Cutting galvanised steel tube

[Guy King]

The message from Andy Hall contains these words:

I can do a 30x30x5 angle in about 30 seconds.

[Dave Fawthrop]

|Andy Hall wrote: |> I have a need to cut quite a number of lengths of galvanised steel tube |> (about 30) |> |> 25mm ID, 33.7mm OD e.g.

|> |> A hacksaw is going to become boring for doing this quite quickly I think so I |> am looking for a faster alternative. |> |> Is this angle grinder territory? If so, can anybody suggest a suitable |> cutting wheel? |> |> Otherwise, is a more substantial saw like a cutoff saw required? |> |> |> |> |> |angle grinder with steel cutting wheel will waltz through those. Not the |tidiest cut though.

I tend to use Angle Grinders for rough hacking work on metal. Dressing the flash off the tube might well take as long as hack sawing would have done in the first place, depending on how neat/accurate a result you need.

[Andrew Mawson]

suitable

Andy,

If you are in traveling distance of Bromley you are welcome to use my power hacksaw - it would eat the job.

AWEM

[Ed Sirett]

Yes. It transforms a cheap angle grinder into a useful tool. The blades don't last for ever but they do last for a very long time. More usefully they don't wear down smaller like abrasive cut-off discs, which results in making the disc too small (in diameter) to work. Also they make a magnitude less sparks and much less debris.

I also use a power hacksaw (Bosch £100 job) which takes a variety of blades [1] including ones intended to cut steel. The trick is to keep the tool firmly against the pipe no matter what, and the blade lubricated.

[1] Wood, Ally, Green Wood,

[Andy Hall]

On Sun, 16 Jul 2006 08:06:16 +0100, Andrew Mawson wrote (in article ):

Thank you kind sir. Unfortunately I'm on the opposite side of London... :-(

[Andy Hall]

On Sun, 16 Jul 2006 08:12:59 +0100, Ed Sirett wrote (in article ):

Ah. That sounds interesting. Do you have a model number, Ed?

I have a Bosch reciprocating saw but guess that isn't the same thing?

[Cicero]

================================== Hire one of these from your local hire shop:

might pick one up cheaply on Ebay.

Cic.

[Andy Hall]

On Sun, 16 Jul 2006 08:29:12 +0100, Cicero wrote (in article ):

Ah. I didn't know these things existed (at least not at that size) . I've seen pipe vices in use when threading, but not this.

HSS have the cutters for £8 a day and the vice for £12.

Thanks for that, Cic. Presumably all I then need is some brute force and ignorance.

[Cicero]

============================== Not much effort needed because these are the right tools for the job. Don't force the job - make small adjustments to the cutter to get a clean cut. You'll probably still need your angle grinder to adjust the final fitting angles.

Cic.

[Ed Sirett]

It's a PFZ 500E, probably what you have? You may break some blades but it will be a lot quicker than using a hacksaw and neater and cleaner than an angle grinder. Also you can use the angle grinder to deburr the cut edge.

I have used it mostly for cutting up steel water tanks including their steel connecting pipes. Most of the problem I have are due to awkward positions it has to work in, cutting up stock would be easier.

[The Natural Philosopher]

Hire a BIG angle grinder for a day. £17 last time I did.

[The Natural Philosopher]

[Andy Hall]

On Sun, 16 Jul 2006 10:23:50 +0100, Ed Sirett wrote (in article ):

Ah yes, I know. I have a smaller, earlier model made by Bosch Scintilla. I've used this one for cutting dust extraction metal duct, but that is quite thin. I can try it on steel tube and see what happens, I guess.

[John Rumm]

It also depends on the type of disc in use. With an abrasive you will soon get the stage of needing to rotate the work even if you don't at the start, so as to get full usage from the disc. This would not of course be an issue with a diamond disc.

I find I get very extensive use from my 230mm grinder[1]... just used it to romp through a thousand or so cuts in block paviours, but in the past it has done stirling service on patio slabs, roof tiles, engineering bricks, and rolls of chicken wire.

[1] 2kW Hitachi which I am very pleased with - cost about £80 from a local tool suppliers and came with free decent diamond disc (which only got replaced last week after several years of use). Only thing my one lacks that I would look for on a replacement is soft start - the current one gives one hell of a kick when it spins up!

I would expect the stand for the grinder to be a little more versatile, could be quite handy for chopping smaller tiles and paving blocks as well. (in fact thinking about it, I wish I had bought one about a week ago!)

Hacksaw blade in a jigsaw may just about hack it... a big one in a reciprocating saw should also do it well enough. (I chopped off the end of a 8mm thick 200mm high flitch plate with the reciprocating saw - took a while but did it without any hassle).

[John Rumm]

To be fair they probably can't quite! ;-)

abrasives are abrasive all the way to the hub, diamond discs usually only have a cutting edge that is at most 1cm deep and once that is worn away you are black to a plain steel disc.

[nightjar]

I prefer a bandsaw cut-off machine, which looks much the same except that it cuts continuously, whereas the power hacksaw spend half its time on the back stroke, so it cuts much faster.

Colin Bignell

[Guy King]

The message from John Rumm contains these words:

Though my current 330mm chopsaw blade has gone through 20 slices of 50 x

3 square box, dozens of bits of 50x5 flat and 50x50x3 and x5 angle and is still not fully through.

[John Rumm]

Is that an abrasive or a diamond disc?

[Pete C]

See if you can hire a cutoff saw/chop saw locally for a reasonable amount.

Or if you have a decent bench vice or another good way to clamp the tube hire a 9" grinder or buy a cheap one. The advantage of a grinder is trimming/cutting in situ if required.

Normal metal cutting discs will work fine, though the thin 'inox'/stainless ones create less heat if that's a problem.

The thin ones do need a bit of care, especially not letting the disc getting 'pinched' towards the end of the cut. I'd stay out of the 'cutting plane' too...

I'd expect even the best hacksaw blade would be hard work until you break through the tube at the start of the cut.

cheers, Pete.

[Guy King]

The message from John Rumm contains these words:

Abrasive.