Thread 2943631

I've recently started building some things out of welded mild steel square tube and aluminum profiles, using both square and miter joints. So far I've been getting by with a handheld bandsaw and angle grinder. But it takes an inordinate amount of time to get a decent fit-up - can't get a straight cut with the bandsaw and have to spend a long time grinding everything square, which then fucks with the dimensions of the part. Can't seem to get the angle grinder to cut the tube either, takes forever to grind through 30x30x2mm tube - and it seems like you have to burn through two cut-off wheels to get it done.

I've had some luck borrowing time on a stationary bandsaw and it seems like it would work, but that shit's quite expensive. Have also seen videos of people cutting up tubing with the angle grinder directly, dunno if my failure with it is an issue with the cut-off wheels I've got, the grinder itself or something about how I do it.

What's the "correct" way to do it - cut square tube into flat and miter joints? Am I supposed to invest in a stationary bandsaw? Perhaps a stationary circular saw with a metal cutting wheel? Does everyone just do it with the angle grinder? There are tons of tutorials on welding the tube together, and of course fitting up aluminum extrusion is like legos, but everyone skips over the actually hard part which is getting a nice fit-up without massive gaps that are a pain to weld

>>2943631 (OP)
>gay i text wordsalad with telltale dashes
spend more time getting good
im not training your wurdmodel for free

>>2943636
tell me what saw to use and you'll never have to see me again, faggot

>>2943631 (OP)
Get gud with an angle grinder and zip disk. Accurately scribe your layout lines and cut up to the scribe line.

>>2943631 (OP)
A chop saw would be the cleanest

>294364won
again repeating its a (you)ser skillz issue
>>2935675

The little 4x6 horizontal/vertical band saws can be had for under a hundo used. That second pic is both a pain in the ass and gains nothing structurally. Cut through, weld.

>>2943631 (OP)
>>2943641
Stationary bandsaw is the best tool for this, but small bandsaws are very finnicky (the sub-$1k range). I still use one because it easily gets precise cuts, mine was like $350 new, one of the cheapest ones on the market.
>metal circ saw
On the cheap end you won't get a precise one and it's gonna be insanely loud. High end are good, but usually don't allow much, if any, pivoting for odd angles.

For cutting aluminium you're not supposed to use normal angle grinder discs at all, it gums up like hell. Use a circ saw if you're on a tight budget, regular wood cutting carbide blades are fine on aluminium. Wood/multimaterial miter saws are again usable, but they're not precise. For anything precision, bandsaws are the go-to thing.

>>2943631 (OP)
>all that wasted material instead of mitre cutting and flipping

>>2944068
>>all that wasted material instead of mitre cutting and flipping
True dat. Of course sometimes it's not feasible, or possible. I do like that you can sometimes "grow" a stick of steel and make it "longer" by doing miters and flipping it like you said so there is zero wasted material and it actually ends up being much longer than the original length of steel.

Not sure about the notch method in OP, but if you just want to do the regular cut and flip, most chop saws can swivel the fence for miters, including the $159 one from Harbor Freight.

you arent a welder youre a miterer