puny torch rigs

By TimGary (****)

Date 06-06-2003 15:47

If you conserve your gas, you'j probably get about 3 hours cutting time on the oxy and around 8 hours on the acet.
However, Oxy fuel wiil not cut stainless.
If your in a bind, you can use it to melt apart the stainless, but it's very nasty.
I have heard that some people cut stainless with oxy fuel by sandwiching a thin piece of carbon on top, which aids in the cutting process. I have not tried this, but I would assume that this would cause carbide precipitation, thus making the stainless rust in the affected area.
Tim

By G.S.Crisi (****)

Date 06-06-2003 17:09

You can cut stainless with a plasma torch. If you can't afford to buy a plasma torch, then the good old hacksaw will be OK for the angle. As for the sheet, 20 ga. and over is a very small thickness; the good old steel sheet seasor should do the job.
Giovanni S. Crisi
Sao Paulo - Brazil

By GRoberts (***)

Date 06-06-2003 18:44

If that is all you are cutting, it is usually easier to just grab your sawsall, or a grinder with a cuttoff wheel, and then less cleanup afterwards also. Brazing, of course requires the torch, but brazing doesn't use up nearly as much oxygen, so it should last longer.

By welder_guy2001 (***)

Date 06-07-2003 03:17

a grinder w/ a cut-off wheel is cheaper and makes a cleaner cut than a torch on thin steel. and a cut-off wheel will cut stainless.

By bzzzzzzzzzz (**)

Date 06-07-2003 12:51

bought some at lowes last nite. Worked well except the 4" wheel makes it tough to cut anything with much width. Maybe get a bigger grinder for cutting and keep the 4" strictly for prepping welds?

By welder_guy2001 (***)

Date 06-08-2003 04:23

the thicker the grinder wheel, the slower it'll cut. for sheetmetal 16 ga. and thinner i like a 1/16" thick 4 1/2" dia. wheel. for anything thicker a 1/8" thick 4 1/2" dia. wheel is great. you can cut w/ a 1/4" thick wheel, but it'll take twice as long.

By billvanderhoof (****)

Date 06-08-2003 05:12

An abrasive wheel in a skilsaw works ok (probably some OSHA reason for not doing that although it's surely safer than using an angle grinder). Abrasive wheel in a chop saw is good too. Don't forget those safety glasses.
Bill

By bzzzzzzzzzz (**)

Date 06-08-2003 11:57

Safety glasses! That sucker's downright scary. I use full goggles and heavy clothes when cutting with it. Is a chopsaw much noisier than an angle grinder. I also wear ear protection, but am wondering just how noisy it is to the neighboors. Kinda hard to get a perfectly straight cut with the grinder, and 45's would be almost impossible. Chopsaws don't seem to be that ourageous in price either. I have a really nice circular saw for wood cutting and wanna keep it nice. Don't think an abrasive cutting blade would do it any good.

By 49DegreesNorth (**)

Date 06-08-2003 19:02

Hey, Bzzzz,

I had a few posts about this before. I did a little experiment with my Makita wood saw and an abrasive disc. I think you could do it for a while, but my saw has too many plastic parts which melt.

In this same vein, anyone used one of them carbide-bladed chopsaws? They're pricey, but some swear by them... clean cuts, no mess or sparks... Hey, wonder if the Makita would like one of those blades better...

Chris

By welder_guy2001 (***)

Date 06-08-2003 19:59

it's true...less mess, a bit faster, and the blades seem to last longer. also, if you've ever tried to just shave 1/16" off of a piece of steel w/ an abrasive blade, you know it doesn't cut square...w/ a carbide tooth blade it'll cut just like a wood blade when it comes to shaving a tiny bit off.

By dee

Date 06-12-2003 19:57

Bzzzz
The scarier it is the better the reason to use a full-face flip-up shield... and you might even appreciate the green shades they come in... over top of the glasses.

I've seen pictures of reconstructive surgery after injury from exploding wheels; this goes for any kind of grinder, hand-held or bench-top. We only have one skull.

regards,
d

By bzzzzzzzzzz (**)

Date 06-12-2003 20:22

I had thought of this and will get one of those. I like my eyes plenty, but am also quite fond of what they are set in. My wife claims my skull is "extra thick", but still I'll make habit of using one of these. Does the green you mentioned aid in seeing through the sparks?

By dee

Date 06-13-2003 22:00

Bzzz,
There are several shades of green, including "dark" green as well as "shade 5" which are easily and comfortably worn over (my) corrective lense safety glasses. They do help seeing through the sparks, although the darker shades often are too dark to see through without spark or flame, the handy flip-up feature makes a reasonable work-around.
They seem to be cooler than goggles, and I use them for my torch work in shade5. The salesman says they come in all kinds of shades, but I've only use clear, 5, and dark green.

As you're shopping try to decide which suspension style you prefer.Fibre-Metal makes at least three types of suspension frames for the shields. The difference is in the size of the hinge-up gadget that holds the actual replaceable safety shield lense- I think it's called the crown, I forget. I have several styles and think one is hotter to wear... naturally it's the one with the best protection.
I decided to get a different suspension for each shade of shield; it's worth the ten or so bucks for the convenience, and the different styles of crown make it easier to tell the dark green and shade5 from each other.

Regards,
d