).

Going to take you a lot of time given the no. of your bearing kits there are clogging up ebay 😉

Here you go, this is a mighty sore. I assume it’s a hand sore you were looking for. If not it is at least the hand you asked for

Perfect 😀 but it’s still attached to the arm ❓ 😥

Can you get it off, please ❓

Al as accurate as I can get, I have a few kits on feebay but not as many as I would have if they weren’t a bunch of theiving bankers.

The site is useless and they charge a fortune for a service that is crapXshit, can anyone on this site give me advice on the best kind of saw to buy ❓

I’d be looking at something like this:

http://www.axminster.co.uk/axminster-axminster-cs-14-chop-saw-prod834734/

or this

http://www.axminster.co.uk/axminster-axminster-mcb100a-compact-bandsaw-prod781243/

The second one would be my first choice 🙂

Where are you? I can lend you one if you are nr manchester.

My preferred choice wouldn’t be a chop saw, I have cut aluminium perfectly well (and accurately enough for mitres) with a compound mitre saw with a blade suitable for aluminium.

If it’s a one-of, I wouldn’t buy a cheap crappy mitre saw, I would hire a decent professional one. I would go to the hire shop and check out what they’ve got -DeWalt/Makita/Bosch/whatever, and see how smooth they run on their horizontal stanchions, how easy/freely they are to adjust – no need to plug them in. Although the default brand would be DeWalt – it’s just that I’ve known badly looked after DeWalt mitre saws to be a pig. You’ll need to buy an aluminium blade. IMO

EDIT : although I’ve said “see how smooth they run on their horizontal stanchions” you won’t need the pull-out feature for what you’re doing, it’s just that a mitre saw which runs freely on its stanchions is likely to be of professional quality and well looked after, and therefore far more likely to cut well and accurately.

Find a decent tool supplier who can give you proper advice?

Just a thought like…

Try this shop
http://www.wilkinsonmachinery.com/

we use one at work, DeWalt, looks just like a wood chop saw with a metal cutting blade in. Frightening when you first use it, gives a nice clean cut and as accurate as a tape measure or the back-stop that you set-up.
Similar to this
[/url]http://www.screwfix.com/p/dewalt-dw713-gb-1600w-250mm-compound-mitre-saw-240v/91683?cm_mmc=GoogleBase-_-Datafeed-_-Tools-_-DeWalt%20DW713-GB%201600W%20250mm%20Compound%20Mitre%20Saw%20240V

Can I use a band saw and will it be more accurate than a chop or mitre saw?

It will be as accurate as you can set it up – but I doubt it will be accurate enough to cut bearing spacers when you need a high degree of accuracy. lathe is the right tool I would say

Hey, the saw isn’t for cutting bearing spacers, it’s for cutting alloy to size to I can work with it.

Just basic items like shock bushing tools etc for now. Do you think I should buy a mitre / chop saw or a band saw?

Alloy can mean anything, it can include titanium. For aluminium not combined with any other hard metals as your OP suggests, a compound mitre saw of the DeWalt variety (with a suitable blade) should be fine. In my personal experience band saws are not as accurate as a saw with a solid blade as even with the correct tension, they have more give/slack.

A band saw (like in the link above, not a woodworking upright one) is the correct tool for the job IMHO. Its safer and easier and how blanks are cut in commercial workshops. If you get into cutting big lumps you can just leave it to it while you do something else. We had a CNC one at one company I worked for, it was very watchable. There’s a few going on ebay, I’m just waiting for one to show up local to me.

Sorry nickjb, I hadn’t clicked on/seen the link – I was responding to kaesae’s question (and the more common def. of bandsaw)…….. I’m sure you’re right.

Am I better of buying one of the smaller compact portable band saws or something like this

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/220719162685?ru=http%3A%2F%2Fshop.ebay.co.uk%3A80%2Fi.html%3F_from%3DR40%26_trksid%3Dp4712.m570.l1313%26_nkw%3D220719162685%26_sacat%3DSee-All-Categories%26_fvi%3D1&_rdc=1

Realistically I would like it to be as accurate as possible, but I don’t want to spend too much money.

I’ve wanted to make tooling kits for servicing frames for a couple of years now, but between developing the bearings, working, the exercises and treatments for fixing my back and all the other day to day stuff, it always seems to get put off!

Thanks for any help I am very busy and very tired and my **** computer needs fixed as well GGGRRRRRRRR!!!

I’m sure that Clarke one is fine. Its a few quid cheaper in MachineMart or there’s a used one on ebay for £100. I quite like the Axminster stuff although its probably all made in the same factory in China. Bigger is better if you have the space. How accurate do you need if you are lathing it then you need a couple of mm to face off anyway? You should get it pretty square and +/-0.5mm

I’ve always worked in workshops where we have a nice saw so I’m holding out for something like this <sip on ebay> for my shed only a bit cheaper and nearer 🙂 I expect I’ll end up settling for a used Clarke or Axminster.