air tool help, please

[JayG]

I'm wanting to purchase an air cut-off tool (3 or 4") that will actually work well.
Last weekend, I bought a cheap one and also a supposedly better grade of Northern Tool. After hacking around for an hour this evening trying to shape a new rear frame crossmember for my '67 (trimming some 2x4x1/8 tubing), I'm not pleased. I don't mind paying for good tools, but I do want them to work well.
I will be purchasing a port-a-band soon(I'm saving as fast as I can), however I still need something for cutoff and shaping. Any and all suggestions are greatly appreciated. If this post is in the wrong place, sorry, it's my first time to start a thread. I am using very good .035 cut-off wheels that I'm very happy with!
Thanks!

[Brainchild]

That is a good question.I have several cutoff wheels on grinders,and a cutoff tool,they all seem to be very slow in doing the job.Chopsaw is good for straight cuts.

What kind of cutoff wheel do they use on American Chopper,I can't find anything that works like that one appears to work on the show.Prolly time lapse trick photography is my guess.

[Slonaker]

The air powered ones use a LOT of air. It takes a good sized compressor to keep up with one. I found this out the hard way when I spent two evenings cutting some angle iron with it. The compressor ran the whole time, and it only cut well for a couple of seconds at a time.

I now use a 4 1/2 inch angle grinder from Harbor Freight with a good Dewalt cutoff wheel on it. It works much better. The angle grinders are less than $20 when they are on sale, and they are almost always on sale. I think the cutoff disk for it is less than $5.

I also have a Harbor Freight chopsaw. I have only used it a couple of times, but it does a reasonably good job. It is usually on sale for $50, and I got it for $40 with one of the 20% off coupons they always have. I just made sure to buy a good Dewalt blade for it, about $8 or $10.

Both of these tools will work pretty well if you just use them occasionally. If you want to make a living with them, you'll need to buy better stuff.

Slonaker

[Brainchild]

I have a couple of the small grinders,but they don't work like the ones on OCC,lol.Gotta be the cameras.
Chopsaws work well I have one with a Dewalt blade and it works very well,no complaints.Cutoff wheels are much better than the old hack in any capacity.

[Longhorn Man]

I hater to admit it, but I have a harbor freight cut off wheel used almost every day at work, and it is holding up better than most of my my blue point/snap on air tools.

[cdowns]

i too have had a cheapo harbor frieght cutoff tool has worked excellent for many years// i pump about 20CFM @90psi with 95gallons of air storage and use 5/8ths inch air hose for my power tools// the bigger the air the better the air tools work

[JayG]

Thanks guys. I've chop saws,angle grinders and a band saw that all work well. I haven't tried the cutoff blade in the 4 1/2" though. That's a test I'll run tonight. Several mentioned the HF stuff with good luck so I'll try that. I'm using 5/8" hose, however, it's probably over 50' long, so I'll take off 25' and see if that helps. I don't have as much compressor as I'd like, but it's all my shop power will handle at this time!

[Fred T]

Like these guys said, most compressors can't keep up with air tools. Using the cut-off wheel can be frustrating. You can cut heavier material with it, like your tubing. But you need to take it slow. I usually start with a scoring cut, very shallow. Then go deeper with each pass. Don't push it to where the motor bogs down. And use as thin of a wheel as possible, it's that much less material to cut through.

[68C15]

I used to use the cheap ones until I bought an insulated one from Matco. it has reverse for when you need the sparks to go the other way. it also has twice the power as the cheap ones and IIRC uses the same CFM. I'll have to check on that.
I also use the thicker wheels, they are reinforced and last alot longer.

[Longhorn Man]

I do miss the insulation, and never thought of a reversable one. I know it woulda come in handy a few times, eating sparks really sucks.
As for wheel thicknes... thick is good.
In the IRL, all the pit crews call cut off wheels death wheels. Some times you'll have a small crack in the wheel and the wheel with explode, and can cause a lot of pain in the process. pain... blood... death.. hence the name, death wheel. (I'm sure the kill rate is very low) I've only seen one wheel blow up,a dn the dude was almost as smart as a brick anyways, he would toss the thing over the engine and let it smack the ground.
<insert retarded crosseyed bugar eating moron smiley here>

I feel a thin wheel would be more prone to cracking. No proof... just common sense says so.