I’m dabbling with some hypo steel tubing and wondereing the best way to cut it cleanly. I have a Dremel with a cutting blade. What’s a good way to hold the tubing so I can make a clean, even cut?
Andy
I’ve held it in a pair of needle-nosed pliers, with one hand, while holding the Dremel in the other, and I’ve also used a small bench vise to hold the tubing, so one hand was free to hold the section I was cutting off (again, using pliers to hold it) so it wouldn’t go flying off into space when cut.
I’ve also just used a pair of wire cutters to cut the tubing, but it is necessary to use a needle or a pin to restore the tube to a round, because that kind of cutting compresses the tube a little out of round.
Regards,
Brad
Here’s a non-cutting option. Take a squre file or any shape with an edge to it, and rub that edge across the tube where you want it cut. Once you’ve filed a hole into the tube, bend it away from the broken wall and it will easily break. Clean up the ragged end with a file.
Put the hypo tube in a pin vise to hold it for cutting. Cut it almost completely through then manually break off the cut portion. This will keep the cut off from zipping off into space or your eye (you are wearing eye protection, right?) at light speed. Square the end with your cut off blade like a sanding disk.
Good ideas guys. I like the pin vise idea.
Thanks, [;)]
Andy
if you hold one end with your end, wear gloves, it can get hot with the high speed grinding.
Ditto what HK said. I have a pin vise that gets used for nothing else, so it’s always available.
The pin vise idea is a good one, I never thought of that.
Or clip an alligator clip on it between the cut and yer fingers for a heat-sink…