Holding for sawing

[DustyParticipant @dusty]

[DustyParticipant @dusty]

I have a 1 1/2″ length of 4″ dia B.M.S. I need to cut a 3/4″ slice from this. My bandsaw will not hold it as the length is to short. My power of lateral thinking seems to have deserted me, short of going to the gym for 6 months to build my muscles up and then hacksawing it (which is not going to happen) I have no ideas. The option is turning the blank to thickness but that would be a waste of a large piece of metal. Ideas guys?

[David Clark 13Participant @davidclark13]

Hi There

Does it have a hole in it?

Can you put an angle plate into the vice and clamp it to that?

Yes, you may not be able to cut all the wat through but you should be able to get a fair way through it.

Can you part it off part way through?

The alternative is to make a clamping plate and mount that in the vice with the disk clamped down on it.

regards David

 

 

[DustyParticipant @dusty]

Thanks David

              Why are things blindingly obvious when someone points them out. I think that sometimes we get to close to the job in hand, it’s like when you put something down on the bench and you go to pick it up two minutes later  it has disapeared, you spend ages looking for it someone else comes along you tell them what you have ‘lost’ and they find it straight away, exactly where you had left it on the bench.

[Ian S CParticipant @iansc]

The way I do it is to take two pieces of steel plate say 3 X 6″ x 1/2″, and a 4″ spacer. Open the vice and place the two bits of plate against the jaws nearly touching the blade, at the end away from the blade put the spacer, put the work under the blade, and if you’v got the machine cutting square you should be OK, unless like me the cut closes up when you’r over half way through, and I had to turn the whole lot over, and with another blade cut in from the other side. Ian S C

[TendorParticipant @tendor]

I clamp the disc in a milling machine vice (it has nice square sides) which in turn is clamped transverse into the bandsaw vice.  Once the cut is half way or so, place a small wedge in the kerf to stop the clamping load closing it.  You can’t go all the way through but I’ve done about 80% this way.  Since the job is constrained by friction only, it is wise to rig up some sort of rigid stop to take the cutting load.

Edited By Rodney Entwistle on 12/10/2010 05:27:14

[John OlsenParticipant @johnolsen79199]

I’ve done jobs where the only way I could hold the piece was with a G clamp on the outside. This requires a piece of plate underneath to allow the G clamp somewhere to work against.This is of course for rectangular stock, not round

 

I’ve used Ian’s trick too, a milling jack is a handy adjustable spacer sometimes. The nice thing about a bandsaw is the cutting force is low, so it does not take too much to hold the job.

 

regards

john

[Ian S CParticipant @iansc]

Other good spacers are the stepped blocks from the mill clamping set, alsothe clamping studs with the long joining nuts for adjustment. The other way is to take one of the peices of plate and  near the end of it drill and tap (8 or 10mm or something handy)put in a long bolt with the head so that it bears on the other plate. Ian S C

[DustyParticipant @dusty]

Many thanks guys

           Job done, I used David’s idea. I was able to put a 8mm blind tapped hole in the spare bit and then clamp that to the angle plate. I will stick all the other ideas into the back of my head for future reference,allways relying on my memory not having another senior moment.

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