[skiffle]

Hi - I make fire spinning equipment which is mostly cutting and drilling .058 walled 6061-T6 and 6463-T832 aluminum. My current shop setup is made of low cost machines - a Harbor Freight brand Central Machinery metal-cutting bandsaw set at 200 FPM, a Ryobi drill press set at 2000-3000 rpm, and a Ryobi 8" bench grinder to smooth down sharp cuts. While low cost machines they serve my purpose fine.

I am going on the road all summer and would like to have a functional portable setup - battery powered if possible. I would like to select the right tools but am unsure of the specs needed (light weight and low cost are important factors). I was thinking of:

1. Portable drill with drill guide - I have the guide but for the drill I do not know how much RPM or torque I need to drill clean holes like I do with the drill press. I noticed the impact drivers have more torque and rpm - do I need this?
2. Angle grinder with stand - could this be used in place of the heavy bench grinder? Can I cut aluminum tubing cleanly with this or will the cuts be too rough? If so, how much RPM should I look for?
3. If the angle grinder wont work for cutting aluminum, I was thinking of getting the Grizzly portable bandsaw with stand. I know there are better/more expensive versions like Makita/Dewalt, but I am trying to keep costs down.

Thank you in advance for any advice!

[wizard]

Hi - I make fire spinning equipment which is mostly cutting and drilling .058 walled 6061-T6 and 6463-T832 aluminum.

It might help to describe what fire spinning equipment is.

My current shop setup is made of low cost machines - a Harbor Freight brand Central Machinery metal-cutting bandsaw set at 200 FPM, a Ryobi drill press set at 2000-3000 rpm, and a Ryobi 8" bench grinder to smooth down sharp cuts. While low cost machines they serve my purpose fine.

I am going on the road all summer and would like to have a functional portable setup - battery powered if possible. I would like to select the right tools but am unsure of the specs needed (light weight and low cost are important factors). I was thinking of:

Unfortunately low cost will work against you mainly because the light weight tools would ideally have Lithium battery technologies. Lithium batteries are much lighter so if that is important to you they should be your first choice. Beyond that Lithium batteries are all around better as far as durability and longevity compared to NiCad.

1. Portable drill with drill guide - I have the guide but for the drill I do not know how much RPM or torque I need to drill clean holes like I do with the drill press.

I have a number of Milwaukee 12 VDC tools which I really like for their light weight. Most likely they would have no trouble with bits up to 3/8" in your materials. The biggest problem you will have is that most portable battery powered drills are less than optimal for mounting in drill stands. Now you may have other ideas as to what a drill guide is but I have no experience with them.

I noticed the impact drivers have more torque and rpm - do I need this?

Nope! Not for drilling anyways.

2. Angle grinder with stand - could this be used in place of the heavy bench grinder?

No, I don't really thinks so. Atleast not if you use a grinder the way most bench grinders are used. For example if you need to sharpen tools you might be better off building a grinding tool that can be driven from a battery powered drill.

Can I cut aluminum tubing cleanly with this or will the cuts be too rough? If so, how much RPM should I look for?

With the right wheels angle grinders can be very useful however you might want to consider a bandsaw instead. It is really hard to say which is best for you but either way you will need to do some finishing after cutting. This may tend to suggest that an angle grinder may be more useful.

3. If the angle grinder wont work for cutting aluminum, I was thinking of getting the Grizzly portable bandsaw with stand. I know there are better/more expensive versions like Makita/Dewalt, but I am trying to keep costs down.

Not to get into a brand discussion but I like Milwaukee. Further there are other brands to choose from, but don't screw yourself over with consummer brands.

One thing to look for is a system that supports a charger that runs off the 12 VDC power point in today's cars. This is very useful when away from AC sources.

Thank you in advance for any advice!

More details might help others when they respond. Especially when it comes to describing exactly what you are talking about. Consider this though a drill is a very common and useful tool so consider buying good quality that you can use for years for whatever or whenever you need.

Beyond that there is also the concept of hand tools that people seem to forget about these days. An old fashion hack saw is pretty cheap and light. If you look around you might also find an old fashion hand powered "bench" grinder.

If you focus on a more robust 18 VDC drill, a lot heavier, as the engine for a system then you might win overall. However unless you are drilling really large holes you will likely not need such a powerful drill for those holes.

[Greenbuggy]

if you need to cut aluminum somewhat cleanly and portably, I'd be looking at a Milwaukee or Dewalt portaband, although I shy from the battery powered versions you may have luck depending on what kind of duration you are looking at.

I have made much better cuts with mine ever since purchasing a Swag off road vertical kit for my dewalt portaband Welcome to Swag Off Road - Doing Ordinary Extraordinary. I'm not affiliated with them but have been pretty happy with the stuff I bought from them.

I think you will have better luck with a genset and corded tools than cordless ones, IMHO.

[neilw20]

Same old tools plus genset and the odd 18v battery drill. If you must have battery powered stick to the 18 or 24v units.
I have a $79, 24v variable +two speed (+ hammer) drill, and I rarely plug in my mains unit(s). 8 torque settings. I tap down to 2mm with it too.
15mm hole in steel is fine with it, if you can hold it against the torque.!!
Hammer drill? It has a keyless chuck.
Really good, but the first six whacks in hammer mode undoes the chuck. Can't be used as a hammer drill unless I change to a keyed chuck.
Get a 1KVA (at least) generator.

[wizard]

Same old tools plus genset and the odd 18v battery drill. If you must have battery powered stick to the 18 or 24v units.

That isn't good advice if he is looking for light weight. Admittedly the 18 and higher voltage units are a different species as far as performance goes

I have a $79, 24v variable +two speed (+ hammer) drill, and I rarely plug in my mains unit(s). 8 torque settings. I tap down to 2mm with it too.
15mm hole in steel is fine with it, if you can hold it against the torque.!!
Hammer drill? It has a keyless chuck.
Really good, but the first six whacks in hammer mode undoes the chuck. Can't be used as a hammer drill unless I change to a keyed chuck.
Get a 1KVA (at least) generator.

Spending a little extra goes a long ways to solving quality problems with drill chucks. My little Milwaukee 12 VDC drill has been drilling 6" and deeper 3/8" holes in 70 year old concrete with no problem, stock keyless chuck too. It will challenge your forearms whenever it catches.

In a way I would tend to agree with you that the higher voltage portables are better tools, especially if you are buying only one tool. However with the posters focus on weight and frugality I don't see a problem with 12 VDC tools in this case. If I understand him right his focus is on thinner gage Aluminum only. So I don't see an issue if he focuses on higher end 12 VDC tools. I use both the 12 VDC and the higher voltage tools and frankly I prefer the lower voltage tools when they will do the job. The weight and the well designed ergonomics make them fell like extensions to your body. I wouldn't choose a 12 volt tool to drill a 2" hole in a stainless steel panel box but that is simply a case of choosing the right tool for the job.

By the way I think I forgot to mention kits. Every manufacture has "kits" of tools, chargers and batteries that are often excellent deals. Things like flashlights for the systems batteries are often found to be more useful than you might first expect.

Another thing to watch out for is sales, especially when new models come out. In fact I'd go so far as to say buying at list price is madness.

[wizard]

if you need to cut aluminum somewhat cleanly and portably, I'd be looking at a Milwaukee or Dewalt portaband, although I shy from the battery powered versions you may have luck depending on what kind of duration you are looking at.

It is hard to say if battery powered tools will work for him. However realize that battery powered tools have come a long way baby.

I have made much better cuts with mine ever since purchasing a Swag off road vertical kit for my dewalt portaband Welcome to Swag Off Road - Doing Ordinary Extraordinary. I'm not affiliated with them but have been pretty happy with the stuff I bought from them.

The stuff looks nice but you would think they would publish a few simple specs. For example what is the size of the press plates offered. It is a pretty severe screw up not to have basic specs front and center.

I think you will have better luck with a genset and corded tools than cordless ones, IMHO.

Well that pretty much screws up portability and light weight.

[ZipSnipe]

I thought this looked like a good portable deal

https://www.rockwelltools.com/en-US/...all_mount.aspx

And not overly priced $140

[skiffle]

Thanks for all the help. I am really looking for cordless and compact so am not interested in the generator set up. Regarding the bench grinder I do not used it traditionally - I use the side of the wheel to square off and smooth down the cut. My current cheap 8" bench grinder works fine and is listed at 3600 RPM. I see the cordless angle grinders are either 6500 or 10000 RPMs - which would be better for my use (in a stand) with 1/2" to 1" .058 wall aluminum tubing? Any idea which would be better for cutting the tubing as well?

[wizard]

Thanks for all the help. I am really looking for cordless and compact so am not interested in the generator set up. Regarding the bench grinder I do not used it traditionally - I use the side of the wheel to square off and smooth down the cut.

Bad voodoo here!!! Most bench grinding wheels are not designed for such side loads. It would be very easy to explode a wheel doing that.

My current cheap 8" bench grinder works fine and is listed at 3600 RPM. I see the cordless angle grinders are either 6500 or 10000 RPMs - which would be better for my use (in a stand) with 1/2" to 1" .058 wall aluminum tubing? Any idea which would be better for cutting the tubing as well?

Well cutting aluminum tubing isn't something I do often, however have you considered looking at this issue like a plumber would? Plumbers regularly use a rotary hand tool to cut copper pipe. Here is an example of a powered unit: M12TM Cordless Lithium-Ion Copper Tubing Cutter Kit | Milwaukee Tool. Manual examples are here: Pipe Cutters - RIDGID Professional Tools and here: Tubing Cutters - RIDGID Professional Tools. Tubing cutters leave an internal burr thus requiring a reamer but the cut is otherwise clean and square. Once you learn to use the tools you will not even think about trying to cut said tubing with an angle grinder or hack saw. Tubing cutters are fast and safe compared to most other solutions, accurate too.

Better yet a manual tubing cutter doesn't even require a battery. They can be cheap but I'd warn against going to low end. Even so they are far cheaper than an angle grinder and the supplies for them. More importantly you can buy spare blades for as little as $3.00. Now I'm not going to say that a tubing cutter will solve all of your cutting needs but they are simple and safe for use on tubing.

You may also want to consider tools for the drill to help with tube end prep. Reamers and piloted mills might be useful for cleaning up tube ends. You might run out of torque with 12 volt tools driving such cutters in 1" tube.

In any event I don't see a angle grinder as the right tool for cutting tubing at all, there are simply safer approaches. A Sawsall or bandsaw come to mind if a tubing cutter won't work.

Even after all of the above considerations you will likely still find a need to sand or grind stuff. The problem with angle grinders is coming up with a workable stand. This makes me wonder if an automobile will be near by. One possibility would be to buy a small 12 VDC Motor and to attach a 5" disk to it effectively making a small disk grinder/sander. You might need a friend with a shop to pull this off. The idea would be to run the unit off of a car battery. This assumes that you can make a safe system mechanically and electrically though. Of course you could do this with a battery powered angle grinder, the problem here would be rigidly mounting the grinder to the stand and the probably shorter life span of the grinder used that way. Plus a car battery in a home built grinder adds a lot of ballast to the stand. There is nothing worst than a grinder that walks around on you. I know this whole paragraph goes against your light doctrine but you will need to address stability some how. Consider the possibility of local ballast in a grinder stand, that is design the stand to hold rocks or sand found locally.

In any event take the above with a grain of salt. I still don't know what you are doing nor how focused you are on work with tubing. One thing for sure is to concentrate on safety. Create a tool crib that let's you accomplish things the safest way possible.

[skiffle]

Thank you Wizard. To add clarity my work is primarily cutting .058 wall aluminum tubing, which I will do 95% of in my workshop but am looking to have a "just in case" and custom work setup for on the road.

Regarding the bench grinder usage, I am barely applying any force to the side of the wheel - the metal bandsaw cuts it pretty straight and clean and I just do a 5 second cleanup on each piece. Is there a better grinder type or workshop solution to clean up cuts?

I'm happy to go with a portable bandsaw solution if the angle grinder with cutting disk is not ideal, though finding angle grinder stands and clamping one down is not difficult. Is there a better portable solution for cleaning up the aluminum tubing cuts?

Lastly, would that plumbers cutting wheel work well on aluminum? It only mentions copper and I'm not sure how the properties compare.

Bad voodoo here!!! Most bench grinding wheels are not designed for such side loads. It would be very easy to explode a wheel doing that.

Well cutting aluminum tubing isn't something I do often, however have you considered looking at this issue like a plumber would? Plumbers regularly use a rotary hand tool to cut copper pipe. Here is an example of a powered unit: M12TM Cordless Lithium-Ion Copper Tubing Cutter Kit | Milwaukee Tool. Manual examples are here: Pipe Cutters - RIDGID Professional Tools and here: Tubing Cutters - RIDGID Professional Tools. Tubing cutters leave an internal burr thus requiring a reamer but the cut is otherwise clean and square. Once you learn to use the tools you will not even think about trying to cut said tubing with an angle grinder or hack saw. Tubing cutters are fast and safe compared to most other solutions, accurate too.

Better yet a manual tubing cutter doesn't even require a battery. They can be cheap but I'd warn against going to low end. Even so they are far cheaper than an angle grinder and the supplies for them. More importantly you can buy spare blades for as little as $3.00. Now I'm not going to say that a tubing cutter will solve all of your cutting needs but they are simple and safe for use on tubing.

You may also want to consider tools for the drill to help with tube end prep. Reamers and piloted mills might be useful for cleaning up tube ends. You might run out of torque with 12 volt tools driving such cutters in 1" tube.

In any event I don't see a angle grinder as the right tool for cutting tubing at all, there are simply safer approaches. A Sawsall or bandsaw come to mind if a tubing cutter won't work.

Even after all of the above considerations you will likely still find a need to sand or grind stuff. The problem with angle grinders is coming up with a workable stand. This makes me wonder if an automobile will be near by. One possibility would be to buy a small 12 VDC Motor and to attach a 5" disk to it effectively making a small disk grinder/sander. You might need a friend with a shop to pull this off. The idea would be to run the unit off of a car battery. This assumes that you can make a safe system mechanically and electrically though. Of course you could do this with a battery powered angle grinder, the problem here would be rigidly mounting the grinder to the stand and the probably shorter life span of the grinder used that way. Plus a car battery in a home built grinder adds a lot of ballast to the stand. There is nothing worst than a grinder that walks around on you. I know this whole paragraph goes against your light doctrine but you will need to address stability some how. Consider the possibility of local ballast in a grinder stand, that is design the stand to hold rocks or sand found locally.

In any event take the above with a grain of salt. I still don't know what you are doing nor how focused you are on work with tubing. One thing for sure is to concentrate on safety. Create a tool crib that let's you accomplish things the safest way possible.

[dodger889]

When you say light weight what are you considering to be light weight?? And you are saying portable? How are are you planning to transport these items? See I ask this because your terms of light weight and mine could be 100 to 1000 pounds of weight. Portable shop could be a 4x 6 trailer or the back of a small car?? Or a 8 x30 trailer with all the room you could need. Now you say no to a genset why because of the weight? I have seen and used one that weighs in at 140 pounds with fuel and oil. I could pick it up and carry it by myself with a little struggle. You could look at downsize your shop tool setup to make it all portable to carry.

[skiffle]

Lightweight and portable for this instance should equal half of a medium size car trunk and carry-able by my strong but 120 pound girlfriend. The locations I will be would often not allow a genset. This is why I am leaning towards cordless tools if possible.

[skiffle]

I was looking at getting a Makita cordless drill and grinder as an option and found this deal but it is an impact driver and hammer drill, not just a drill. Would these work for drilling aluminum or do I want the plain old drill (not impact or hammer)?

[skiffle]

So with further research (and your great input) it sounds like the angle grinder is a bad idea for cutting aluminum tubing. So what would be the best portable solution for the cleanest cuts? A portable bandsaw or chop saw with metal cutting blade?

And any ideas on the most portable grinding solution for cleaning up the cuts?

[wizard]

I was looking at getting a Makita cordless drill and grinder as an option and found this deal but it is an impact driver and hammer drill, not just a drill. Would these work for drilling aluminum or do I want the plain old drill (not impact or hammer)?

Makita makes nice stuff, at least In the past they have. I haven't used any of their tools in years though so I can't offer a yeah or nay on that kit.

I think you need to realize that hammer drills generally have the ability to turn off the hammer function. A hammer function can be nice to have for drilling concrete but is not required for drilling metal. In fact it would be a big negative if turned on. An impact driver is a different animal and is not normally used for drilling operations. Impact drivers are extremely handy for driving screws and such into wood.

So with further research (and your great input) it sounds like the angle grinder is a bad idea for cutting aluminum tubing. So what would be the best portable solution for the cleanest cuts?

If you want clean cuts get a tubing cutter. It seems like you are obsessed with battery powered tools here and frankly I'm not sure that is the best solution for simply cutting tubing.

A portable bandsaw or chop saw with metal cutting blade?

I don't know of any battery powered chop saws. If I wanted to use a powered tool it would probably be either a Sawsall/Hackzall from Milwaukke or a band saw. Interestingly Milwaukee has a new bandsaw that is almost perfect for your needs. It is a 12 VDC machine part number 2429-21XC. It is a tiny band saw making it suitable for your portability needs and has the capacity to cut the tubing you mention.

Milwaukee also has their copper tubing cutter 2471-21 that might be worth considering. I'd talk to tech support at Milwaukee to see if the unit is suitable for the thickness aluminum tubing you use.

And any ideas on the most portable grinding solution for cleaning up the cuts?

This is an issue and in the long run you will probably need a grinder but maybe not for cleaning up cuts on the tubing. Use a tubing cutter and you end up with an internal burr that can be removed with a reamer. In this regard I think you need to look towards the plumbing tools companies like Rigid make. Cutting with a hack saw or band saw is likely the last way a plumber would approach cutting tubing. A good three wheel tubing cutter leaves a clean and square cut requiring only reaming the internal burr.

Now one thing to consider is a disc grinder/sander setup for a battery powered drill. Here I'm think something that can be sat on a stand or table to provide a mini battery powered disk grinder. Eventually you will have to get an angle grinder but I see such a tool as less than ideal for dressing up the ends of small diameter tooling. It would be much better to have a device that you can sit some place with a table or rest in front of the grinding surface so that you can keep two hands on the work piece.

It is funny but you mentioned that some places you expect to go don't permit generators, realize that if that is because of noise right angle grinders aren't exactly quiet.

It is funny that this discussion is taking place as I just received a flier from MSC that covers a bunch of Milwaukee tools with some decent sale prices. The prices might be due to something's effectively being replaced by the new FUEL line of tools.

[skiffle]

Thanks - will call about that Milwaukee tubing cutter tomorrow. I've given up on the angle grinder idea. I know the bandsaw would work great in a stand but have only seen the Milwaukee portable bandsaw stand which by itself is $300. Grizzly has a powered bandsaw with stand for $179 but I won't always have power. The disc grinder drill attachment sounds like a great idea!

[wizard]

Thanks - will call about that Milwaukee tubing cutter tomorrow. I've given up on the angle grinder idea. I know the bandsaw would work great in a stand but have only seen the Milwaukee portable bandsaw stand which by itself is $300. Grizzly has a powered bandsaw with stand for $179 but I won't always have power. The disc grinder drill attachment sounds like a great idea!

I've actually have been thinking about this quest a bit -- maybe a bit too much😉😉. In any event I still think you would be better off with a tool that can clamp to a table or stand instead of trying to freehand dress small diameter tubing. The problem of course is portability and battery power. This had me thinking that maybe a 1 or 2" wide belt grinder/sander might be easier to implement and use. In fact there are a few on the market that could be easily converted for drive by a battery powered drill or a DC motor.

Build something like this: H3140 Belt Sander 1" x 30" or find one similar that is easy to modify to your needs. This idea here is something that is small, light weight and easy to drive with a DC motor or possibly a battery powered drill as a power source.

The big problem with some of Milwaukees tools is that they are focused on heavy industrial or construction use. Sometimes that leads to tools that are heavier and more expensive. That is one reason I went with the 12VDC line for my personal tools. Interestingly they have just introduced the FUEL tech to the twelve volt line which is a brushless motor solution that ups performance a bit. There is little doubt that you get more performance as you move up the line. As far as portable band saw systems, if you look hard enough you might find a Japanese or Chinese equivalent but it is a mighty specialize and narrow market.

When it comes to tools for handling tubing I shouldn't forget Greenlee. It would probably pay to become familiar with local contractor supply houses as they generally will have the latest and greatest and source far more manufactures than have been noted in this thread.

[skiffle]

Thanks again. I was always planning on putting whatever hand tool in a stand or clamp, but do like that grizzly sander (price and weight) if it would work well on aluminum. Would a belt or disc sander be better?

After reading about that battery powered tubing cutter there's no need to call on it - it gets pretty horrible reviews.

[wizard]

Thanks again. I was always planning on putting whatever hand tool in a stand or clamp, but do like that grizzly sander (price and weight) if it would work well on aluminum. Would a belt or disc sander be better?

Get a machine with both! At work I us a 1" belt sander a lot. At home doing different things a combo machine works nice.

After reading about that battery powered tubing cutter there's no need to call on it - it gets pretty horrible reviews.

Well yeah but you seemed to be obsessed with battery powered tools. That is why several times I tried to push you towards manual tubing cutters. Often such tubing cutters are the fastest way to get a bit of tubing cut. Further they leave an edge requiring a minimal of cleanup. Maybe you just don't buy into the idea that a manual tool is as good as a powered tool, if so get a plumber or electrician to demo a tubing cutter for you.

As to the reviews I'm not sure what you are referring to. If it is the internet though remember that you are most likely to see negative reviews or complaints about a product.

One thing to consider is the possibility of running a bench tool off of an inverter. The problem here is properly rating the inverters as it needs to be able to handle start up inrush. A belt / disc sander with a smallish motor would likely work but then again a small motor on a disk sander isn't a lot of joy either.

The other option is to get a 4.5 inch right angle battery powered grinder and stick it in a stand with a suitable wheel. The problem here is that these things eat up batteries fairly quickly plus making a suitable stand is really an extensive project. The flip side here is that if you are doing metal work in the field you will need a right angle grinder sooner or later for other things so I don't see you resisting a purchase. I just see such tools as less than ideal for dressing the ends of small diameter tubing.

[skiffle]

I'm not obsessed with battery powered, it's just that there are times that I will need lightweight tools and I don't have a vehicle for an inverter nor the ability to use a genset for multiple reasons. This leaves manual tools, battery power, or corded tools but I will not always have access to electricity.

I tried the manual cutter and it creates a nice edge but had two problems though these may be specific to my cutter. First, I'm not a plumber - I deal mainly with telescoping tubing and the inside of the tube is important. The inside ridge that they create is enough to make the inside dimension too much for telescoping even with lots of deburring. Second, my tubing cutter left marks on the outside of the tubing which would not be acceptable. If there are tubing cutters that do not displace the inside tube dimension nor mark the outside of the tubing than it may work.

Lastly, like I said earlier angle grinder stands are readily available so this is not a problem and is why I was looking at them in the first place as they could be battery powered for when I do not have electrical access. When I do have electrical access, I'm guessing that a belt or disc sander would be better? Here though, I am increasing the weight of the tools quite a bit. Hmm...