Baleigh Cold Saw

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Anybody got any experience with one these cold saw's (this brand or any other)?  Interested in any feedback.. Considering one, but wondering if buying a better liquid cooled bandsaw would be a better solution than one of these?  I do mostly square and DOM tubing...
Reply:It depends on how many cuts you make, how precise you need them to be and if you cut angles.We have both at the shop and both get used, but for most stuff over 1/8" wall or 4" wide/tall/dia a good bandsaw is king.  If you cut lots of angles or thin material a good cold saw cant be beat.If your doing lots of cutting, an automatic bandsaw is probably your best bet.  Automatic cold saws exist but are very very pricey.Have we all gone mad?
Reply:a swivel band saw makes good angle cutsand a lot less money than cold saw Attached Images
Reply:Hard to beat the accuracy of a cold saw.A cold saw is limited by blase size, a band saw really has the advantage there.Tim Beeker.
Reply:Thanks for info!  I am trying to put some $$ back into my biz (small fab shop) for 2010.. I budgeted ~$4,500 on a new saw.. Struggling to figure which I will get more bang for the buck out of.. really like the precision aspects of cold saw as I do tubing, but bandsaw seems more versatile.. I have been using an old HF one which has worked well but have outgrown.. All input apreciated.. thanks
Reply:Not this brand, I have used some other  brands. The coldsaws will cut your costs for finished work of you have a good guy running it.      If you can be sure that nobody will try to cut hard stuff or run the blade dull on the coldsaw all is well. The blades are pricy. The blades are resharpenable but only if they are sharpened quick when they first start to dull. Bandsaws are more forgiving of misuse, the blades are cheaper. An abrasive saw is the best for your idiot neighbor who wants to hack off the end of a torsion bar....        A good tight coldsaw will give you unbelievable finishes and accuracy. Good bevels, good lengths.past work toys; lathes,mills, drills, saws,  robots, lasers ironworker, shears, brake, press, grinders, tensile tester,  torches, tigs, migs, sticks, platten table, positioner,  plasmas , gleeble and spot. Retired June 30, 2009.
Reply:Baileigh makes a good product. Think of a cold saw as a milling machine for one shot cutting and finishing stock ends for welding precision structures.A bandsaw for speed, and structures which don't need a tight fit before welding, or where you intend to finish the ends on a mill or somewhere else.One recommendation I would make is get the power down feed if more than one person is going to use it an set it up. Cold saw blades are expensive and really should be used correctly at the correct speeds and feeds, whereas bandsaws allow a lot more room for incorrect speeds and feeds and abuse.One important area to consider if you have large sizes, cold saws are limited in capacity just as a radial "Skilsaw" is. Buy the heaviest duty, largest one, you can afford for precision and life span.
Reply:Cold saws are SLOW. Typically only one item at a time can be cut. Cutting thinner material (less than the distance between the teeth on the blade) on a cold saw is difficult for most people. My Ellis 1600 can cut as well (read accurate) as all of the cold saws I have operated. It has the swivel head so any angle between the stops is no big deal. Cutting thin wall stainless steel tubing 1 1/4"dia.x.063 wall at 45 deg. I am able to trim the thickness of the blade (.035) it is within .005" measured any where on the drop. for welding fabrication that is about 10x (or .050" or less than 1/16") more accurate than needed. My Ellis cost right at $3000.00 delivered to my shop in Anchorage Alaska. Last time I looked the Baileigh was in the $1700.00 range, for a cut capacity of of 3" Where the Ellis 1600 capacity is 10" The Ellis 1600 can be had for $2200.00 Blades for the Ellis can be had locally at Graingers for $58.00 . Blades for the Baileigh are special ordered and can take 2-4 weeks to arrive, so one would need to have an 1-2 extra blades on hand at all times costing $100.00 each. The cold saw with out auto feed requires an operator to pull down on the handle, the Ellis has an auto down feed control (gravity restricted by oil). So I can set up a cut and walk way. The Ellis is also a dry cut saw it uses no coolant. so no coolant mess. I cut the part and it is ready for welding. A cold saw needs to have coolant. Then it needs the coolant oil removed, usually with another chemical like acetone, that just costs more time and money. So for me and the type of work I do the Ellis was the answer.
Reply:I buy my cold blades off of flea bay and have them sharpened for around $22.00 each when dull.I have never given over $40.00 for a blade.I would like to look into an Ellis sometime.Tim Beeker.
Reply:Baleigh makes a good product, but for a jack of all trades consider a small band saw. I like Hyd-Mech (MEP) Saws.