Minature cutting tool

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lpdsn

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Without boring you with all the details, I need to cut off a small piece of Al tubing in a confined space. I managed to cut off a large part of it by hand using a piece of hacksaw blade, but it was rather slow and laborious. To do the job properly I need to cut back another couple of inches.

What I reckon I'm looking for is a small cutting tool with the axis of rotation of the disc in line with the handle and a disc and tool of maybe not much more than 1". Something somewhere between an angle grinder and dentists drill. I could just about get in a hand holding the tool in parallel with the remaining bit of pipe to cut it.

Has anyone seen anything like that?
 
lpdsn said:
Without boring you with all the details, I need to cut off a small piece of Al tubing in a confined space. I managed to cut off a large part of it by hand using a piece of hacksaw blade, but it was rather slow and laborious. To do the job properly I need to cut back another couple of inches.

What I reckon I'm looking for is a small cutting tool with the axis of rotation of the disc in line with the handle and a disc and tool of maybe not much more than 1". Something somewhere between an angle grinder and dentists drill. I could just about get in a hand holding the tool in parallel with the remaining bit of pipe to cut it.

Has anyone seen anything like that?
Click to expand...

Dremel type of tool with a flexible shaft eg the one i bought from Aldi ????
 
lpdsn said:
Thanks for both your reply & VicS's.

I'm pretty certain that there won't be enough room for the pipecutting tool, but the Dremel looks very promising.

Thanks again. both.
Click to expand...

A dremel or similar is very handy for jobs on a boat from grinding out gelcoat cracks to cutting the GRP to fit new bits and pieces.
 
I would also recommended a Dremal like Vic but if you have axial access to the end of the tube you could try using a metal cutting counter sink bit a little larger than the O/D of the tube to mill the end of the tube down to size.
 
TQA said:
How about a wire saw? If you can get a loop over the ali and enough space for a double handed pull pull it will cut through it like a knife through butter.
Click to expand...

As suggested by hartcjhart in #3 ???
 
+1 for the Aldi "Dremel".

I got one for a one-off job several years ago and it's still going strong. Mine came with a 3' flexible shaft that allows you to use it like an oversized dentis't drill. I just used it with a metal cutting disk to cut a 5mm SS bolt that had seized in a loose rivnut that wouldn't have been accessible any other way without severe brutalising of my mast.
 
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I have been a collector of junk for many years. Much of this stuff contains small 12v electric motors. These can be turned into miniature grinders or cutters. The axle of the motors is usually around the 3mm in diameter usually just a push on. You need to make a boss that just fits onto the shaft (perhaps witha bit of heat to allow it to shrink on tight)
The boss needs the hole exactly in the middle of the boss. The boss needs to have a threaded section then about 6mm diameter onto which you can fit nuts to clamp up a disc with sand paer on or even a cutting wheel made for dremel etc. These little motors can run at high speed but have little torque. A heavy backing disc for the sand paper can give it more enertia so handle loads a bit better. Just a suggestion for the fiddlers in our midst.
The sand paper disc is very popular for SWMBO and also myself for grinding off hard dead cracked skin on our feet. We tend to be barefoot much of the year so feet get a bit hard.
good luck olewill
 
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