Cutting stainless steel question

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Boo2

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Hi,

I have to cut 4 off 20mm long slits in a piece of 1.5mm thick 316 (pretty sure it's 316) sheet. Ideas are :

  1. Hacksaw,
  2. Junior hacksaw
  3. Dremel normal (reddish) style cutting disk
  4. Dremel normal (slate grey) style cutting disk
  5. Dremel fibre reinforced cutting disk

Any ideas as to which of these will work best so save me having to try them all ? I also have a scroll saw and a dremel circular saw blade to hand but am not daft enough to consider them...

Thanks,

Boo2
 
It will depend somewhat on the position of the sheet you are cutting - if simply in the workshop and a slot required is not too wide then I would go for the standard hacksaw with a good quality blade. You will need to be patient as SS is tough to cut.
You could try your Dremel if you have some steel to practice with
 
Stainless steel is no more difficult to cut than carbon steel. When I fitted my Aquadrive I cut my 1" diameter shaft three or four times to ensure I got the correct length without overdoing it. Each one took about five minutes with a normal hacksaw. For steel that is only 1.5 mm thick you need a blade with high tpi, maybe 32. It will help to cut at a 45 degree angle to get more teeth in contact with the metal.

I have recently been cutting rather a lot of 25 mm stainless tube with wall thickness 1.5 mm. I started off with a hacksaw but later changed to an angle grinder with a cutting wheel. Much quicker but accuracy can be difficult.
 
My son regularly cuts stainless with a 125mm grinder using a thin steel cutting disc. Might sound a a bit crude but always comes up with a very neat job. Last project was stainless door escutcheons around door handles, they look 100%. Try it first though on a bit of scrap steel - we have cut some amount of steel and stainless steel plate successfully this way.
 
Yes angle grinder with thin disc. Your problem will be to hold it steady. But very quick and easy. I wonder if a metal cutting disc in a Mounted circular saw would go well. (just can't think of the name of those swing down saws) good luck and be careful olewill
 
Of BOO2s tools to hand, the hack saw with Viv's fine blade. Personally I often use either a small angle grinder with 1mm discs or, a bench mounted 230mm angle grinder for accurate square cuts.

William H, around here they are called chop saws and my 230 is a home grown one.

Edit: If the slits are not starting from an edge, borrow a small grinder.
 
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As said above use an angle grinder with a thin disc.Use a guide.Clamp a steel bar to the stainless sheet and rest the side of the disc against it.You'll get very neat strips this way.
 
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Just to explain the problem: the only important difference that must be accounted for when machining stainless steel is the coefficient of heat transmission which is much lower than in non ss steel. If not correctly taken care, the local temperature can rise to values that will lead to possible detrimental changes in the properties of both the tools and the worked material.

Daniel
 
Not quite sure what you are trying to achive with the cuts. If you are cutting with a blade such as a jigsaw make sure you do cut rather than rub becuase stainless will work harden pdq. So typically it is a case of cutting slow but making sure you take a cut. Cutting type grinding discs will work regardless but what is the effect on the "stainless" properties of the material? If you can drill 1.5mm holes (probably support material on a plank of wood and drill through the stainless and wood together) then cut with a blade - hole to hole could be a good answer if you have athin enough blade.
If it shows rust after cutting then be prepared to restore stainless properties - best way is to passivate with acid or polish by hand to take away "free" iron from surface of material
Hope this helps
Martin
 
Thanks to all who replied. I tried using the dremeloid but though it looked like it'd work it was rather slow and because of that not very neat either. I also had a desultory go with various mini hacksaws that were lying around but eventually sprung for these metal cutting disks from screwfix : http://www.screwfix.com/p/flexovit-...2-23mm-bore-pack-of-5/71334?_requestid=411187. Worked a treat in my Aldi angle grinder and was not too much trouble to keep the cut neat.

I didn't say in my original post but the job was to modify the bolt-on mast gate that came with the boat. This is not an original item from the mast mfr but two plates of stainless steel that bolt to the aft face of the mast and act to close the slot. The problem is that the steel plates are obviously a little proud of the mast face and so there is a bump at the top and bottom of the gate. My purpose was to slit the plates so the bit the battcars run on can be bent to minimise the discontinuity. Will have to see how it works out...

Thanks again,

Boo2
 
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