Cutting steel to size

I am a complete beginner looking to start using a mini lathe I have some books by Harold hall with small projects in they involve cutting round bright steel ranging from 6mm to 40mm what do you guys use to do this I have looked at evolution rage 4 chop saw to Warco horizontal vertical band saw I am nearly 60 with arthritis in my hands from years of joinery so hacksaw out of the question especially on 40mm round bar

Any suggestions and advice would be greatly appreciated

There was a thread recently talking about bandsaws, the Aldi one had a good review

I have an Evolution chop saw - By gum it works. Do wear full eye protection and gloves as the chips fly off hot and in your direction. Have to admit that cutting High tensile steel reinforcing rod hasn't helped the blade much, so I would stay away from lots of that, but for mild steel, Al alloys etc it cuts like butter. However it has its limitations on width / diameter of work and its not so good on flat stock which is at maximum width (Evolution advise gripping plate vertically to minimise number of teeth in contact at any one time).

If you had the money, a vertical bandsaw which could be used for cutting steel plate / sculpting etc would be my choice, but probably 3 times the cost.

BobH

You don’t indicate what lengths you are starting with and cutting off.

Yes, the above will do the job easily, but at some cost.

Other options:

I would have thought that a mini lathe might well part-off near to 40mm diameter.

Suppliers will often supply in required lengths (likely with a cutting charge, of course).

A small, second hand power hacksaw might well be another option to consider.

An angle grinder is yet another, at least for the lesser diameters (can do the wider cuts by turning the bar).

I used to use my 115mm ‘bodge’ angle grinder, mounted in a frame for cutting purposes. One/two millimetre thick cutting discs are available for the purpose.

You are not going to alter the metallurgy cutting mild steel. Other materials could be...

Cut bar with an angle grinder with a 1mm grinding blade then finish to length in the lathe. Drop saw type attachements are available for mounting the angle grinder if you do not want to hold it by hand or make one. Lots of examples on Youtube.

Paul.

Edited By Paul Lousick on 10/05/2019 09:06:12

Hi Steve,

i am also quite new to model engineering but have been in the steel fabrication game most of my working life so am used to heavy duty band saws and such like.

I have recently purchased the Warco vertical / horizontal band saw and i have to say that for the price, around £300.00, it is not too bad a machine. Sure it is made down to a price and the frame legs are a bit flimsy but the bed and bandsaw frame are quite sturdy castings.

What i like is that you can put a bar in and start the cut and leave it to cut through. The weight of the frame makes the cut automatic. When the cut is through it auto turns off as well.

David.

I used to use a 1mm cutting disc on angle grinder, does the job but rough as a bears watsit. Just bought the smallest of the Warco bandsaws, my, what a difference. Switch on and do other stuff whilst it cuts, very good finish to the cut and I'm not panting like a dog cutting 30mm stainless.

I use a Warco bandsaw for soft metals and mild steel and an angle grinder with 1mm cut-off grinding wheel for tougher steels (to save the saw blade) Colin

I bought the Warco horizontal bandsaw. It was built to a price, but the main faults were easily rectified.

Changed the vice lead screw, nut and handle.

Added a wider plate to the movable jaw.

Sorted out the stop switch and resting stop.

Made a coolant tray and tank.

Now I am very pleased with it. Largest cut so far was 150mm square aluminium.

VE,

Was that their universal offering? Needed turning to cut 150mm square? Or was that using it as a vertical saw?

Not the answer you are looking for, but you might try 'Boswellia serrata' (Indian Frankinsense) capsules (shop around). I've been taking them for the arthritis in the base of my thumbs and it works better than ibuprofen.

Before buying them I looked at the results of clinical trials into lots of alternative therapies, they were the only one I found that had a positive effect in every double blind trial.

Neil

Thanks to everyone for their advice much appreciated

A word of warning about the use of angle grinders for cutting steel.Ensure that you are clear of any glazed windows as the sparks weld themselves to the glass.In my working life this cost me money to replace double glazed units in a house.

Frank

Hi Steve, for some years now I have used a cheapy Chinese import portable metal cutting bandsaw like the DeWalt one at the link below, but not DeWalt brand.

**LINK**

Mine cost $90 new here where genuine DeWalt and Milwaukee ones were over $500 new. I bought it as a chance purchase - I did not anticipate using it a lot and figured I could use it awhile and even if I had to replace it a few times I could do so 5 times before it cost as much as the name brand ones! I did not expect much in the quality of it, and figured I would likely need to do some mods to it, tinker it up periodically, etc....

But as it turned out this cheapy has been a workhorse, going through literally miles of tough scrap steel 1/8" to 1/2" thick, angle, pipe, plate, bar for welding projects and repairs. Lots of aluminum, too. 4 x 4" throat on mine. It is years old now and still on the original blade. Shows no signs of quitting. One big plus is that it is small in size and gets tucked away on a shelf rather than taking up floor space. It is much quieter than a chop saw or angle grinder in use.

Just mentioning this type of machine as a possible candidate for your cutting. Maybe one of the discount tool outlets in the UK carry the cheaper no name Chinese ones like mine. Food for thought. Good luck.

You can actually make a right handy fixed saw out of those cheap portable saws. It was all I used till I got my regular bandsaw:

Edited By Bandersnatch on 13/05/2019 01:10:35

So what do you use for flat plate? I had to saw up some flat plate 11" wide and 4mm thick the other day. Used my jig saw with a metal cutting blade and a little bit of ROCOL cutting oil . Did the job quite well.

And what were the vibration and noise levels like? I've done similar in the past albeit with a relatively cheap and nasty jig saw and was very glad when the cut was finished.

Phil

For material up to the thickness mentioned I use a power guillotine.

Andrew

I keep finding the need to cut discs out of 5mm steel (I bought a lot of 100mm square offcuts for pence and I am using them where I can).

I tried the circular cutters that come in a set. One was fine and I managed a 65mm diameter hole in some 6mm sheet (also from the offcuts place). I used plenty of cutting fluid and put my toy pillar drill on the minimum speed. It worked fine because I took ages and ages over the job. The 85mm version just wouldn't touch the steel, despite the oil and slow speed; annoying.

So I tried a 2mm HSS parting tool and it actually worked but it was at the limit of the mini lathe capabilities. The belt kept slipping and graunching and I imagine the spare will soon be needed. Not the best technique although it gave a result eventually.

I was wondering about trying one of those Adjustable Circle Cutters. Some have on blade and some seem to have two blades. But they are sooo cheap that I cannot believe they would do anything substantial.

Apart from the "I wouldn't;t start from here" answer, is there a way forward?

For sheet and plate get a horizontal bandsaw that can also be used vertically, failing that thin disc in the angle grinder.

For discs you can trepan them out on the lathe

Or stitch drill followed by cleaning up on the lathe