Steel cutting method

[scoobie]

Hi Chaps,

I'm *still* in the planning/saving stages at the moment, and I'm thinking about my options for the chassis steel. I will either buy a chassis pack from armoto, or cut the steel myself.

The question is, if you were building your chassis again, which of the options would you choose?

Thanks chaps :)

[Tatey]

I've just started my build and im using a hacksaw. It really doesnt require too much effort to get a good cut, you just need to take your time and let the hacksaw do the work, never force it into the metal. I'll have saved £140 by using a hacksaw instead of buying the chassis kit.

[scoobie]

Oh, and if you use the other option... can you please let me know what your 'other' is?

Ta :)

Scoob

[james83mills]

i use a rage 3 compound mitre saw to cut my steel

[mr henderson]

i use a rage 3 compound mitre saw to cut my steel


How are you getting on with it? I bought one and have been very disappointed. I don't know what is more annoying, being showered in little bits of quite hot steel, or the way it is inclined to snatch.

I'll be getting a bandsaw shortly, had one before and it was excellent.

[Bonzo]

I used my trusty old bandsaw to cut all of my steel. Place the metal in it, then walk away & leave it to cut. well handy for some of the thicker stuff that I often cut :cool:

Chopsaws do the job but to be honest, I hate the sparks & all the fettling involved. :eek:

A mitre saw such as the Rage3 is a much better tool but as with the chopsaw It still needs personal effort to make the cut.

As and when my bandsaw bites the dust, i'll certainly replace it PDQ :D :D

[mark]

Hi Chaps,

I'm *still* in the planning/saving stages at the moment, and I'm thinking about my options for the chassis steel. I will either buy a chassis pack from armoto, or cut the steel myself.

The question is, if you were building your chassis again, which of the options would you choose?

Thanks chaps :)

Personally i used a rage 3 mitre saw and thought it did quite a good job too :D

As somebody mentioned though you do get showered in hot pieces of metal :eek:

But i dont think there is a quicker way of cutting a compound mitre so quickly and accurately :cool:

[fluxcored]

Where accuracy is a concern I use a cold cutoff saw - the Makita one is probably the best all around, it's got a good solid base.

Mostly I use a 115mm angle grinder with a 1mm disc and a file for quick and dirty operations. I found that I can be as accurate with this method as using my cold saw.

I would love to have a bandsaw, but just cannot afford one. I'm thinking of building an old skool power hacksaw for cutting thicker stock.

[geeman]

How are you getting on with it? I bought one and have been very disappointed. I don't know what is more annoying, being showered in little bits of quite hot steel, or the way it is inclined to snatch.

I'll be getting a bandsaw shortly, had one before and it was excellent.

i have a rage 3 as well and actually gte on with it very well. I have learnt to wear full sleeves though as it is annoying getting hot sparks on your arms, how ever there are very few sparks compared to using as cutting disc in a angle grinder. however i really only realise how useful the rage 3 is when it compes to cutting compound miotre angles or cutting angles greater than 45 degrees as the rage cant cut it and a hacksaw takes considerably longer and is only as accurate as you measuring where as on the rage you just set and angle and your off. i also contacted Evolution as some cuts werent very good as it wasnt cutting a flat surface so they reccommended i get their steel cutting blade, which i havnt yet, but overall the rage 3 has been of great help.

[flyerncle]

I started by hand,used an air hacksaw and then the chop saw. To be honest the air hacksaw for me produced the best results,bit noisy but little mess.

[DaddyA]

Hi,

being my first build (might do another????) I wanted to do as much myself as possible so went the hacksaw and file route. It wasn't to bad, the bigger angles were more of pain but managable, however, now I have done it, I would probably go with the pack if I did the same build?

[les g]

we bought a bandsaw from wolfonline for approx £100 (pics posted somewhere ) excellent bit of kit
but if i was to do a chassis again i would buy an Armoto kit
reason: very few of the cuts are repeatable and you cant cut multiples as only two rails/uprights whatever are ever the same ie.1 left 1 right after that every bit of steel needed is individual
and it seems to take an age to measur,mark,cutand fettle
hey buts that just my opinion
cheers les g

[HandyAndy]

Hi,

being my first build (might do another????) I wanted to do as much myself as possible so went the hacksaw and file route. It wasn't to bad, the bigger angles were more of pain but managable, however, now I have done it, I would probably go with the pack if I did the same build?

SNAP ! :)

i did the same , cut with a hacksaw, cutting disk & a file or two......... but if i built another car then i,d buy a pre cut kit pack.

ssshhhh don,t tell the wife that there will be another car after this one ;) it,ll be cheaper i,ll tell the wife as it only needs 1 seat :D :D

andy

[james83mills]

i love my rage three, i have had no problems with it, yeah there are some metal pieces but just attach the dyson and these are eliminated. accuracy isn't the best i find the laser isn't dead on, but as long as you have measured the angle manually before you chop things are ok. just do a dummy chop ie with no power and make sure the blade is on the waste side of the cut

remember

MEASURE TWICE CUT ONCE

[chriseyj]

Because funds are limited i used a hacksaw but if I did it again I think i'd invest in a chop saw. Must of spent £15 on blades although my mate says thats because I don't know how to use it.

The only plus side is I started to get a bicep like Popeye, well not quite, but building a chassis was more enjoyable than I imagine going to the gym would of been.

[miles50]

I bought a Rage 3 but I also clamped the material to be cut with wide jaw vise grips. I am planning on buying the metal cutting blade. It has almost twice the teeth the all purpose blade does. Also used a bandsaw for the higher angled parts. I clean up the angles with a 12" surface sander. If the option were available state side I would have bought a chassis pack.

[HandyAndy]

I bought a Rage 3 but I also clamped the material to be cut with wide jaw vise grips. I am planning on buying the metal cutting blade. It has almost twice the teeth the all purpose blade does. Also used a bandsaw for the higher angled parts. I clean up the angles with a 12" surface sander. If the option were available state side I would have bought a chassis pack.

ah, so you are in the USA eh?
where abouts ?

i believe there is another member from Florida building a Roadster too.

is the "7" style car popular in the states?
sorry for lots of questions :o

andy:)

[ACE HIGH]

A hacksaw,cut each end 1/2mm oversize and true it up.Buy only the best blades,24 teeth per inch would be my choice but 18 OK.I have over 40 years of experience as a fitter /welder with all sorts of fancy expensive gear,and by the time I stuffed around setting it up and cleaning up the ends I would have done the job.Hacksaws can be very dangerous,dont lean on a blunt blade,if it fractures and breaks it will spear back at your face and neck and chest,always wear safety glasses with a hacksaw and throw away blunt blades, and most importantly,there are only 2 types of blades,the best and rubbish,pay extra for good blades.I consider so called chop saws VERY dangerous,but I am a little behind the times here,I would only consider one of these from a top brand,Bosch,Fein,Makita,Hitachi,AEG etc.Life is a little cheap in China.David:)

[james83mills]

The rage three run at a slower speed than a standard mitre saw, the motor is geared so that it keeps the same level of cutting torque when it come to resistance that is how it can cut through wood and metal at the same time without jumping this gives it an increased level of safety

saying this my rage three has just broken on me :(

[james83mills]

don't worry fixed the rage three

and any angle cut is possible with the rage 3. you just have to make a few simple jigs and ensure that everything is secure

[Neil P]

Band saw for me. Very accurate cuts and I've used it for all sorts of other stuff as well. Mine doubles as an upright saw and I used it for cutting some plates too.

I changed a few bits - different angle to rear panel, MT75 gearbox, toyota engine - which have all meant some change to the plan sizes.

If I wanted a standard build spec with minimum fuss and speedy progress I would probably go with a chassis pack and a set of pre-cut plates just to take the hassle out of measuring and cutting etc.

I didn't have that option, I started mine before people started producing the parts.

Having said all that there is some sense of satisfaction in doing it all yourself.

Neil

[Bonzo]

I'll agree with you there Neil.

As you probably know, I started my build way back in June 2007 :eek: :o :o

At least I am nearing the rolling chassis stage. :)

[james83mills]

guess i'm lucky i have the next 9 weeks of to build mine so i should be done in no time (yeah right)

[miles50]

Yeah Andy, I am in the midwest (Missouri). I think there at least 4 or 5 Haynes-Gibbs builds going on stateside. I started in February this year on the table and chassis. I am going with a Zetec 2ltr and T-9 gearbox. Ordered up some suspension bits from 3GE. John has been a big help. I need to make a decision on my donor. Lots of dead or dying Merkurs over here. I would like to find a Scorpio because I believe they had rear disc. More research needed in that department. Luckily I have a machine shop upstairs from me so some fabing help available on short notice. I keep an eye on the Forum to help with questions.. Oh yeah I once owned a Series 2 Lotus 7 back in the late 70's. And assembled Westfields in Florida in the mid 80's. Its in my blood.

[ACE HIGH]

The problem with "chopsaws" is that they(in my opinion)are converted mitre saws,and the cutting disc speed will never be as accurate as it should be,note that as the cutting disc wears down the blade tip speed ,feet per minute will reduce considerably,also all cutting discs need extra steel discs each side of the disc to stop it "wandering"usually 2 or 3 pairs of these "reinforcing" plates are supplied with quality equipment,being replaced with the next size down as the disc wears.These chopsaws are lightly built with questionable or no safety guards.I built my own metal cutting saw 30 years ago from an NZ Industrial Gases (now BOC) plan,12 inch disc but lost my nerve using it,it cut 2x2 x1/4 and converted it to a woodworking tool and built a power hacksaw.A tip:The popular 600 mm sanding tables with a circular sanding disc on one end,will when fitted with a suitable abrasive flexible sanding disc do a good safe job of squaring up these 25x25 1.6 tubes,if you are a bit short of money get an old electric motor,put a flat surface pulley on it ,make a simple table and you are away.Plans all over the net for this type of handy tool.I dont know if low speed circular metal cutting saw blades are still available,these would be very good to use on quality metal cutting mitre saws.David :)

[james83mills]

The problem with "chopsaws" is that they(in my opinion)are converted mitre saws,and the cutting disc speed will never be as accurate as it should be,note that as the cutting disc wears down the blade tip speed ,feet per minute will reduce considerably,also all cutting discs need extra steel discs each side of the disc to stop it "wandering"usually 2 or 3 pairs of these "reinforcing" plates are supplied with quality equipment,being replaced with the next size down as the disc wears.These chopsaws are lightly built with questionable or no safety guards.I built my own metal cutting saw 30 years ago from an NZ Industrial Gases (now BOC) plan,12 inch disc but lost my nerve using it,it cut 2x2 x1/4 and converted it to a woodworking tool and built a power hacksaw.A tip:The popular 600 mm sanding tables with a circular sanding disc on one end,will when fitted with a suitable abrasive flexible sanding disc do a good safe job of squaring up these 25x25 1.6 tubes,if you are a bit short of money get an old electric motor,put a flat surface pulley on it ,make a simple table and you are away.Plans all over the net for this type of handy tool.I dont know if low speed circular metal cutting saw blades are still available,these would be very good to use on quality metal cutting mitre saws.David :)

evolution that make the rage products produce low speed metal cutting blade

[ACE HIGH]

Made a point of taking a close look at 3 metal cutting saws yesterday using the usual carborundum style discs and:the best one had no decent guard,the 14 inch disc is unsupported with circular plates(none had supporting plates},the vices on the whole 3 were good for making and holding wooden picture frames and not much else and on another the main table to support the steel which should be cast iron was made of light steel that deflected with light pressure from my thumb.they were all around $250/300 NZ.I would not buy one of these.Found circular saw blades for steel with tungsten blades,they wont last long at $140 NZ.There are 3 horizontal power hacksaws available at about:$400/800/1200 NZ any of these would be a good buy.Google the net,homemade power hacksaws are easy to make.The large woodworkers vertical bandsaws are good but usually need a reduction kit to use the metal cutting blades,these are good but a little pricey if you have limited funds.David:)

[ACE HIGH]

And it takes me about 20/25 seconds with a new blade and about 25/30 seconds with a half blunt blade to cut through a 25x25x1.6mm square tube,dead easy.Now I tried out a sabre saw,nowadays they are called reciprocating saws,(not a jigsaw),it took, with a new blade about 1min 40 seconds but did make a surprisingly accurate cut.I have cut 50x50x6 angle often with this,slow but sometimes very handy when nothing else will do the job.So a simple hacksaw will be hard to beat.I found in an old Mechanics Illustrated book(1968) a sort of a home made power hacksaw using a sabre saw.roughly,2 pieces of say 200 x40 timber ,one cut about 800 loa and the other cut about 600 loa were hinged together,with 2 "saddles"holding down the saw into position on the top board (600) while at the blade end of the bottom board a machine vice held the steel tube.The weight of the saw gently lowered onto it makes the cut.I have no idea if this works but it looked like it may do! David:)

[Sam]

Started cutting my steel today. I have chosen to take the hacksaw route aswell. See pic.

http://www.haynes.co.uk/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=397&stc=1&d=1248282108