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I'd like to be able to make some shapes in mild steel - custom dropouts and things like that. Is a scrollsaw up to that kind of thing? Probably 5-6mm thick plate, not cutting huge amounts of it, just the occasional job where getting a batch of things laser-cut isn't worth the bother.
Is this do-able with a scroll saw with metal cutting blades?
Thanks 😉
got a wood cutting one manages 1 inch thick birch ply no problem,but cutting metal i think heat build up would be a problem on such thin blades, tin plate would be ok or copper sheet.Not mild steel.
Hmm, I do have a cold air gun, that could be used for cooling. I wonder if that'd be enough.
Have a look on the Axminster tools site or give them a quick ring.
Looks possible - [url= http://www.workshopheaven.com/tools/Pegas_Metal_Cutting_Scroll_Saw_Blades.html ]link [/url]to blades
Excellent, cheers - pushing from 3mm to 5-6mm, but with cooling that might still be okay.
Would you not want to be able to liquid cool rather than air?
Perhaps, though that's messy - I already use the cold air gun on the milling machine where I can't use flood coolant.
5-6mm is possibly to thick for a modern scroll saw - find a meddings scroll saw or better a die filer.
A bandsaw with the right blade and suitably slower speed for metal would probably do the job - email Tuffsaws - blade sellers - they would know.
Our scrollsaw eats blades just cutting 18mm Ply, right PITA.
could ask on ukworkshop scroll saw forum - they will know
Or one of these, pretty sure there's room in the shop.
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Most of these suggestions are bigger than my entire shop 😀
The die filer idea looks interesting, but they seem rare as hen's teeth, and I'd be a bit worried about needing special files which will wear out.
Talked to Axminsters, they think 5-6mm mild steel would be pushing it. Hmm, I'm going to have to rethink this idea.
Yeah - I have a bog standard scroll saw and I would be quite confident that it would be absolutely useless on mild steel of any thickness above 'foil'. My bonny Makita jigsaw with proper metal blades was useless on 5 mm mild steel and it is significantly more manly than the scroll saw.
I think there is a water jet cutting service in glasgow that do very quick turnaround on small batches. Might be [url= http://www.jetcutit.com/offices.php ]http://www.jetcutit.com/offices.php[/url] but I am checking.
Yes, this is really so I can tweak and bodge stuff quickly in the workshop - there's a really good laser cutting company I use for batches of things, very quick.
What about a spindle sander? You can get pretty small bobbins. Rough cut with a jig saw or bandsaw, spindle sander the detail then needle file if you need a sharp corner. Useful tool for other stuff, too.
As others have alluded to - I think a fretsaw/scroll saw would be pretty crap on mild steel 3-6mm thick.
I had a Meddings, which was a beast however the weak point will always be the blades - they'll just get hot and break.
Bandsaw might be a better option.
Yes, I think I'm overthinking this - I like the spindle sander idea, for most of the things I need to do, I can rough it out with an angle grinder, then finish off with a sander to tidy up and get smooth curves.
I fancied the idea of being able to cut steel like wood in a scroll saw, but that's not sounding possible.
You could always get a hand held plasma cutter? That would be the business. Would probably be a lot less rough than grinder and with practice might be pretty close to the finished job:
[url= https://www.millerwelds.com/resources/article-library/how-to-select-and-operate-a-hand-held-plasma-cutter ]https://www.millerwelds.com/resources/article-library/how-to-select-and-operate-a-hand-held-plasma-cutter[/url]