How do you cut metal?

Fixture Tables
1

Question for those of ya’ll who work with metal.

When you have to cut a bunch of pieces that are all the same size how do you personally go about doing that? Do you sit there and measure each and every piece? Do you stack a few pieces on the saw at the same time? or do you have a table set up with stops on it? If you don’t have a table with stops on it how long would it take you to cut up an order of say 120 angle irons all measuring 10.5"? How about an order of say 10,000 1/2" square bars all measuring 32"

I haven’t seen a picture of any good saw tables online at all and the only other tables I have seen besides mine that are set up with stops are for wood working. I think it would be cool if some of the fixture table companies like Fireball could build some saw tables for like the evolution carbide tipped miter saw, but what do you other guys think?

I took a video of kinda what i’m talking about. My tables not that user friendly though and put together on an extreme budget. heres a link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kds2J8sKQlk

I didn’t monotize that video and I think you need the link to find it.

2

I have a band saw with a conveyor on each side and yes I have a adjustable stop for cutting up to 80" long on the right side.
I feed 24’ sticks from the left

I do have stops and this would depend on the leg size of the angle as to how many I could gang up in my saw at one time.

Hmmm This might cause me to by a Tube laser :grinning_face_with_smiling_eyes:

3

I have the industrial version CNC Tiger stop that can push material. It can maintain a few thousandths accuracy, make repeat cuts automatically and is tied into a turret drill for making holes on a programmed pattern.
When using my standard chop saw I would clamp the hell out of a stop and still need to check it every dozen parts in case it got bumped. When setting up cut or drill jigs for long term use they would be located with a pin and bolted or be made to rest against a hard point on the tool.
Tape measures have no place in the hands of the workers in a properly set up production shop, we occasionally use test coupons to verify setups or parts during production.

4

I used tiger stops in production with a company that I used to work for. They are worth there weight in gold in a production environment. They are on the spendy side but worth it if you have the extra cash to spend.

5

Always save the first good part and use ONLY it for checking subsequent cut lengths. This keeps the lengths from “growing”.