Okay, since this post was revived I will conclude it with my decision. I did not put on a metal cutting blade. I improved my portaband table to be more secure, though it it quite limited in what it can do. I decided to turn to benchtop table saw into a disk sander, at least until I can get my hands on a good disk/belt sander unit for a super cheap price. Cut the carbide teeth off an old 10" blade, ground smooth, made sure it was true round, backed with a smaller blade to stiffen, stuck on an adhesive sanding disk, and voila', it works.
Ironic.
My worst woodworking injury was sanding my fingertips off when I was rushing something.
That was on a belt sander, but I presume a disc sander would work almost as well.
I also lost some hair that got yanked right out while using a spindle sander. At least that happened so quick I didn’t even feel it.
Never wear loose clothing around a sander. Or have long loose hair around one.
As to the other safety issues raised concerning table saws.
While plenty of people get hand injuries and the occasional face injury(usually eye injuries) I don’t hear much about table saw death injuries.(they can happen, usually from bad kickback into the abdomen)
Years ago someone posted a link to some Russian website that had pictures of angle grinder injuries.
A number of the injuries were dead people on stainless table tops, killed by grinding wheels that had broken.
There were grinding wheel parts sticking out of peoples chests, and heads.
There were also pictures of broken grinding wheels sticking out of peoples legs, and people missing sections of their hands.
Wire wheels used on grinders can also easily grab clothing and **** it in, along with flesh(there have been threads on GJ about members having this happen)
Basically, angle grinders whether large or small can easily cause severe injury, and most people don’t even think about it.
( I mention this since you were discussing cutting metal)
As far as bandsaw go, while bandsaws can be relatively safe, plenty of people get injured using the saws.
The user accidentally pushing their finger into the blade is the normal method, resulting in either a crosscut or rip cut of their finger/s.
The other safety issue is leaving the blade guard to high, and running your arm or hand into the blade,
Or trying to cut something that isn’t flat against the bandsaw table and having the piece flip, pulling you hands into the blade.(Sam Maloof, a well known chairmaker has said he is used to cutting wood like this, has gotten injured, It’s definitely not safe, but it was what he was used to so he continued).
All the above are for vertical bandsaws.
As far as cutting sheet metal with a tablesaw.
it really depends on what material you are cutting, whether you are using the right blade, and doing so within the recommended speed range for the blade, and how you are doing the cut, whether the saw is safe.
Bridge City Toolworks, back when it was owned by the founder, used to cut the brass stock for measuring square blades on a tablesaw, with a blade made for cutting brass.( or maybe just general “metal”) This was mentioned decades ago in some article in Fine Woodworking.
maybe the guy used dome type of setup like a cutting sled to make things safer, but I don’t recall.
If using a sled on a tablesaw is an option due the size of the piece you are going to cut, it would make things significantly safer.
Using a sled would be a must for smaller pieces of metal.
Lastly, one safety issue most people don’t think about is with the metal stock that is being cut.
Metal that is cut can have a sharp burr edge that can be very sharp, and easily lacerate a person when handling both the offcut and the main piece.
Long pieces of metal stock can be dangerous if cut at an angle, since the resulting offcut and main pieces can be very sharp, and easily impale a person if you accidentally walk int the piece, or the offcut falls unfortunately. ( I know people this has happened to).
Offcuts can also fall on feet, which is one of the reasons for steel toe boots, and Metatarsal guards on some safety boots.
