Air does not offer the torque as electric so when the blade starts to get dull the saw will stall out
Blades are cheap. Dull blades distort metal. No, on the plunge cut. I have an Ingersoll-Rand. Works well.
If your thinking of the small air saws (uses a 3' or so cut down hack saw blade) they work well and are handy enough. As far as a plunge cut--not so much. If I want to cut into a panel I use a small cut off wheel to cut a slot and go from there. BILL RINALDI
I bought one from Harbor Freight and it was a piece of crap. The only way I could even get it to reciprocate was to boost my air pressure to 150#. Even then, the damn thing would stall out as soon as it touched even the thinnest metal. And yes, I did oil it. I wound up tossing it in the metal bucket for the scrap yard.
Very hard to plunge but possible, you will destroy a blade (I use cut down hacksaw blades) and will damage the panel. Better to start with a cut off wheel. Ingersoll, Chicago make good ones. OIL, OIL and 710
no they wont plunge.. not surprised the HF one sucks. I have a chicago and use it all the time. I love it for overlapping panels and then cutting the edge for a perfect gap. Buy good blades and they wont snap, or bog the tool down.
thats what I want to do is overlap panels and use the saw to get a small kerf, just wondering how I would do panels that aren't near an edge, that's why I was wondering about plunge cutting...
I've had a Harbor Freight saw since the mid 90's. It's seen a lot of hours, and is only now starting to give up. Maybe they made them better in the 90's ? Get a bottle of pneumatic tool oil, and give it a few drops in the air inlet every hour of use. Don't use regular automotive oil, unless you want to gum up the guts of the saw.
I had a thread on this a few weeks ago. My Ingersol rand 429 was letting me down with the stalling. Because of a members suggestion I switched the 1/4 quick disconnect fitting for 3/8 and it's a night and day difference on the tool. Major improvement in performance. Plunge cuts are probably possible but not precisely. You can start a cut with a small drilled hole, or a cutoff wheel slice & Sometimes just a groove.
Full flow air connectors will make a difference like night and day, if you don't have full flow connectors , you can eliminate the connector and screw the hose end directly into the tool you are using.
Add another HF comment to the list. Mine has never worked right. Starts sometimes stalls frequently. Complete junk. Just stay away.
I got a mid priced air saw, there's some spots where it's a necessity. I still prefer a cut off wheel on an air or electric grinder. I make the cut thru 2 panels with a thin cut off wheel on a scribed line.
A fein multi master with a metal cutting blade makes fine plunge cuts. I imagine a HF clone or similar would do the job. I cut two panels together to end up with a very narrow gap between patch and original panel. Cuts very slow though. Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
When you want to plunge you need to use a shortened (3" long) hacksaw blade with the tip cut at an angle, start the cut as flat as possible then slowly move the saw at it's working angle, it will dull the front teeth (?) in no time and if you try to go too fast it will bounce and dent your panel, plus it will have a tendency to dance around on the panel before it cuts through leaving marks on the panel. The longer the blade the more it will dance around, the shorter the blade the more it will bounce, the blades sold for air saw will bend and brake doing that, the hacksaw blade will mostly be trash after that but in a couple occasion where a cut off wheel don't fit it's a life saver.
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