[Tim Hancock]

I have one of those 4 x 6 cheapo band saws that I bought at a garage sale for $20. It looks nearly identical to the one in the Home Depot link above. It works fine for little metal cutting projects and it tips 90 degrees up to work as a vertical band saw also. I make blades up using blade stock from work. If you use it for alot of cutting, it is well worth cobbing up a small coolant pump to it to make the blades last a bit longer. There are a couple websites around that detail many improvements/fixtures that can be added to these things to expand their usefulness.

I also have an abrasive disk chop saw that will cut things like tubing/pipe/angle iron, but it really makes a mess and gives off nasty fumes that will really stink up your shop.

The only way I know of to make long straight "finished" cuts in sheet metal at home is with a shear. (I have one, but it will only cut up to 16 ga steel... You will not find a heavier shear for home use. Only massive industrial shears are capable of cutting thicker materials)

At home I have used both a torch/straight edge and a thin disk wheel on die grinder. to make long cuts, but both require extra labor to clean the edge up nice and straight. We have a pretty decent machine and fab shop at work, but even there, we have no "good" way to cut the heavier material. We do have a manual held plasma torch, but even it will not do perfect "clean" cuts. We also have an "Iron Worker" which has a nice coping head on it that will cut up to 1/2 steel that I often use when making small brackets and such. It is too expensive to have for most home shops however.

I typically just order material from local steel suppliers "pre-cut" when I need large 14 ga or thicker pcs of steel. I just supply them with a drawing of the part and let them figure out whether they want to shear/laser/burn/water-jet cut the parts.