Annular Cutters & Search function

[Dunc]

Wondering the differences of an annular cutter vs a hole saw (bimetal)?
Given they both cut large diameter holes (I expect the annular cutter is faster but speed of operation is not required).
Any other pros/cons for each?

Aside: I tried to search (and advanced search) for annular cutters w/o success. Is there a problem with the search function?

[CalM]

a hole saw is an annular cutter, just made to "carpenter and plumber" requirements and applications.

[Tundra Twin Track]

Check out Accusize,they are in Canada if south of the border your dollar will help you out.I have annulars from 7/16" to 2-1/2" they work great and the holes are round.

[stefang]

Hole saws can be very annoying when trying to cut thicker material, they dont clear the chips - I like them for sheetmetal work or with a handheld drill.

Annular cutters on the other hand create continious chips , like a regular twist drill, that clear easy. My prefered way to make large holes on a mill/lathe.

[oxford]

Annular cutters will also give a very close size on the finished hole with a nice finish. I only trust a hole saw size/finish on something that is going to get bored to size or where close enough for "fab work" is acceptable.

Like mentioned above hole saws do have a problem with chip clearing and you don't have to get to very thick material to experience this problem. Annular cutters do like to make a big birds nest with its chips though.

[wierdscience]

If you want to use a hole saw on thicker stock,then provide the saw with some chip relief holes that intersect the cut and some either flood coolant or compressed air to help clear the cuttings.It goes fairly fast even in steel if you can clear the cuttings.I sed one last week to punch some 4" holes in a 1-1/4" thick plate in the mill.I use the saw to scribe a line and used a 1/2" drill to punch two relief holes 180* apart.It took about 3 minutes per hole to make the cut.I just had the cool mist jet turned up blasting down one relief hole to help clear the cuttings,the other handled itself.

Annular cutters are nice,but a bit pricey in larger sizes,a Starrett or Morse Bi-metal hole saw can be had for less than $30 in the 4" size.Making your own arbor also improves things greatly.Mine is just a piece of 2" cold rolled that I shouldered down to a 3/4 x 1-1/2" long shank.The business end has a stub machined to fit just inside the 5/8-18 arbor threads in the saw and two button head allen screws through the saw to handle the driving torque.

[softtail]

Re search search 'titles only'. All else is junk.

http://bbs.homeshopmachinist.net/sea...archid=2255454

Re hole saws, what are you cutting? Annulars are fine, but expensive, and overkill depending on application. You can split the difference by getting the correct high quality hole saws. I have found Starrett fine tooth constant pitch are best. If you have a quality arbor and dress the saws if needed (helps with final dia), they work very well on thinner stuff but will do through thicker if pressed.

[Mcgyver]

what Cal said. They can be pricey, often too pricey for the the odd hole in the home shop so we bore.....but if you handed a guy on the shop floor needing to make holes in beams a hole saw they'd split a gut laughing. Night and day. The annular cutters get used in a mag drill or the something solid like the mill. They clear chips and bore to size. Use like any other cutter, bit of coolant and run at (or less) than the correct speed. The correct name is an annular cutter, but most of my guys would call them rotobroach cutters. Basically they are a necessity on the shop floor but rarely used at home - at least in my world which is mostly due to cost.

Another advantage of the annual cutters is that they are readily resharpened.

[Tundra Twin Track]

Can also be used for internal boring,if size coincides with job.

[754]

How long did that take to set up ?
Too long to hang over the side? I guess your head wont rotate like a BP.

[JoeLee]

That's really stacking high.

JL...............

[Tundra Twin Track]

How long did that take to set up ?
Too long to hang over the side? I guess your head wont rotate like a BP.

It took a while to setup,had to machine a centering hub in lathe first.The head rotates right or left but does not tilt,but mill weighs 3 times what BP weighs.

[CalM]

Whoa! Looks like you may have some Abbe error to consider. ;-)

Looks like interesting work!

[754]

I had a 4 cylinder block on my BP type, mounted like Tundra did. Had to bore a hole in end of block, to sleeve a worn hole.
Bolted it down, squared it up, clamped it... Had the head turned 90 degrees, and now with table at highest, spindle could not line up to the work area, about 1/2 to an inch too high.

[CalM]

I had a 4 cylinder block on my BP type, mounted like Tundra did. Had to bore a hole in end of block, to sleeve a worn hole.
Bolted it down, squared it up, clamped it... Had the head turned 90 degrees, and now with table at highest, spindle could not line up to the work area, about 1/2 to an inch too high.

Spacer blocks under the work will fix that problem. ;-)