Is a dry cut saw the same as a cold saw?

[matthewsx]

I have a cold saw, it's a MEP made in Italy. Cost me some diesel fuel and hauling away other scrap metal plus cleaning it up.
Cute little thing that does a great job, I bought a bandsaw and it has to live outside under cover because I don't have enough space in my shop. Should sell it because this guy is perfect for cutting stock to length for machine work. It runs at 150 rpm and the guy I got it from even had an extra blade



John

 

[MikeInOr]

I have a cold saw, it's a MEP made in Italy. Cost me some diesel fuel and hauling away other scrap metal plus cleaning it up.
Cute little thing that does a great job, I bought a bandsaw and it has to live outside under cover because I don't have enough space in my shop. Should sell it because this guy is perfect for cutting stock to length for machine work. It runs at 150 rpm and the guy I got it from even had an extra blade

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John

Do you use coolant with this cold saw? I have never used one and always thought coolant was a requirement?

 

[matthewsx]

Do you use coolant with this cold saw? I have never used one and always thought coolant was a requirement?

It was setup for coolant but all I ever do is spray some oil on with a squirt bottle.

 

[Susan_in_SF]

I have a dry saw (Makita LC1230) and it's pretty handy - its my go-to for many types of cuts. It runs at 1700RPM and the cuts are smoooooth. Downside is that you can only cut ferrous metals; SS and AL will kill the typical blades used for these. I've never looked to see if they made blades specifically for other types of metal. I also avoid very thick stock: HBS for those cuts.

I think if you were able to get the speed to ~1400RPM you'd have a solid platform for a dry saw. I'd make sure you can find decent 12" blades though; every dry saw I've seen is 14". It looks like the Everett can't miter? I use the miter all the time b/c my typical use is for square tube and angle iron for frames. I'm sure you could rig up a fixture-type table or new sub-base with a rotating fence though.

Yeah, I would have to come up with some safe way to make 45 degree cuts. I can make triangle inserts to hold the material at the desired angle, possibly. I also happen to have (long story how) the bottom swivel base that was made for an 8 inch milling vise. I was trying to figure out a way to use it to make the saw swivel. However, the triangle insert sounds easier to do.

 

[Susan_in_SF]

Do you use coolant with this cold saw? I have never used one and always thought coolant was a requirement?

The Evolution saws advertise no coolant is needed, and that the cuts are cooler than with grinding.

 

[Susan_in_SF]

I have a dry saw (Makita LC1230) and it's pretty handy - its my go-to for many types of cuts. It runs at 1700RPM and the cuts are smoooooth. Downside is that you can only cut ferrous metals; SS and AL will kill the typical blades used for these. I've never looked to see if they made blades specifically for other types of metal. I also avoid very thick stock: HBS for those cuts.

I think if you were able to get the speed to ~1400RPM you'd have a solid platform for a dry saw. I'd make sure you can find decent 12" blades though; every dry saw I've seen is 14". It looks like the Everett can't miter? I use the miter all the time b/c my typical use is for square tube and angle iron for frames. I'm sure you could rig up a fixture-type table or new sub-base with a rotating fence though.

Btw, if you have money to blow, Evolution does sell blades specifically for aluminum and stainless steel

 

[MikeInOr]

The Evolution saws advertise no coolant is needed, and that the cuts are cooler than with grinding.

I usually refer to saws like the Evolution that spin in the 1500rpm range with carbide blades as dry saws. I usually consider the saws that spin in the 150-300rpm range as cold saws and always thought they pretty much required coolant to keep the HSS steel blades from dulling very quickly. I found it interesting that matthewsx used his low RPM "Cold" saw with a squirt of oil. Not having to keep a bath of water based coolant around would make a cold saw much more attractive to me if one ever came up in my price range. For the several dozens of time I might use a cold saw in my hobby shop a year a tank of molding coolant doesn't sound like it would be worth the hassle.

My miter saw is what I consider a dry saw with a carbide blade. I am a big fan of dry saws and think the saw you posted would make a VERY nice dry saw after changing out the pulleys to get it into the correct RPM range. I still would like to try/own a cold saw for really accurate near finished surface cuts... some day.

 

[wachuko]

Came across this thread as I was looking to see if the old HF abrasive cut-off saw that I have could be turned into a dry saw by just replacing the cut-off wheel with a metal cutting blade...



From reading the posts here, that would not be a good idea simply because of the difference in rpms required for metal cutting.

The speed on the abrasive wheel currently is 3400 rpms. Looks like I needs it to be in the 1200-1500 rpm range to be able to use it with a metal cutting blade.

So I will scrap that idea and will looking into something like an Evolution Saw...

No immediate need... just that I do no longer use the abrasive cut-off saw due to the amount of mess that it makes. I have been using the bandsaw for everything. Just wanted to have a backup (and yes, I have a spare blade for the bandsaw ).

 

[pontiac428]

The Evolution saw is very nice. I enjoy using it. But I would never get rid of my old workhorse abrasive saw. For many years the abrasive saw was king of the cuts for all welding fab I did. It's less powerful, noisy, and less accurate, but it is tolerant of abuse.

 

[projectnut]

I have a Black & Decker abrasive saw just like yours. In the scheme of things it's the least used saw in the shop. The main reasons are as you state, noisy, less accurate and less powerful. Add to that the mess it makes and it's far from my favorite.

The latest of the collection is a 14" Baileigh cold saw. It has variable speed from 21 rpm to 124 rpm. It's quicker than any of the other saws and highly accurate at +/- .001". However, it does require coolant and makes piles of swarf when cutting solid stock. Blades run about $150.00 to $200.00 each and different blades are required for different types and sizes of materials. I currently have 5 blades which should cover the range of materials I cut.

I happened on the one I bought at an excellent price from a used equipment dealer. It needed a fair amount of work but was well worth it in the end. I doubt I would have even considered buying one new in that they usually run between $6,000.00 and $12,000.00 depending on the brand and features you select. I would never get enough use out of it to justify that price.