Cutting up bits of metal

[Bo’sunParticipant @bosun58570]

Thanks ega, that's not a bad idea, but I don't have a welder. If I do need to do anything, some bolted on cross braces should do the trick.

[colin hawesParticipant @colinhawes85982]

I use a Warco 6×4.5" bandsaw for mild steel and soft metals, an angle grinder to cut tool and high tensile steels (to save the bandsaw blade) and a horizontal mill to cut steel plate that won't fit in the bandsaw. Colin

[Michael Brett 1Participant @michaelbrett1]

I have a standard 12 inch hacksaw driven by a 12 volt windscreen wiper motor. Been using it for over 5 years to cut all my large pieces of stock metal . Has a fast stroke, much faster than I could saw. Some of the thicker pieces can take up to half an hour to cut, but I do not have to be present as it has automatic stop when the job is done.

Mike

[Anonymous]

Posted by Steve355 on 13/11/2021 23:36:07:

I’m definitely interested in the idea of a horizontal mill………………

I'm all for horizontal mills. They're obsolete in industry but still useful in the home workshop. Mine was an impulse buy, albeit cheap at £175 plus £200 delivery. It has turned out to be more than useful. I use a lot of hot rolled steel on my engines and the horizontal mill is great for slicing up longways with a slitting saw. Once one has one it can be used in lots of applications:

Spur gear cutting:

Helical gears:

Horizontal borer:

Flycutting:

Compared to a vertical mill they can shift metal:

My horizontal knocks my Bridgeport into a cocked hat in terms of metal removal and rigidity.

Andrew

[Steve355Participant @steve355]

Posted by Andrew Johnston on 14/11/2021 19:17:33:

Posted by Steve355 on 13/11/2021 23:36:07:

I’m definitely interested in the idea of a horizontal mill………………

I'm all for horizontal mills. They're obsolete in industry but still useful in the home workshop. Mine was an impulse buy, albeit cheap at £175 plus £200 delivery. It has turned out to be more than useful. I use a lot of hot rolled steel on my engines and the horizontal mill is great for slicing up longways with a slitting saw. Once one has one it can be used in lots of applications:

Spur gear cutting:

Helical gears:

Horizontal borer:

Flycutting:

Compared to a vertical mill they can shift metal:

My horizontal knocks my Bridgeport into a cocked hat in terms of metal removal and rigidity.

Andrew

Oh no, I wish you hadn’t posted that. Can you do surface grinding with them too?

Is there a relatively small one that’s any good?

[BrevaParticipant @breva]

Gary Wooding, a very neat solution to a common problem with the 6 x4.5.!

Now if you could add a fence!

Thanks

John

[Anonymous]

Posted by Steve355 on 14/11/2021 20:08:09:

Oh no, I wish you hadn’t posted that. Can you do surface grinding with them too?

Is there a relatively small one that’s any good?

Not really suitable for surface grinding. The top speed on my horizontal is 1200rpm and highest feedrate is 450mm/min, both of which are too slow for surface grinding. Plus I've got a Brown and Sharpe surface grinder.

I don't think there are any new far eastern hobby size horizontal mills; presumably as the market is too small. So you'd be limited to secondhand. In the UK Centec and Tom Senior seem to be popular. I have no practical experience of them, so I'll let others comment good or bad. i would be wary of smaller US secondhand models as some of them use proprietary tapers which are expensive at best and often non-existant.

Andrew

[Simon Williams 3Participant @simonwilliams3]

Centec owner here!

I've had two of them, an Automill Mk1 converted to manual X direction feed and now an Automill Mk2 which has presently still got its original hydraulic feed and is in the throes of being converted.

I reckon the Automill is much more interesting than (say) a series 2 or 2a, it's more heavily built and – presumably because of the hydraulic to screw feed conversion necessary – a whole lot cheaper to buy.

Centec Automill on Lathes.co.uk

Tom Senior made a nice machine or two, but the price they attract is according.

Have a look at the little Harrison horizontal mill

Harrison Horizontal Mill on Lathes.co.uk

HTH Simon

edit : I wouldn't chance my arm going grinding on any of these machines, although the top speed on my Centec is 3000 rpm it's far too vulnerable to getting grinding dust in the dovetails which would wreck it.  Andrew's comments about the feed rate are also relevant.

 

Edited By Simon Williams 3 on 15/11/2021 22:47:57

[File HandleParticipant @filehandle]

Michael, I like your idea of using a wiper motor to drive a 12" hacksaw. Have you a photo of your setup.

[Nick WheelerParticipant @nickwheeler]

Here's mine, based on articles in MEW some years ago:

That's the motor and linkage from an MGF( which comes complete with Rose joints), and the base out of my scrap bin. It's not fast, but that time can be spent doing other things

[Steve355Participant @steve355]

Posted by Nicholas Wheeler 1 on 16/11/2021 09:34:22:

Here's mine, based on articles in MEW some years ago:

That's the motor and linkage from an MGF( which comes complete with Rose joints), and the base out of my scrap bin. It's not fast, but that time can be spent doing other things

Awesome.

[Nigel McBurney 1Participant @nigelmcburney1]

Most of my cutting is done with a Manchester Rapidor, fitted with 1/2 hp single phase motor,and integral coolant pump, the 6 inch saw will just take 61/2 ins diameter. blades are quite expensive,and the supply of blades at autojumbles has all but disapeared,I used to buy 17 inch blades which were cheap as no one wanted them and cut them down to 14 inches and drill a new hole . I have bench shear which gets only occasional use,my industrial bansaw will cut through anything,eg mild steel up to six inches.though do not cut steel plate off cuts which have been,initially cut with plasma or flame any hard particles ruin the blade in seconds, start a cut with an angle grinder.I now use An angle grinder with a 1 mm cutting disc more often nowadays, though do it out in the open,I do not do any grinding in my workshop,grit will destroy any tools. the thin disc can also be used to cut HSS tool bits too length ,and then again used to rough out the cutting rake and clearance angles of lathe tools.The cordless angle grinder is very useful,I have a de Walt which takes a 5 inch 1mm disc,that extra 1/2 inch can be very useful at times plus no cable to get in the way ,and useful around my out buildings where getting a very long extension cable out for a few second job can be annoying,A good jig saw with metal cutting blades is useful. Now getting to Andrews Adcock and shipley mill,I had one of these and they are very good,whenwas training in ancient times one job was cutting up brass bar about 21/2 by 3/8 into four inch lengths in batches of 200 on a victoria horizontal the cut finish was good enough not to require further finishing so there was little waste of expensive brass, the only issue with cutting up long lengths is that the bar has to clear the arbour support bearing ,so a large saw is required. Small plain horizontal mills come a lot cheaper than the vertical ones,though the lowest speed must be considered,is it slow enough to drive the largest slitting saws,remember a 4 inch saw on mild steel should run at 100 rpm ,on stainless a lot slower. My 00 elliot omnimill suffers from this problem lowest speed is 100 rpm so it would ruin a 6 inch saw on steel,as slitting saw must not be run too fast or it will soon wear out. I got over this problem by driving the horizontal spindle via a couple of long v belts from the vertical spindle motor which has electron ic speed control, it takes a bit of swinging the head around ,it works and candrive the horizontal spindle down to 10 rpm. As others have said ,if a horizontal mill is purchased make sure it has an arbour that fits , a set of collars, and the bearing sleeve that fits the overarm support, most arbours are one inch dia.all mill with an30 or 40 int tapper is best,3 mt arbours can be difficult to find,theres lot of 40 int tooling around. so thats it get cutting.

[Michael Brett 1Participant @michaelbrett1]

Keith

Will post some pictures tomorrow as its in shed at present.

Mike

[Michael Brett 1Participant @michaelbrett1]

This is my powered hacksaw, not the best looking machine I have made but it does the job. Needs about 5 amp @ 12 volt which I get from my 30 amp power supply. When I first tried it it tended to jam, especially on aluminium , I soon discovered that it works much better with the blade reversed , cutting on the backward stroke. It has never jammed since but it does benefit from a little lubrication when cutting softer material.

Mike

[Howard LewisParticipant @howardlewis46836]

When I first wanted to make a reciprocating saw, it was o0ff putting thatb the kit catered form 10" blades, which, by that time, were getting scarce.

To use a normal hacksaw frame is splendid idea!

Years ago; WHY didn't I think of doing that?

Howard

[File HandleParticipant @filehandle]

Thanks Michael.

[ChrisHParticipant @chrish]

+1 again for a small bandsaw.

My shed, being very small and of limited available space, determined that I bought a very small version of a 6×4, not on a stand on wheels, and reasonably lightweight, so I could easily lift it. Lives under the end of the bench and comes out to play only when needed so doesn't take up valuable shed space.

Axminster were doing them at the time, not the cheapest available from then but good quality, then it was discontinued and now the rough equivalent has been re-introduced but at a much greater cost. Nothing new there then!

However, I find it's worth it's weight in gold, a very valued tool, how I lived without it I don't know sort of thought comes to mind, especially so as I hate hacksawing, absolutely hate it, and cannot cut as straight and true and so effortlessly as my bandsaw. Would not be without it now even if it does unfortunatly not get used as much as I would like due to shed-time constraints. Just my tuppence worth.

Chris

[not done it yetParticipant @notdoneityet]

I just consider the job and choose a suitable solution.

Round bar – hacksaw, bandsaw, or lathe. Rather depends on length, number and diameter.

Bar – hacksaw, bandsaw, mill (usually horizontal but sometimes with the vertical head).

Sheet – hacksaw, nibbler, bandsaw (I’ve made a bracket and table, which is secured in the vise, for vertical operation), tin snips, even heavy duty scissors for thin aluminium and shim material.

Other alternatives are the angle grinders with cutting discs (an outside of workshop option, either freehand or with a stand for the 115mm grinder) or the metal shears. Unfortunately the metal shear is rarely used as the holes in the floor, for fixing it down) are always full of dross, it takes time to set it up and is best used for short cuts for multiple pieces.

Accuracy is rarely a requirement as parts can generally be cleaned up accurately in the lathe or on the mill on the belt sander.

I may well just buy in a plasma cutter if a suitable opportunity arises in the future – but free-hand, not a computerised table jobbie. I don’t really do enough to justify one but it can always be passed on eventually.

If I need a ‘hot spanner’ job, I can take the item to a friend’s workshop and cut it there.

I suppose the bandsaw gets most use, for cutting medium sized objects, these days.

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