Buying any type of machinery is a major cause of anxiety. Not because I can sift through specs and reputation and make a decision, but because almost all of it is heavy enough to require general freight delivery. When I was a young guy, and there were still only one or two continents, I loaded trucks for a living… APA Transport. Those guys insisted on careful handling of customer’s freight. Teamsters, or not, bang up freight and you were out in the parking lot and on your way home. These days, I’d swear dock workers get a bonus for finding creative ways to destroy freight. Fortunately, Lathemaster’s Model G5010 is a UPS worthy forty-five pound, aluminum framed portable, with a four inch cutting capacity and a motor larger than most floor stand mounted horizontal saws.
The saw is mounted on a miter base with forty five degrees of travel. There are adjustable zero stops and a steel vise secures material. The 44 7/8″x1/2″ standard blade is low in cost and readily available. I picked up three packs from Enco for less than $8.
The motor is listed as 110v 5 amps for 1.5 Kw. I am not much with things electric, but this seems to suggest the motor either pulls more than 5 amps or it is closer to 550 watts. That’s approximately 3/4 HP which is excellent for a saw of this size.
Controls; blade tension, variable speed and blade guard are all in easy reach, speed changes can be made on the fly. The speed range, indicated in meters per minute is 20 – 70. For guys like me who count on their toes and use the US Customary Units that equates to approximately 65 – 230 ft/min. The saw’s manual suggests speeds, in native m/min:
- Stainless steel 20-50
- Copper, aluminum 40-60
- Carbon steel 50-70
The saw is supplied with an 18 TPI blade. Aluminum, brass and similar soft material generally cut well with 8-10 TPI. 12-14 TPI work well for solid stock steel, including stainless and annealed. I picked up some 18 and 24 TPI to use for steel tubing. For thin material, sheet metal and tubing, three teeth should always be in contact with the work to prevent snagging and broken blade teeth, but large stock work requires more teeth to spread the load exerted on the blade.
With the 18 TPI blade in place, this 7/8″x24 threaded steel rod stock was cut in less than one minute and it was a very clean cut.
The saw folds up and locks small. It can be carried by lifting it under the upper guard. The saw’s base is 16″x13″. It is 14″ high when folded and 24″ fully opened. As noted earlier, it weighs approximately 45 lbs.
Lathemaster sells the Model G5010 for $269. UPS shipping is about $40 more. The same saw sold popularly as the “AD 105S 4″Capacity Portable Benchtop KAMA Bandsaw” is sold everywhere for $999+$40 shipping. A comparable Milwaukie handheld bandsaw generally sells for $299 and it requires a $226 adapter to mount it on a bench. An illustration of why I buy equipment from Lathemaster.
Email Notification