Hi All,
With the price of metal today (any metal) I want to be able to use every last piece of metal which I have.
Over the decades, one accumulates a lot of short pieces of bar which cannot be cut further in a regular cut off bandsaw without modifying it heavily as this is just not what any regular cut off saw is designed to do.
If the cutoff is of small diameter I can usually somehow hold it in the end of my bench vise jaws and use a hacksaw to cut off what I want but what about a large diameter bar?
If one has a metal cutting bandsaw, there is a solution to this problem. I don't suggest trying this with any of the small cheap offshore cut off saws used in the vertical position with the thin pressed steel tables simply because they are too flimsy.
See the attached photos for the setup used.
Some notes are in order. The bar needs to be somewhat parallel thickness wise to start with. The bar needs to be clamped firmly but not with excessive clamping force but not so loose such that the bandsaw teeth can grab and snatch the bar and begin to rotate it. For this reason, I use a bandsaw blade which is much finer (24-32 tpi) than normally would be used in a regular cutoff situation. Keep the bandsaw blade guides as close to the bar as possible.
Do not try and feed the bar by hand. The small non metallic hammer and wooden block shown are used to tap the clamped bar lightly against the saw blade. This puts pressure on the saw blade and it will start to cut. Let the blade relieve the pressure, then tap again. Repeat until the bar is cut through.
The process is slow but it will work perfectly if the above procedure is followed.
With the price of metal today (any metal) I want to be able to use every last piece of metal which I have.
Over the decades, one accumulates a lot of short pieces of bar which cannot be cut further in a regular cut off bandsaw without modifying it heavily as this is just not what any regular cut off saw is designed to do.
If the cutoff is of small diameter I can usually somehow hold it in the end of my bench vise jaws and use a hacksaw to cut off what I want but what about a large diameter bar?
If one has a metal cutting bandsaw, there is a solution to this problem. I don't suggest trying this with any of the small cheap offshore cut off saws used in the vertical position with the thin pressed steel tables simply because they are too flimsy.
See the attached photos for the setup used.
Some notes are in order. The bar needs to be somewhat parallel thickness wise to start with. The bar needs to be clamped firmly but not with excessive clamping force but not so loose such that the bandsaw teeth can grab and snatch the bar and begin to rotate it. For this reason, I use a bandsaw blade which is much finer (24-32 tpi) than normally would be used in a regular cutoff situation. Keep the bandsaw blade guides as close to the bar as possible.
Do not try and feed the bar by hand. The small non metallic hammer and wooden block shown are used to tap the clamped bar lightly against the saw blade. This puts pressure on the saw blade and it will start to cut. Let the blade relieve the pressure, then tap again. Repeat until the bar is cut through.
The process is slow but it will work perfectly if the above procedure is followed.
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