stuartwineberg
Well-Known Member
I have to cut 19mm x 3mm stainless strip to length. Worried about work hardening. Will an ordinary hacksaw be ok and smoothing file to take any sharp edges off?
Cutting steel strip
- Thread starter stuartwineberg
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prv
Well-Known Member
Should be fine.
Pete
Pete
sarabande
Well-Known Member
19x3 is going to be hard work with an ordinary hsaw blade, especially if you have a lot to do. Most garages and workshops will have an automatic hacksaw with settings and blades for various metals - would it be worth taking the strip to them ? Blades for stainless are available.
For cleaning up the metal after cutting, grab a linishing pad for the angle grinder. Screwfix and the usual sources. Otherwise if you have a bench grinder a polishing wheel is a very very useful item for taking the sharp edges off any metal work and leaving the work piece bright..
An angle grinder with a metal cutting disc is not recommended bcs of the heat/hardening/discoloration problem.
EDIT It really depends on how many pieces you have to cut from the strip. prv is right if you have just a couple of bits to do.
For cleaning up the metal after cutting, grab a linishing pad for the angle grinder. Screwfix and the usual sources. Otherwise if you have a bench grinder a polishing wheel is a very very useful item for taking the sharp edges off any metal work and leaving the work piece bright..
An angle grinder with a metal cutting disc is not recommended bcs of the heat/hardening/discoloration problem.
EDIT It really depends on how many pieces you have to cut from the strip. prv is right if you have just a couple of bits to do.
Last edited:
earlybird
Well-Known Member
I'd prefer to cut it with a 1mm thick angle grinder disc. Hardening of austenitic SS won't happen and only very slight, if any discoloration easily removed with file/emery.
Hacksaw is perfectly OK, esp. if you have a well mounted vice, but more arm-ache. Make sure you have a high speed steel blade, not a cheapie and about 18tpi. Apply firm pressure while cutting.
Hacksaw is perfectly OK, esp. if you have a well mounted vice, but more arm-ache. Make sure you have a high speed steel blade, not a cheapie and about 18tpi. Apply firm pressure while cutting.
Concerto
Well-Known Member
You could also use a Dremel with cutting discs. I have done 25mm by 2mm rubbing strake this way and it was quite fast. You do use several discs, but that is to be expected.
stuartwineberg
Well-Known Member
I have a dremel so this sounds favourite, thanks
peteK
Well-Known Member
If you do use a hacksaw the blade will soon blunt.
vyv_cox
Well-Known Member
Ignore the comments from the desk engineers. Hacksawing will not cause work hardening and 300 series stainless steel will cut as easily as mild steel. I have cut my inch diameter drive shaft three or four times when fitting my Aquadrive and cut bar of the size you use frequently. No problem at all.
lw395
Well-Known Member
A packet of decent name blades from Toolstation will do the job.
If I had more than one or two to do, I'd get the angle grinder out.
3mm is fairly serious for a guillotine, might end up twisted too.
Dremel is not ideal, unless you're only trimming off say 30mm or less as you can't get the cutting disc at right angles to the work, the body of the Dremel gets in the way.
Poignard
Well-Known Member
Jesus wept!
Is this a competition to find the most complicated way of doing a simple task?
If so, I have no chance of winning; since I would use a square, scriber, hacksaw and a file!
Is this a competition to find the most complicated way of doing a simple task?
If so, I have no chance of winning; since I would use a square, scriber, hacksaw and a file!
prv
Well-Known Member
+1
The only kind of desk engineer I am is a software one. When it comes to cutting metal, my comments are based on "hack it about in the garden shed and see what happens". What has invariably happened with the various bits of boat stainless sheet, bar, thick-walled tube, etc has been that an ordinary hacksaw with a decent Bahco blade went through it just like ordinary steel. It never would have occurred to me that anything different would happen.
Plain filed edges did tend to discolour with surface corrosion, which I attribute to water in the tiny crevices left by a file. So you might want to polish those up with wet&dry or some kind of power tool, for aesthetics.
Pete
lw395
Well-Known Member
I'm a desk engineer of electronics.
My experience of working with stainless is coloured by many years of scrounged material, modifying existing things, ranging from things I'm quite proud of to bodges that go the job done.
I have seen a lot of stainless that's been work hardened before I got hold of it. Some of it laughs at HSS tools.
But what the OP wants is really no more work than cutting down an M12 bolt. I do that kind of thing all the time with a common or garden hacksaw.
Just not with the 'pound shop' blades I inherited from my FiL....
My experience of working with stainless is coloured by many years of scrounged material, modifying existing things, ranging from things I'm quite proud of to bodges that go the job done.
I have seen a lot of stainless that's been work hardened before I got hold of it. Some of it laughs at HSS tools.
But what the OP wants is really no more work than cutting down an M12 bolt. I do that kind of thing all the time with a common or garden hacksaw.
Just not with the 'pound shop' blades I inherited from my FiL....
stuartwineberg
Well-Known Member
Jesus wept!
Is this a competition to find the most complicated way of doing a simple task?
If so, I have no chance of winning; since I would use a square, scriber, hacksaw and a file!
If you don't want an opinion, then the Forum is the last place you should go. I think I knew what I was getting into!! As OP I appreciate all the views :encouragement::encouragement:
Poignard
Well-Known Member
rotrax
Well-Known Member
Dont forget to fit the blade correctly-teeth facing backwards, smooth side down................................................
stuartwineberg
Well-Known Member
Yeah, right
TQA
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A hacksaw with the right sort of blade will do just fine. 24 tpi and something like this
https://www.screwfix.com/p/irwin-bi-metal-hacksaw-blades-24tpi-12-10-pack/7081k
No need to lubricate but a squirt of WD 40 wil do no harm.
Smoothing with a grinder of some sort will be easier than using a file.
https://www.screwfix.com/p/irwin-bi-metal-hacksaw-blades-24tpi-12-10-pack/7081k
No need to lubricate but a squirt of WD 40 wil do no harm.
Smoothing with a grinder of some sort will be easier than using a file.
earlybird
Well-Known Member
Made from stainless steel according to Screwfix!
Graham_Wright
Well-Known Member
Against all natural instincts, saw on the thin edge. Stainless needs pressure. If you saw on the flat edge or at a slight angle to it, it will be harder.
(Hope my Dad's not looking down.)
(Hope my Dad's not looking down.)
vyv_cox
Well-Known Member
Just goes to show there are many grades of stainless steel! The blades of my Victorinox knife are stainless steel but are attracted by a magnet, I assume one of the 400 grades.
