The answer was - angle grinders!

I needed to make a copy of this brake part. The 100 year old original was probably made by a blacksmith, but I don't have a forge handy. I carved this out of 50mm steel rod. I cut the slot with a metal bandsaw and did the other end on a lathe. But how to cut the sides down? That would be difficult on a milling machine. So, out with a rather large angle grinder! I finished it off with a flap sanding disk in a small angle grinder.

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still need to drill a 5/8" hole when I can find the drill.

Reply to
Matty F
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Very impressive result.

Today's Technology students would not even be able to drill the 5/8" hole. If the Armageddon ever does occur they will have many problems.

Reply to
PJ

I usually don't have the tools I want so have to invent solutions. Here's how I used the cutoff bandsaw to cut the slot. I used a drill press vice to hold the rod at a suitable angle:

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after cutting the slot:
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view of the almost completed part. Unfortunately it will be painted black and almost nobody will ever see it!
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Reply to
Matty F

In article , Matty F writes

you stop the blade from wandering on successive cuts?

Reply to
fred

Originally I just made two cuts for the slot, then drilled a hole near the bottom of the slot. I tried to file the end of the slot, but this steel was very hard and the files would scarcely touch it. So I made about 8 cuts with the bandsaw and managed to file the bottom after some time. The bandsaw didn't wander at all. I took it very slowly and used cutting fluid.

Reply to
Matty F

Hmm , could have done with a saw like that the other day - I had to cut a chunk off a 2" diameter bar of steel before turning it. Just as well I had some other tasks in hand and could multitask between sawing for 5 minutes and doing another wee job.

Rob

Reply to
Rob G

We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold. I remember Matty F saying something like:

Reply to
Grimly Curmudgeon

Thanks, I thought of the hole bit just after posting but the flat bottom to the slot had me.

Reply to
fred

Indeed - well done!

Reply to
Steve Walker

Thanks. I've just discovered flap disks. I get the really cheap ones and use them for wood and metal.

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Reply to
Matty F

should have used a diamond tile saw ;-)

Reply to
The Natural Philosopher

Pansy! When I wasa first year app', if the instructor caught us using a m/c tool without goggles he would make us hacksaw through a 3" diameter steel bar. When I was 16 I was about

5 stone wringin wet.

But I sure do miss the smell of a machine shop.

Arthur

Reply to
Arthur 51

I think that bandsaw would cut anything up to about 2 feet by 1 foot in cross section. It seems the steel I used was 4140 Chromium-molybdenum steel, just because there was some lying around, and no mild steel of the right size. It was very slow to file it or cut with a hand hacksaw, but the power bandsaw cut it OK. Now I'd like to buy or make some kind of swivel vise for the bandsaw. Something like what's on a camera tripod, so I can make other things out of steel using the bandsaw.

Reply to
Matty F

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