I'm running into a situation more and more often where I need to cut thick sheet metal (1/8-1/4" steel) or thicker soft metal (3/4"-1" aluminum). Sometimes they are smaller pieces unacceptably small to cut on a table saw (on the order of only 2-3" wide). I was thinking of getting a vertical metal cutting bandsaw (the horizontal versions would be too big vs frequency of use, and not really work to cut what I need). Googling "vertical metal bandsaw" returns nothing but shop-space pocket-painful results (ie., large and expensive).
I'm looking for options to get a bandsaw in my shop setup to cut metal. The requirements would include:
-Inexpensive
-Something I won't have to constantly argue with to use (I was considering a Harbor Freight 14", but afraid it would not meet this requirement)
-9", 10, or 12".
I had a small Craftsman three-wheeler but the blade would not tension properly without falling off. I don't know if a better three-wheeler exists or if this is a common problem; so I would like to stick with two-wheelers is possible.
Of course, large is always better. 14" would be great, but don't know if I want to allocate that much shop space. On the other hand may be the easiest to get inexpensively.
If i try to convert a wood bandsaw to cut metal, what do you think it would take? I was pondering trying to resize the sheaves and/or change to a three-phase and a small VFD.
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