Hi!
How do you go about cutting the Steel tubes for the space frame? I guess you don't use a hacksaw to all of it.
Best regards,
Nik
I've met people who have cut all the steel using a hacksaw,which is hard work.
I cheated and bought my chassis,but the easiest way is use a grinder on a cut off stand.
screwfix.com (0500414141)
sell them for 4 or 9inch grinders £15 to £25.
I cut mine with a Hacksaw - cheaper than going to gym, my wife was wondering how my right arm muscles were getting so large
quote:
#
my wife was wondering how my right arm muscles were getting so large
I knew I was missing out on something whilst stuck in the garage.
ps Don't mention Valentines as I was away on business at the allocated time this year - managed to redeem myself by buying roses in Amsterdam airport
though.
Sounds like a good plan.
Bit like the mother's day flowers and card I bought late Saturday night whilst nipping into Safeway's for a pizza!
Personally I think leaving it to the last minute always works best...
James
I used a Black and Decker Scorpion saw . Cut through the tube like butter and a lot less noisy/messy than a grinder. (- cost around £50 though)
Ewan.
quote:
I used a Black and Decker Scorpion saw
hack saw ere 
hacksaw to for half then cut the rest in the workshop with bandsaw which I got from machine saw for only £150.00 and doubles as chop saw excellent value and I use it for all manner of commercial work
I used a 9" angle grinder on a stand to cut the first load but then a purpose built machine for more accurate cuts. I tried a hacksaw, started out straight but bend the further down I cut, that's when I went the angle grinder route. Cut the whole chassis in a morning. Great.
Hey
Big hairy arsed Yorkshiremen do it by hand, and the steel cutting!!!
Chris (lots of arse hair)
nothing we dint know there then !!!!!
I would have thought locodude would have used an axe!
they have to do it by hand as you can't trust a yorkshireman with power tools
What you guys need is a Nobex mitre saw, the big one, costs about £100. Don't buy a cheap one. Also buy a mild steel cutting blade for it. I bought
two but haven't needed to change the blade yet and I'fve cut a lot of steel with it. With this amazing piece of kit you will be able to make perfectly
square cuts easily. You can set angles too. You can make cuts with better than 1mm accuracy for length, and it is easy to set it up for repetition
cuts. I will try to post a photo later, and details of where you can buy them. It's arm powered 
but the kerf is thinner and therefore easier
than normal hacksaw 
and you don't have to grip so hard to control the blade.
John
B&Q are doing chop saws for £50.
Not sure if you can use an angle grinders cutting disk with this type of saw, but if anyone can confirm . .?
FYI I got the metal supplier to do all the cuts as per the book. He ven labelled them up for me. Total cost inc VAT was £180
quote:quote:
I used a Black and Decker Scorpion saw
Was just looking at that on their webpage. I guess at 6500 strokes (ooh sir)
Yeah, but only a 10mm stroke....
phil - 16/3/02 at 09:17 AMJust had a flyer for screwfix in the post,
special offer for a 9" angle grinder was £24.99 with a disc,it will come with a years guarentee so if lasts 1 year& 1 day it still seems good value. 9" angle grinder stand are £ 24.99
phil..
interestedparty - 16/3/02 at 09:03 PMThere are two aspects to cutting a piece of tube for use in chassis making,
one, actually cuting the metal, angle grinders will do this as will hand held hacksaws
two, getting the cut in the right place. This is where the two methods above fall down. A mitre saw with a suitable blade will make quick, accurate cuts, repeatable for length and angle, and is a great aid in keeping the chassis square.
You can get the Nobex Champion for about £99 from Axminster Tool Co
www.axminster.co.uk They will send you a catalogue free 0800 3711822.
and the required ferrous blade for about £16 from the same firm. Expensive compared with angle grinders, I know, but well worth it, and when you've built your car you can use it for making frames for the photos of your car.
Jon Ison - 17/3/02 at 06:32 PMwell, the hacksaw "cut it 4 me", scuse the pun
ewanspence - 28/3/02 at 11:00 AMJust bought a new tool. A 9in grinder from Homebase £30 (normally 39.99 but I had a discount voucher). What a weapon. discs are a lot cheaper than I thought. Screwfix steel discs are just over twice the price for a 5in grinder but obviously have a lot more than twice the life. Doesn't stall like the small one when you overload it.
£30 well spent.
8smokingbarrels - 2/4/04 at 10:43 PMThought Id bring this one back from the dead. Just wondering what everyone is using to cut their steel with?
Basically Im looking to cut steel tubing and RHS but just cant get the accuracy using hacksaws, angle grinders or saw bench (dont ask!).
The angle grinder stand sounds interesting - just wondering what results people have had using it- can u cut at different angles?
chris
200mph - 2/4/04 at 11:06 PMdid you actually read the thread??
hacksaw is fine on a budget, trust me. mitre saw (tenner from B&Q) good for compound angles.
heard varying things on grinder stand, so i went for a decent hacksaw.
Mark
craig1410 - 2/4/04 at 11:13 PMChris,
I did all my chassis by hand using a hacksaw. I bought the grinder stand from Screwfix but I found it a bit flimsy and it means that you can't work late into the evening without upsetting the neighbours. It also can't do compound mitre cuts (cuts angles in more than one plane) which you can do with a bit of practise using the hacksaw. Fortunately there aren't too many compound cuts on the "book" chassis but there are some.
Basically my process involved a small set square, a sharp scribe, a hacksaw with good quality blades (believe me there are good quality blades and then there are GOOD quality blades) and a metal flat file. I would bet that after marking out the piece I could cut a 16swg 1" tube in not much longer than it takes with a chop saw. Maybe 20 seconds per cut (accurately too)
For compound cuts I perfected a technique where I would cut each face of the tube individually but in such a way as to produce a smooth cut which looked like it was done with a compound mitre saw. This takes a bit longer but as I said there aren't too many of these to do.
Hacksaw cutting is something of an art and to do it accurately requires that you stand in the correct position with your shoulder and elbow at the right angle such that the saw moves in a straight line at all times. If you play snooker then you will know the sort of motion I am talking about as it is a bit like moving a snooker cue. I usually cut the top face first then run down the front face and then use these two faces as a guide to slice through the rest diagonally. It works for me every time and produces nice square ends in no time at all.
I would also recommend cutting tubes as you go rather than cutting everything in one go at the start. There is much less chance of making a total ar$e of it this way as you spot mistakes much earlier and potentially save wasting 35m or so of steel!
Hope this helps,
Craig.
Tblue - 2/4/04 at 11:15 PMAll the above will be accurate if you use the chosen tool correctly as the tool is only as good as the bloke using it (as you have found). Sounds like you are a little impatient, take a little time to learn what happens when you use different bits of kit, find out if you are pressing on to hard or just not holding the tool how you should. If all that fails.............get a grown up to do it for you.
I've got a chop saw.
And a 9" grinder.
And a 4&1/2" grinder.
And a reciprocating saw.
And a hacksaw.
And a mechanical hacksaw.
And a bandsaw.
I use them all, depends on what I'm cutting, but for thin box it's usually a hacksaw or 9" grinder.
derf - 3/4/04 at 02:17 AMI used a good combination of compound miter, late night hack saw, angle grinder, and the greatest tool in the histoey of mankind......
the SAWZALL
britishtrident - 3/4/04 at 06:29 PMHacksaw -- 1 decent quality blade did about 75% of the cuts required to buld the main structure frame.
Dale - 4/4/04 at 05:40 PMI used my 10 inch wood compound miter saw with 1/8 inch x 10 inch abrasive blade. An expandable table stand made handling and cutting 12foot pieces of steel very easy by one person. Put a nit glove over the cooling vents of the saw to help keep the metal filings out.
Dale
Rescued attachment must have with 10 foot table.jpg
8smokingbarrels - 4/4/04 at 11:04 PMWow Dale - thats some piece of kit. I was looking at the mitre saws in B+Q but wasnt sure if metal cutting discs could be fitted to them
chris
Simon - 4/4/04 at 11:21 PMUse a bloody hacksaw
Look at my photo archive - 6/7 to 8/7 all cut by hand and welded.
It doesn't take long, just hurts a bit to start with
ATB
Simon
albertz - 5/4/04 at 09:02 AMI used a similar saw to Dale. I removed the wood cutting blade and turned a bush to accept a flat 9" slitting disc (5 min job).
Works a treat, very handy in that it can cut compound mitres accurately and easily.
Best buy i ever made at £120, even after the steel is all cut i use it loads for cutting wood and other items of steel.
Surely that has got to be easier than p*ssing around with a hacksaw. Dont get me wrong, i have used a hacksaw plenty of times and it is a fair bit cheaper than the chop saw.
There has surely got to be eaier ways of building muscles in your right arm???
[Edited on 5/4/04 by albertz]
Jayce Lane - 5/4/04 at 09:39 AMI basically use a angle grinder. First mark of the length, then using a set square, mark on all faces of the tube using a scribe. Allow myself 6mm for saw kerf, cut with a cutting disk.
I then get it ablsolutely square by grinding it down with a grinding disk, to the marks I had made allround. Works a charm, and I had no reason to use a hacksaw, even when it came to cutting compound angles.
The only thing which i forgot to mention is that you need a decent bench vice.
cheers
David Jenkins - 5/4/04 at 09:56 AMI used a hacksaw for everything - once you get the technique right, set up a good sawing rhythm, and get the best blades you can find, the job is quick, easy, quiet and a great way to keep warm on a cold evening!
Strangely, a good saw frame makes a huge difference to accuracy as well - you'd think it was just a thing to hold the blade straight - but some of the 'B&Q cheap specials' are dreadful. I have a very old-fashioned saw frame with a file-type handle, rather than a D'frame... I can cut very accurately with that.
David
britishtrident - 5/4/04 at 10:49 AMquote:
Originally posted by David Jenkins
I used a hacksaw for everything - once you get the technique right, set up a good sawing rhythm, and get the best blades you can find, the job is quick, easy, quiet and a great way to keep warm on a cold evening!
Strangely, a good saw frame makes a huge difference to accuracy as well - you'd think it was just a thing to hold the blade straight - but some of the 'B&Q cheap specials' are dreadful. I have a very old-fashioned saw frame with a file-type handle, rather than a D'frame... I can cut very accurately with that.
David
I tried some of the fancy designer hacksaw frames includung those recommended in magazine test in the end I went back to my trusty Eclipse frame with 24tpi blade -- as used by my father and granfather..
craig1410 - 5/4/04 at 06:45 PMCouldn't agree more, I also have an Eclipse frame and I use Spear and Jackson "Eclipse" blades which you can pic up at Jewsons. I don't know if these are "the best" but they are markedly better than the rubbish which Halfords sell.
It's a good point about keeping warm too - I used to get very cold in my garage kneeling on the base board laying everything out and taking measurements. It was quite a relief to do some sawing.
The point about a good sawing motion is important and worth practising because if you get it right then you don't need to scribe all four faces for non-compound cuts, you can get it right with only two faces (or sometimes one) scribed. This makes it much faster and just as accurate. For compound cuts I would scribe all faces and then cut each face at the appropriate angle so that on the last face the saw would just slide through and finish the job. I would sometimes clean up the rough edges with a file but that's only being pedantic.
I'm not having a go at anyone who has responded to this thread so don't read anything into this but, in my experience there are two types of people who will successfully complete a project such as a Locost build. One is the meticulous "engineer" type who will organise the job well, split it down into tasks and research and complete each task in turn until the job is finished. The other is the "maverick" type who will make somewhat instinctive decisions but keep moving forwards at all times and never be afraid of hard work or decision making.
The type who will struggle (IMHO) is the type who will find everything a bit to much like hard work and spend hours and hours trying to make a particular job easier, to the point where they completely loose focus on what they are trying to achieve. They will also have difficulty making decisions because they feel uncertain and will spend many hours researching but never actually make forward progress.
As for me, as an engineer I started out as the "Engineer Type" and as the project got more complex I was in danger of becoming the latter "Bewildered type", suffering "paralysis by analysis." However, I have found new enthusiasm now and have become more of a Maverick, especially when it comes to my credit card!!There is nothing that I won't do now to get the job complete and the faster the better. I'm not being reckless but will push hard and make decisions based on the best information available.
My advice is, don't bother figuring out whether to buy this power tool or that power tool, just get a good hacksaw and start cutting and welding!! You will have a chassis within a day or two at which point you will begin to get an idea of what you have gotten yourself into...
Cheers,
Craig.
Dale - 5/4/04 at 09:25 PMExcelent post on the maverik bit. I agree it gets daunting working out the little things. Keeping the forward motion of the build is vital to me as time to work on it is difficult. Use what you have borrow or buy what need, and if nessesary build it. My saw combo is what I had from doing woodworking, but I would definiately recomend the expandable stand to anyone even if doing the cutting by hand.
Dale
trackfodder - 7/4/04 at 03:31 AMrun up harbor freight tools on the web. should have an online catalog and shipping is free over $50. look at their reasonably priced 14" chopsaws. dunno what i would do without mine. it will cut all the angles accurately and quickly. i have a plastic cable tie on my trigger i can lock it on with and even freehand cut many things. whatever you think you can handle safely. i sharpen my carbide lathe bits on the side of it. I have cut 1/8" X 6" steel off with it and will handle about any thickness. at work i routinely cut off 8" heavy channel with it.
