In my previous employment we had a number which were used on a regular basis to shorten commercial vehicle chassis. Material thickness varied between 6mm up to a maximum of 16mm. Using the saw for the first time was an act of faith as it feels unnatural heading for a lump of steel with a circular saw…….. very impressive results however! Incredibly quick cutting, no burning or burring and if you treat the blade with some care long lasting. There is a small collecting box for the chips and this needs to be emptied frequently but does collect most of the debris.

The saws were also used for cutting steel plates ( up to 12mm thick – cut lengths up to 48" and again with a guide fixed in place the saw literally cuts through like butter. Imagine using a 9" circular saw through 22mm chipboard and that is the speed of cutting through the steel.

There are various blades available for carbon and stainless steel and both can be resharpened if you have a local circular saw re-furbisher / sharpener. No connection with the company at all. Justa satisfied (production engineer) buyer and user who slashed cutting times. If I had a need in my current place of employment for cutting plates that our guillotine couldn't handle I would have no hesitation in purchasing an Evolution saw again.

Hope this helps to assure you that the kit will do the job you require.

Grum

"eats 40 dollar blades like taco chips" says one review on amazon

I've only done one flat plate, a half incher, and cut a square hole about 8 inches into it

I used a hand held circular saw like a black and decker and fitted those 1mm cutting disks into it, this gave me a lot of control over the job and the blades cost buttons, you can get 50 for twenty quid on a well known site

The circular saw was for wood, so the blade didn't really go fast enough, but it was miles easier and safer than using a freehand angle grinder

Edited By Ady1 on 05/04/2017 19:13:04

There ARE fast handheld circular saws around, YYAAOSwax5YqNd1″>this one does 8000 rpm

Those 1mm blades fairly slice through the metal once you get a rhythm going

You don't tell us where you are, but if I wanted a load of gussets I'd go and see my plasma profile cutting man. With their nesting programs they seem to be able to supply the shapes cheaper than most people can buy the plate, and they don't need much cleaning up if any.

plasma is a lot, lot cheaper than laser or water, just not as accurate, but for gussets who cares?

Quite a few 9" grinders can have a fence fitted to the guard, really ment to control the depth when chasing but also takes the weight of the machine when cutting flat.

There are stands that turn the smaller angle grinders into a mini chop saw for around £20.00, I bought mine from Aldi a few years back, but they are available from other sources, this picture shows it cutting 8mm studding and 8mm stainless round bar for a 3D printer.

I have an Evolution Rage2 that I picked up on the bay for £60.00 second hand, still with plenty of life left in it, I last used this to remove about 1.5-2mm from the end of a 20x80mm aluminium extrusion, for my laser cutter, that was ever so slightly too long – perfectly square cut and hardly any burrs, I would not even consider trying this on my bandsaw.

For cutting holes in stuff, depending on thickness of material and the shape I am trying to cut , I picked up a second hand Miller Spectrum 300 plasma cuttter for £200.00 at an auto jumble – no-one else seemed to know what it was. Alternatively I can use my 9" or 5" angle grinders freehand, then I have a 3" air cut-off saw, that cost about £20.00 at some car show, a pack of disks for this are about £7.00 for 25, or if you want to go really small, then I have a Dremel.

Mike Cox also references a mini 110mm Rage style saw for about £30.00 from Aldi that he has used to cut 8mm sheet steel.

Plenty of options for the OP to consider.

Edited By Zebethyal on 06/04/2017 08:43:30