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Gordon,
Those saws make no sparks but lots of chips...they also do not last long on steel.
You can take a regular carbide blade and cut aluminum or other non-ferrous in a chopsaw made for wood mitering - we did it every day at work for several years before buying a saw that was specifically designed for the task of cutting aluminum extrusions. There are also cold saws, which use a large carbide blade, lots of oil and relatively slow blade speeds. Most are power feed, some can be manually fed into the work. In almost every case, the material should be well clamped to prevent grabbing - a very dangerous thing that can severely injure the operator.
I have done ornamental ironwork for almost 25 years and own a 14" chop saw, a 7x12 wet/dry combo bandsaw and a couple of shears that I use for cutting stock (I'm not counting the torch and plasma). The chopsaw sees more action that almost anything else for stock smaller than 3/4" or metal studs. The band saw gets used on big stuff and the shears on sheet metal.
The decision on what to buy rests with what you primarily intend to cut.
Those saws make no sparks but lots of chips...they also do not last long on steel.
You can take a regular carbide blade and cut aluminum or other non-ferrous in a chopsaw made for wood mitering - we did it every day at work for several years before buying a saw that was specifically designed for the task of cutting aluminum extrusions. There are also cold saws, which use a large carbide blade, lots of oil and relatively slow blade speeds. Most are power feed, some can be manually fed into the work. In almost every case, the material should be well clamped to prevent grabbing - a very dangerous thing that can severely injure the operator.
I have done ornamental ironwork for almost 25 years and own a 14" chop saw, a 7x12 wet/dry combo bandsaw and a couple of shears that I use for cutting stock (I'm not counting the torch and plasma). The chopsaw sees more action that almost anything else for stock smaller than 3/4" or metal studs. The band saw gets used on big stuff and the shears on sheet metal.
The decision on what to buy rests with what you primarily intend to cut.
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