cutting stainless steel tube

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ok new question for any engineers out there.
I need to cut a load of 32mm o/d stainless steel tube, and i need to cut it all square. (wall thickness is 1.6mm).
Now I know there are loads of ways of going about this - all seem to have serious drawbacks.
ie.
tube cutters dont do s/steel that thick.
drop/chop saw blades wander too much for an accurate cut and heat generated ruins 'stainlessness'.
hacksaw, even mechanical one takes forever.
s/steel bandsaw blades and toothed circular saw blades cost an arm and a leg - not to mention having to hire/beg a machine.
grinding square likely to cause ferritic contamination.
plasma and laser cutters too expensive.

I just wondered if anyone has any advice about the best way to go to get a reasonably square cut and lots of them. if you had to do this how would you go about it?

this question makes me wonder if diynot could do with a general engineering thread.
 
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Can your stainless supplier not cut it for you, mine has a couple of industrial size metal cutting bandsaws that can take a 3mm slice of 200mm dia solid bar. There would obviously be a fee but may be less than buying what you need and wasting tube finding out what works.

Jason
 
When you say loads, are we talking 10s or 100s?

If its not that many, use a ultra thin stainless cutting disc in a 5" grinder.
They are free from iron etc which will contaminate your stainless. Although you will need a good eye and hand.
Beceause they are as thin as 0.9mm, you wont discolour the tube and it create very little burr.

Failing that, like Jason said, get it cut at a local fabrication shop. Probably work out cheaper than hiring something to do the job.


The most accurate way (probably next to laser cutting) would be hire in an orbital tube cutter, but that will cost, which you want to avoid!



There are plans to put up a section on metalworking over at thewebsite www ultimate handy man co uk very soon. A 'how to' page, and there is a forum for more in depth discussions.
 
Get in touch with a toolmaker. They could rough cut it with a chop saw and then clean the ends up on a lathe with a carbide parting tool.
 
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thanks for the replies.
I have got about a hundred to cut, and cant finish them on a lathe as the tube is rolled to a curve - in some cases a 4metre radius curve. the problem is that i have to cut them exactly on the radial of the tubes curve - so a hand tool is no way accurate enough.
so far my research is coming up with using a toothed saw blade in a chop saw, as it wont veer towards the cut off part like abrasive discs tend to. then finishing the burr by hand.

ill let you know what occurs
 
gcol said:
How foolish of me to assume the tubing was straight. :rolleyes: ;)

lol sorry gcol - assumed you were psychic for some reason.

well in the end used an abrasive disc in a drop saw and got used to the angle of drift in the cut, so I could adjust my cut to take it into account. got squareish cuts but appalling burrs - these i removed with a file on the outside face (tried a grinder but it too made a burr) and a hole cutter bit for the interior burr.
Since then I have found out that a toothed blade in a cut off saw at low rpm would have done the trick - but the slow saw wasn't a hireable option.

thanks for your replies though.
 

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