Where do you start when you're a noob with metal?

[Cheese]

Absolutely love the Milwaukee carbide chop saw, both for AL and steel.

+1
And also for stainless, just don't bother purchasing the Milwaukee stainless blade. It has a very limited life span. I've found that the Evolution stainless blade lasts 3-4 times longer than the Milwaukee blade.

 

[Cheese]

Kev,
Two other items I forgot to mention.

If you're serious about metal working a combination belt/disc sander is a must. The bonus round is that you can use this for woodworking projects also.

There were older band saws that had a 2-speed gear box (8 speeds total) that would allow you to cut wood and then throttle back for cutting steel or stainless.

I have an older Delta that cuts wood at 3000 fpm while I can throttle it back to 80 fpm for stainless. I still cut aluminum at 3000 fpm. 

There may be some newer saws that also have this feature. Just not sure...

 

[tallgrass]

I have a great deal of Emco machinery and it is top drawer. the maximat line is not for the hobbyist very $$$$ I have a couple of maximats and they are worth every penny. I am on the opposite side of this.....I am a mechanical engineer who does metal and wood is not my primary deal. Festool is perfect for that since they don't take up much space, though I seem to have accumulated a great deal of it and love it.

 

[Bob D.]

"Two years ago Grizzly closed up their warehouse/store here in PA"

Wow, I did not realize they did this. I was always hoping to make a trip
there but it's a good distance away (>200 miles). Guess I put it off just
a little too long.

 

[rmwarren]

"Two years ago Grizzly closed up their warehouse/store here in PA"

Wow, I did not realize they did this. I was always hoping to make a trip
there but it's a good distance away (>200 miles). Guess I put it off just
a little too long.

Yep, I usta' drop by there when making fishing trips in PA. Picture a bunch of middle-aged male zombies milling around a huge shiny white showroom with glazed looks. The retail store never could have made financial sense as there were never more than a handful of people there. The Muncy operation doubled as their eastern US warehouse which I assume succumbed to changes in the logistics business & they consolidated or went to 3rd parties.

A stop at the Country Store for a smoked brisket sammich then on to Lewis Lumber and before you knew it a whole day of fishing was shot.

But I digress...

RMW

 

[Kev]

Kev,
Two other items I forgot to mention.

If you're serious about metal working a combination belt/disc sander is a must. The bonus round is that you can use this for woodworking projects also.

There were older band saws that had a 2-speed gear box (8 speeds total) that would allow you to cut wood and then throttle back for cutting steel or stainless.

I have an older Delta that cuts wood at 3000 fpm while I can throttle it back to 80 fpm for stainless. I still cut aluminum at 3000 fpm. 

There may be some newer saws that also have this feature. Just not sure...

Thanks [member=44099]Cheese[/member]

I had a belt/disk sander in mind for woodworking down the track, but for some reason I thought that a dedicated linisher was required for metal work [scratch chin]

I hadn't seen much in the way of "crossover" bandsaws ... the ones I've been peeking at locally such as the small Baileigh seem quite nice!

Fortunately the second hand equipment market in OZ is much healthier in the metal working arena compared to wood working, so I'll probably be able to make some hugely stupid second hand purchase mistakes [big grin]

 

[#Tee]

Being called a carpenter or wood worker really sounds like it limits your capabilities. I wish i had more metal tooling.

 

[Kev]

Being called a carpenter or wood worker really sounds like it limits your capabilities. I wish i had more metal tooling.

Even craftsman doesn't have the same ring as engineer [sad]

I love the word "artisan", but not many people use it.

 

[AlexThePalex]

I prefer to think of myself as an "everythingmaker", just like for instance Adam Savage of the Mythbusters. Wood, metal, plastic, cloth, leather, stone, clay, explosions, you name it, I make. Ok, well, not the explosions. C4's a bit hard to come by around here.

 

[rst]

Jerk of all Trades here... [embarassed]  Actually master of a few... [cool]

 

[Holmz]

Kev,
The fusion of metal and wood is something that you will see every time I make something.
Here is the Orion active speakers that I made about six years ago. It is black anodized aluminum with zebrawood.
Here is the speakers and the electronic crossover.
...
[attachimg=4]
...

Is that a 4180?
I've been looking for some 2,3 or 4 channel with XLR, SpeakOn, and with DSP fir based.

 

[Holmz]

Being called a carpenter or wood worker really sounds like it limits your capabilities. I wish i had more metal tooling.

Even craftsman doesn't have the same ring as engineer [sad]

I love the word "artisan", but not many people use it.

And for good reason...

---

The other handy thing along with belt sanders, etc.... Is a bench grinder, and usually on the left hand side run a 3M scotchbrite wheel.
That can make even the most daggy Metalo-scatological experiment become polished... (Yes you really can!)

(I seem to recall you were left handed, or a south paw, so maybe you would be wanting a scotchbright on the right side?)

 

[Kev]

The other handy thing along with belt sanders, etc.... Is a bench grinder, and usually on the left hand side run a 3M scotchbrite wheel.
That can make even the most daggy Metalo-scatological experiment become polished... (Yes you really can!)

(I seem to recall you were left handed, or a south paw, so maybe you would be wanting a scotchbright on the right side?)

[member=40772]Holmz[/member]

Yep, I'm a lefty!

I can see a row of bench grinders in my future [embarassed]

 

[morts10n]

If I was a noob to metal, I'd start with Judas Priest or Iron Maiden.

 

[HAXIT]

Kev,
The fusion of metal and wood is something that you will see every time I make something.
Here is the Orion active speakers that I made about six years ago. It is black anodized aluminum with zebrawood.
Here is the speakers and the electronic crossover.
...
[attachimg=4]
...

 

Is that a 4180?
I've been looking for some 2,3 or 4 channel with XLR, SpeakOn, and with DSP fir based.

No,this is I believe was the second generation of Orion with analog crossover not DSP.

 

[Holmz]

Kev,
The fusion of metal and wood is something that you will see every time I make something.
Here is the Orion active speakers that I made about six years ago. It is black anodized aluminum with zebrawood.
Here is the speakers and the electronic crossover.
...
[attachimg=4]
...

 

Is that a 4180?
I've been looking for some 2,3 or 4 channel with XLR, SpeakOn, and with DSP fir based.

No,this is I believe was the second generation of Orion with analog crossover not DSP.

Well it all looks stunning...
I have some Jarrah cover MDF 6-1/4"x 8" bookshelf boxes to hold some ScanSpeaks that I varnished today.
Worked on the kitchen counter and had the Haus-Boss tipping after I rolled the varnish.
Compared to your gems it looks a like bit of a Kindergarten set up.
I have two old Nak EC302 active analogue cross overs, so they get to the same place, just no FIR filters to correct things.

There are heaps of mixed media projects that one can do.
The speakers of your are one, and that copper door from a few days ago is lovely.
I am making a sink to go onto a bathroom cabinet, so it it looks o'roight I will post it up.
(The speakers were advertised within the haus as a practice run, as they used the same tools and work flow as the bathroom cabinet.  [big grin] Which is true, so I need to improve the skills...  [crying]