GRIZZLY TOOLS

[sanddrag]

I'm going to downvote the Rage Evolution 2 for FRC use. We have one. It's excellent at cutting anything steel including box tube, unistrut, and angle. However, it's terrible for aluminum, especially solid bar stock. The blade is too slow, and the teeth clog pretty bad. My go-to saw for aluminum box tubing is a Dewalt 12" with a Fteud Diablo 80T blade.

[DaveL]

Originally Posted by sanddrag

I'm going to downvote the Rage Evolution 2 for FRC use. We have one. It's excellent at cutting anything steel including box tube, unistrut, and angle. However, it's terrible for aluminum, especially solid bar stock. The blade is too slow, and the teeth clog pretty bad. My go-to saw for aluminum box tubing is a Dewalt 12" with a Fteud Diablo 80T blade.

Interesting. Having read the post about the Rage2, I was interested to try it. Thanks for the post. We are using a 12" 80 tooth, carbide blade. I'm not sure if its Lenox or this Dewalt (12", 80 teeth, carbide, $30);
http://www.lowes.com/pd_73714-70-DW3...r+sa w+blades

Found this blade at Home Depot. Is this the one? (12", 60 teeth, carbide, $108)
http://www.homedepot.com/p/Diablo-12...60CF/206287397

Dave

[sanddrag]

Originally Posted by DaveL

Interesting. Having read the post about the Rage2, I was interested to try it. Thanks for the post. We are using a 12" 80 tooth, carbide blade. I'm not sure if its Lenox or this Dewalt (12", 80 teeth, carbide, $30);
http://www.lowes.com/pd_73714-70-DW3...r+sa w+blades

Found this blade at Home Depot. Is this the one? (12", 60 teeth, carbide, $108)
http://www.homedepot.com/p/Diablo-12...60CF/206287397

Dave

The Dewalt blade you linked is okay but the construction-grade carbide is not fantastic. A better Dewalt blade is the one with carbide teeth that are bare and not painted over.

This is the Freud Diablo blade we use
http://www.amazon.com/D1280X-Diablo-.../dp/B00008WQ35

Many cuts through aluminum and it still looks brand new.

We use a smaller one of similar type in a circular saw to cut aluminum plate.

[techhelpbb]

Recently acquired a nice Sieg X2 with the Hoss mods rigged for CNC.
Including the Hoss mill head freak swivel.

One caution with Chinese mills sometimes you need to clean up the ways a bit.
The existing owner had torn this down and modified every axis so I had no worries as the quality of his work showed it was fine.

The X2 as delivered stock might be on the small side so,
A nice size mill likely worth looking at is the RF45:
http://charteroakautomation.com/our-...nual-bed-mill/

That said there is something to be said for using a Shopbot style router table.
You get a larger working area and if mistakes are made typically you cut wood.

Originally Posted by sanddrag

I'm going to downvote the Rage Evolution 2 for FRC use. We have one. It's excellent at cutting anything steel including box tube, unistrut, and angle. However, it's terrible for aluminum, especially solid bar stock. The blade is too slow, and the teeth clog pretty bad. My go-to saw for aluminum box tubing is a Dewalt 12" with a Fteud Diablo 80T blade.

Never tried solid stock over 3/4" but my Rage2 has not had this issue.
I agree it's a great saw for steel - cheaper than a proper cold saw but gets the job done.

[MrRoboSteve]

We had trouble using a 5000RPM cutoff saw with the Diablo blade, primarily around shorter cuts. I couldn't trust students to run it.

I was looking at the lower RPM Rage Evolution 2 as a replacement. Happily, we got a donation of a used Jet metal bandsaw (http://www.maxtool.com/jet-hvbs-7mw-...0v-1ph-414459?) and use that to make rough cuts, then finish them on our vertical bandsaw.