# How do you cut solid 1" steel rod?



## SE18 (Feb 21, 2008)

I'm getting ready to turn some wheels and have successfully cut through the bar using.

1. Angle grinder with metal cutoff wheel

2. Sawzall

The process was tedious and very lengthy. I'm thinking of next trying my table saw metal cutoff wheel. I've used that before to cut sheet metal.

How do you all cut through very thick steel? Do you do any annealing first?


Thanks.

Dave V


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## hawkfanjohn (Nov 17, 2009)

I have access to a metal bandsaw with wet bath~ but cutting 1 inch thick metal bar is tedious no matter how you cut it!


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## SteveC (Jan 2, 2008)

Dave

I'm no machinist by any stretch, but barring that the length of your 1" bar stock prevents it, why wouldn't you just chuck up the working stock in the lathe. Do the roughing out of the wheel, then use the parting tool to cut the wheel free. Finally, using a mandrel finish up the flange, fillet, and tread taper.


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## SE18 (Feb 21, 2008)

Thanks 

I don't have a lathe. I've been using my drill press, held in a vice with a homemade mandrel and an angle grinder to taper wheels. I've been stacking 4-5, 1-1.5"fender washers (all same size) (see photo), attached to a mandral and using an angle grinder to form the taper. I got the idea from a 1940s Popular Mechanics article. The washers kind of fuse together but when you drop them, they tend to break apart. I have successfully epoxied them together, but now want to try my hand at single metal pieces.


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## RimfireJim (Mar 25, 2009)

1. Chopsaw - large diameter abrasive cutoff wheel in a benchtop-style tool that you can buy at Harbor Fright (sic) for something like $50-80. Will still take a while.

2. Horizontal metal cutting bandsaw - clamp the rod in the vise, turn on the saw, let it run until it turns itself off. Should be using coolant for cutting steel. More expensive, kind of big, not too practical to own if you aren't going to use it much. 


I personally wouldn't try it on _my_ tablesaw. Cutting steel abrasively produces a lot of gritty, conductive, rust-prone "dust" that I wouldn't want anywhere near my tablesaw. I _have_ cut aluminum on it with a carbide-tipped blade, but that is a whole different animal.


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## monsterhunter (May 25, 2008)

It's probably not what you want to hear, but I just use a good hacksaw blade and watch an episode or two of gunsmoke during the cut.  Look at it this way, it's good excersise.  You might also try to find a metal supplier or scrap yard to cut it for you for a small fee.
Dan


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## coyote97 (Apr 5, 2009)

there is a method that was used for ages:
buy a handsaw and give yourself MUCH time.....and a prayer with every single cut u do....

no, fun aside. if you dont want do become a monk while cutting pieces, u have to look for machinery.

Perhaps someone in the family or a friend in the near neighbourhood works in a metall company with a lathe or a mill (or simply a saw). They could cut of some pieces in just a few minutes.
But be aware that a car needs 8 wheels, so dont let anyone work for hours to supply a whole ore-train 

a metal-cutting wheel for the hone-works saw wont work.
Its too fast and not for more use than thin sheet. 

But that wheel looks fine for someone who has no machinery !?!?!

greetings

Frank


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## ralphbrades (Jan 3, 2008)

If all you are doing is making wheels -then there are a few tried and trusted methods that will do it.

I cut my wheels from plate -ie flat sheet 8mm thick and lop off the corners with an angle grinder before centring it up on a 8mm bolt.
Another method is to build a "fly cutter" that fixes to your drill press and cuts a flange and tread in one go -rather like a radial arm drill. You replace the HSS cutter at the end of the arm with a ground piece of T/C and braze that on. If it is just wagon wheels that you are making -you could use the same device to cut them from Polycarbonate sheet?


regards

ralph


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## aceinspp (Jan 2, 2008)

Good old hack saw with the right blade and your good to go. Cuts pretty easily. Later RJD


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## SE18 (Feb 21, 2008)

Thanks much for all your suggestions, which I'll try. I tried the hacksaw but as it gets deep in the steel it tends to bind. Maybe a different type of hacksaw?

I'm still reading Ralph's response and it may take some time to figure out what a fly cutter, HSS cutter and T/C are. 

I only use 4 wheels on most of my rolling stock, which is 7/8 scale. My wheels are slightly bigger than those used in the other smaller garden scales like 1:29 and 1:20.3, so custom making them to a certain style is important, as there are many styles like different kind of curly spoke, straight spoke, holes and so on. Sierra Valley does sell a couple of 7/8 styles which sell for around $10 an axle, a pretty good investment considering the work it takes to create them. I've made many from resin casting and a few with metal casting but want to try this approach as I like the weathering aspects of real steel, i.e. rust

Thanks everyone! 

Dave Vergun 

Here are some more wheel photos using fender washers. The first one I did no grinding on, simply adding different sized washers. The second photo is the same wheel as show above, where all fenders were of equal size and then ground to produce a smaller flange and taper.


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## Torby (Jan 2, 2008)

You want a quality blade. I bought 3 from the local industrial supply for $5 some years ago. Haven't worn out the first yet, thought I don't cut 1 inch steel bar.


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## SE18 (Feb 21, 2008)

Thanks, I guess I could give it a try, cutting the stock in a miter box, as binding could be minimized by beaver cutting it instead of cutting it all the way thru one way (beavers gnaw evenly around the tree). Without the miter, it's hard lining the cut all the way around.


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## ralphbrades (Jan 3, 2008)

David, 

After having consulted the English to American Dictionary -the device you are looking for is an adjustable hole cutter. 
viz: http://www.holesaws.com.cn/products...stable.htm 

HSS is High Speed Steel and T/C is Tungsten Carbide 

regards 

ralph


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## Torby (Jan 2, 2008)

Dad had one of those. In the hands of a 10-year-old it was frightening







I didn't at all expect it would do THAT.


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## RimfireJim (Mar 25, 2009)

Posted By SE18 on 15 Dec 2009 05:26 AM 
Thanks much for all your suggestions, which I'll try. I tried the hacksaw but as it gets deep in the steel it tends to bind. Maybe a different type of hacksaw?



A different blade, more likely - you want to inversely match the number of teeth per inch of the blade to the amount of material it is engaging. Thin-wall tubing would call for the finest pitch blade you can find, 1" round bar stock calls for a much coarser pitch blade. The coarse pitch cuts faster and doesn't clog up in the cut. Look for a blade with 18 tpi or fewer. Just don't forget to change it if you switch to cutting something with thin walls!


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## SteveC (Jan 2, 2008)

I know this may sound silly, but don't put the blade in backwards, it cuts on the forward travel.


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## armorsmith (Jun 1, 2008)

SE18, 

Your first thought will yield the quickest, easiest process for cutting that size bar stock. You can purchase .060 abrasive cut off wheels that will fit a standard angle grinder at both the Blue and the Orange box stores. Most of them are about 6" is diameter. I had to remove the guard from my 4 1/2" angle grinder to use it, so do be careful if you do the same. I have since purchased a tool just for that purpose. They are also quite messy, I do all my cutting of that nature outside. Wear an old pair of jeans you really don't care about, the grinder discharge will wear away the pants leg material wherever it hits it (the dust is both abrasive, still...and hot). WEAR SAFETY GLASSES / GOGGLES!!! 

I also use this method for cutting any sheet metal I plan to use in my model construction. It eliminates the need to try to straighten out the metal after cutting with aviation snips. 

Bob C.


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## SE18 (Feb 21, 2008)

thanks much for your suggestions!


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## hawkeye2 (Jan 6, 2008)

You can purchase cutoff wheels for 4 1/2" grinders. Using a larger diameter wheel is very hard on a 4 1/2" grinder. They burn up easily, trust me I was a shop foreman in a structural steel fabrication shop for years and even the best ot the small grinders had a short life. The important thing is not to drag the RPM down too much while cutting/grinding and NEVER put a cup (wire) brush on one. Harbor Freight sells a bench Top Cut-Off Saw (ITEM 42307-8VGA) for $27.99 and I think I would invest in one if I had more than 2 pieces of 1" bar to cut unless a torch cut was acceptable (not). I bought a device that holds a 4" or 4 1/2" grinder to make it a cut off device from HF a number of years ago for $12 or $13. I have never used it so I can't comment on it and I couldn't find it on their site just now but that is probably a reflection on my skills and patience. See Bob C's safety notes and I recomend safety glasses AND a full face shield. You haven't experienced life till you have had a piece of steel drilled out of your eye! Do not wear clothing with holes or frayed edges, you WILL set yourself on fire. Do the work outside and away from any flamable materials including dry grass and leaves. I would never remove the guard from a grinder myself, not so much from worry about a wheel exploding (they do) but it is very to get your fingers too close to the wheel and they are most efficient when removing flesh.

Doug


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## SE18 (Feb 21, 2008)

Doug, 

Cutting capacity is 3/4" depth http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ct...ion=Search 

I know they make metal cutting chop saws but could a steel cutoff wheel be placed in a wood cutting chop saw. (I'm already hearing the replies "It's not intended to do that") 

I'm not going to remove the guard from the angle grinder but I suppose if you have all of the right safety gear on, it would work OK.


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## altterrain (Jan 2, 2008)

You can rent a metal cutting chop saw for 4 hours at Home Depots with tool rentals. You just need to purchase the abrasive blade separately. 
It will give you nice straight cuts. 










-Brian


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## hawkeye2 (Jan 6, 2008)

Cutting capacity is 3/4" depth

I would make the first cut then unclamp the piece and rotate it. Reclamp and finish the cut. You can cut up to 1 1/2" inches that way and get a quality cut with a little care. 

Doug


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## on30gn15 (May 23, 2009)

Hello, spelling pet peeve time, been seeing this throughout forums, "...held in a vice with a..." 

Here we go: 
Main Entry: 1 *vice* 
Pronunciation: \ˈvīs\ 
Function: noun 
Etymology: Middle English, from Anglo-French, from Latin vitium fault, vice 
Date: 14th century 

1 a : moral depravity or corruption : wickedness b : a moral fault or failing c : a habitual and usually trivial defect or shortcoming : foible 
2 : blemish, defect 
3 : a physical imperfection, deformity, or taint 
Main Entry: 1*vise* 
Pronunciation: \ˈvīs\ 
Function: noun 
Etymology: Middle English vys, vice screw, from Anglo-French vyz, from Latin vitis vine — more at withy 
Date: 1500 

1 : any of various tools with two jaws for holding work that close usually by a screw, lever, or cam 

Okay, I'm done. 
Back to trains. 

Wait a minute, just found this, okay I give, either way works.

I was always taught only the one way was correct. 

vise [vaɪs]_n_ & _vb_ (Engineering / Tools) _US_ a variant spelling of vice2

[script removed]


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## SE18 (Feb 21, 2008)

Doug, 

Yes, you're right. 

On30gn15 

My vise is my vice, err, or is it, I have a vise, that being my vice?


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## wildbill001 (Feb 28, 2008)

If you are using a hacksaw be sure and use a high-tension hacksaw. They are much, much better that the one where you tension the blade with a wingnut. The high-tension frames are usually next to the $6-10 "regular" hacksaws and run about $20-30 in my neck of the woods.

Oh, and as others have said, don't scrimp on blades. For me 5 blades for $5 usually yields about 10min of cutting time and 5 dull and/or broken blades.


Bill


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## RimfireJim (Mar 25, 2009)

Posted By on30gn15 on 16 Dec 2009 11:53 AM 


Wait a minute, just found this, okay I give, either way works.

I was always taught only the one way was correct. 

vise [vaɪs]_n_ & _vb_ (Engineering / Tools) _US_ a variant spelling of vice2

[script removed] 

That must be quoted from a British dictionary. My Webter's Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary (American) says

vice _Chiefly Brit var_ of vise









No such translation for "axle" and "axel", though!


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## SE18 (Feb 21, 2008)

I just wanted to update you on what's become of this project. 

As Bill suggested, I did get a high tension blade (you can control how much tension) from Lowe's. It sliced halfway through the bar pretty quickly and easily, then, it sort of fizzled b/c the blade suddenly dulled. I got the blade with the saw, but probably would need a higher quality blade. 

But as to the hacksaw itself, it definitely did the trick. High tension hacksaws are the things to get!!! Thanks, Bill. 

As to a lathe, that wouldn't work anyway, as the bar is 3 feet long and the lathe would have to be very big. 

If I had a plasma cutter or ocyaceytlin torch, that would make life easy. 

Cheers and thanks everyone. 

Dave Vergun


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## bdp3wsy (Mar 14, 2008)

Try Dual saw at www.dualsaw.com works easy for me. Jack


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## hawkeye2 (Jan 6, 2008)

SE18, you may have been bearing down too hard on the hacksaw, it doesn't take much pressure to take the teeth off a blade. That said, hacksaw blades are no place to try to get by with the cheapest. A plasma cutter or torch won't make your life easier trying to cut round stock, specially if you are trying to cut off short, usable pieces. I broke down and bought a HF cut off saw, item # 42307, that I had mentioned earlier in this thread and a 3 pack of blades as they had the saw marked down to $24.99 and it arrived today. I didn't expect much and didn't get much but I'm getting lazy and I figured it would be handy to shorten a bolt, cut some all-thread, or cut key or round stock with. I'll give it a try next week and report the results, probably in the tool forum.


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