Cutting steel stock

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JHZR2

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Nothing huge, say 1/4 x 3", cutting into 4" long sections.

Am I best off with a sawzall/ recip, or with an angle grinder with a cut off wheel?

Ive kind of sworn off angle grinders for anything besides cutting off threaded rod. Just too concerned about a wheel blowing up.
 
Sawzall with the appropriate blade for cutting steel.
 
Of course there are better ways to cut metal, but he's asking which is better between either a sawzall or small cut-off wheel in an angle grinder.
 
I've cut hundreds of pieces of flat bar with a 4 1/2 inch angle grinder with cut off wheels. It's quick and handy. However, as with all power tools caution needs to be kept.
 
I always clamp the metal in a vise and use the sawzall. I've always (well, most of the time lol) been able to make a straight cut with the sawzall.
 
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Have a local metal shop cut them for you. Or get a bandsaw if you plan on doing a lot.
 
Originally Posted By: ZeeOSix
Sawzall with the appropriate blade for cutting steel.


This is what I used... lots of vibration and shaking of course, but I only had to do four cuts.

They were reasonably straight, not perfect, but OK for what I needed.

Finished them with the grinder with both a disc and then a flap wheel.


I was primarily interested in if it's so much better using a 4 1/2" thin cutoff wheel. I use them for cutting threaded rods and other stuff, but am generally hesitant to do anything bigger because of the risk of the wheel shattering and flying apart, even with the guards in place.
 
Any Circular saw with a metal guard does very well . I usually use my big chop saw but often fall back to the humble circular saw with a metal cutting disk. Another good method is a 4" grinder with an abrasive cutofff disk. They don't last long though like the circular saw disks.
 
Originally Posted By: Linctex
4-1/2" cutting wheel in an angle grinder is the easiest to handle, is pretty fast, and inexpensive.

And can also fly apart and implant major shards of disc in your face or torso.

Granted stupidity or complacency may be big parts of that, as might guard removal.

As mentioned I used sawzall because of being conservative. But curious if this is a skill worth building. I use cutoff wheel for smaller stuff, but don't have the gut for bigger jobs.

Ive observed an injury from a cutoff wheel coming apart, fwiw, this my hesitance.
 
Originally Posted By: Alex_V
Aside from a chop saw, sawzall would be my weapon of choice. A cut off wheel would do it, but sawzall can be more accurate and faster.


It was accurate enough (sawzall with Milwaukee torch blade), but even with very tight clamping and weighing down, it still vibrated a ton. That's part of the reason why I'm curious on how to do it better in the future.
 
Originally Posted By: JHZR2
Originally Posted By: Linctex
4-1/2" cutting wheel in an angle grinder is the easiest to handle, is pretty fast, and inexpensive.

And can also fly apart and implant major shards of disc in your face or torso.

Granted stupidity or complacency may be big parts of that, as might guard removal.

As mentioned I used sawzall because of being conservative. But curious if this is a skill worth building. I use cutoff wheel for smaller stuff, but don't have the gut for bigger jobs.

Ive observed an injury from a cutoff wheel coming apart, fwiw, this my hesitance.


You are over thinking this. As I said, I have cut hundreds of pieces of flat bar(as a welder-fabricator) and have never had a cut off wheel break.
 
Originally Posted By: tig1
Originally Posted By: JHZR2
Originally Posted By: Linctex
4-1/2" cutting wheel in an angle grinder is the easiest to handle, is pretty fast, and inexpensive.

And can also fly apart and implant major shards of disc in your face or torso.

Granted stupidity or complacency may be big parts of that, as might guard removal.

As mentioned I used sawzall because of being conservative. But curious if this is a skill worth building. I use cutoff wheel for smaller stuff, but don't have the gut for bigger jobs.

Ive observed an injury from a cutoff wheel coming apart, fwiw, this my hesitance.


You are over thinking this. As I said, I have cut hundreds of pieces of flat bar(as a welder-fabricator) and have never had a cut off wheel break.

So you are using a thin cut off wheel in hand held angle grinder? A thicker grinding wheel in an angle grinder seems to take some punishment, but the number of times I've gotten serious kick back/binding makes me wary of using a thinner disc...
 
Originally Posted By: IndyIan
Originally Posted By: tig1
Originally Posted By: JHZR2
Originally Posted By: Linctex
4-1/2" cutting wheel in an angle grinder is the easiest to handle, is pretty fast, and inexpensive.

And can also fly apart and implant major shards of disc in your face or torso.

Granted stupidity or complacency may be big parts of that, as might guard removal.

As mentioned I used sawzall because of being conservative. But curious if this is a skill worth building. I use cutoff wheel for smaller stuff, but don't have the gut for bigger jobs.

Ive observed an injury from a cutoff wheel coming apart, fwiw, this my hesitance.


You are over thinking this. As I said, I have cut hundreds of pieces of flat bar(as a welder-fabricator) and have never had a cut off wheel break.

So you are using a thin cut off wheel in hand held angle grinder? A thicker grinding wheel in an angle grinder seems to take some punishment, but the number of times I've gotten serious kick back/binding makes me wary of using a thinner disc...


FYI these cut off wheels are used through out the welding and fabricating industry.
 
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