I've been doing a lot of work with custom engine mounts lately, and I don't know if there's a better option out there that I haven't considered. I guess using a plasma cutter would be ideal, but I can't afford that.

I'm cutting out funky shapes out of 1/4" and 1/8" plate (to use as adapter plates, and plates to weld to the old subframes, etc) steel using a combintation of my grinder, sawzall, dremel, and air cut off tool. It just takes FOREVER and is loud, frustrating, messy. And the list goes on. It also seems like there's a "grain" to the metal or something. Some directions I cut will slice like butter, and others take forever and eat up my bits like crazy.

Is there a better way out there to do this that I'm over looking? Something like a metal jigsaw would be ideal, but I've yet to find one.

Do any inexpensive metal vertical band saws exist?

 

Considering the "size" of what your are cutting, it might be worth trying the eBay "chinese" plasma cutters as they are reported to be fairly dependable at cutting (quality cuts too) 3/8" metal. Here is one I'm talking about:

http://cgi.ebay.com/40A-Plasma...wItem

 

Dang, that's cheap man! Any horror stories floating around on those rigs?

Fred

 

The big cuttoff wheels for a 4" grinder work a little better than the smaller ones on most air cutoff tools. Unless you're already using one

But otherwise I think a plasma would be the cheapest/best option. If you have oxy/acetylene torches you could use that aswell, though it can get pretty messy.

 

If you can afford it, grab your self a mill even one of those mini mills and you in business real quick

 

Depending on how often you are using it, you might look into a CNC plasma machine. That would save you ALOT of time and cleanup.

 

Buy like 6" wide flat stock, and use a chop saw. Most mounting plates for anything are under 6" in one demension.