Does anyone have a suggestion what a one handed wheelchair bound gal could use. My bandsaw tends to walk too much. A jig saw perhaps?
Um. A jigsaw is usually hand-held. You’d need a good jig to hold it steady, or it’ll be worse than the bandsaw. Maybe design some jigs for the bandsaw to keep it steady?
I’ve seen table top jig saws.
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Other than saws, here’s a quick search of hand held metal cutting tools including nibblers (slow but gets there and can do curves an small holes), electric shears. I’m assuming you’ll just be doing relatively thin sheet metal: alum could be thicker than mild steel and that thicker than stainless - each is harder than the other. Amazon.com : electric nibbler
I would avoid the ones that attach to drills as these become bulky and cumbersome for one-handed use.
I’m sure other members can point to other types, such as Dremel types, etc. But these are ones I’m familiar with and have used.
A scroll saw gives a lot of control over the cutting direction. Handles similarly to a bandsaw in that the saw has a base and you move the wood through the blade while the saw sits still/stable.
With a jigsaw you’re moving the saw through the wood, and the wood would need to be clamped in place.
A scroll saw would work for thinner wood like plywood - not so well for over, say 1/2” or so. Throat size is also an issue.
Here is a post from the Fine Woodworking Forums.
“Roy, I’m a wheelchair user that has a complete woodshop. I use a contractors table saw because they are easy to lower. Get or make some good push sticks to use. I have built lower stands for my 8” jointer , bandsaw, radial arm saw. I modified the legs on my workbench to lower it. I don’t like the idea of going up and down a ramp to get to a machine tool. It’s difficult enough moving a long piece of wood to a machine without having to go up and down a ramp. I use saw horses and a guide system with a skil saw to cut sheets of plywood down to size. For really large pieces of wood I can’t move by myself I can always get my wife or a friend to help. Most anything can be done from a wheelchair, just keep experminting until you find out what works best for your friend."
For the pieces I was cutting for you I think maybe a radial arm or miter saw would work for you. They have both metal and wood saw blades. You could put it on a lower surface for access. It would also be nice because you can clamp wood to it so you would not have to hold it with both hands. You can buy extra clamps so you could clamp the wood on both sides of the blade. The one below can make fourteen inch cuts. You would need to use larger pieces of wood than the small pieces you gave me to cut. They probably would not work.
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What do folks think about this one?
https://www.harborfreight.com/4-in-mighty-mite-table-saw-with-blade-61608.html