Morning Tim,
Thanks for your earlier reply.
I have both of these items, equally great for different reasons and have been using them for twenty years.
The cut off saw is not great for some metals however it makes a doddle of steel up to larger sizes and is particularly good for square tube cutting and contrary to comments cuts square as and accurate with care, it does not require much storage space (small footprint). I used mine for steel angle and tube steel, also constructed a vast car port using 6 inch round 30 feet long 3/8 inch wall thickness only a few years ago and made the cuts with the drop off saw also the thick U Section Galvanised Steel. In fact dozens of different situations.
To cleanly, efficiently cut up Aluminium, Bronze, Brass, Steel, Plastics the bandsaw (also suggest the bi metal blades) it this machine also has a small footprint, it has a device that switches off the unit when the cut is finished and allows you to multi task. Both incredible workhorses, cheap as chips and even at my advancing age will be amongst the last to go from my workshop.
Using these I rebuilt inside a 20 ft shipping container for smalls storage, weighed 1.6 tons empty and the carrier dropped it off in a hurry twelve feet from where I wanted and left so I shifted it into place myself with a 9 ft length of 2 inch steam pipe and a one foot square block of wood, me and Archimedes are good friends and I am very determined. When it was time to put the container on blocks of concrete I levered up each corner and SWMBO adjusted the blocks in place. I cut three inch angle iron and welded brackets to the walls and put shelving of top sheets from kitchen manufacturers of 1 1/4 inch laminate sheets.
The laminate sheets were 12 feet by 8 feet and were free, brought them home two at a time on my 6x4 feet box trailer hanging out all round from the dealer 14 miles away. When I finished the Container I cut steel and built a shed the 20 ft length and the same size off the container and welded the frame. Numerous sheds etc love those two tools. I put the sheets of laminate on the trailer by myself by sliding and shifting carefully the firm used to put them in stacks outside. Alas those days are gone ie free top sheets etc. Anyway what I wanted to convey was the two tools can be invaluable for a whole host of reasons over a long period of time, worked for me. I remember how cross I was when the steel firm delivered the heavy, long pipes they dropped them in the street in front of my neighbors so I made two flats with four swivel wheels on each and lifted one end at a time and tied the pipe on the flats each end and wheeled them into my place and cut them with the drop saw in two cuts each time turning the pipe to get the depth of cut needed. I ran out of puff standing up the pipe posts, set down four feet in the ground in concrete got help for that.
With the bandsaw I made a handle on the end from the wheels it is very mobile and parks easily.
Take care.
Kind regards Peter.