Cutting tubing

[churchjw]

I have a project where I needed to cut 3/8" hard copper pipe in half length wise. The pipes were 6' long and the sides had to be very close to the same size.

I took a scrap of steel out of my scrap drawer and drilled and reamed a whole .005" over the OD of the tubing.



Mounted a 2" Dia .025" thick slot mill. The mill is 24 TPI running at 230 PRMs.



Cut into the block on center line until the teeth started cutting into the far side of the hole and keeping it so the arbor is clear of the hole. The cutter is running clockwise so the the tubing being fed into the cutter is being cut by conventional milling not climb milling.



Pushed the tubing in by hand. The flat of the cutter kept the tubing from rotating and kept the cut straight. It cut quickly with little force. I did run coolant since the cutter had no side clearance.



The final pieces did twist but that was from internal stress from being drawn. They were easy to straighten back out.

Not something you need to do often but when you do this works well.

Jeff

 

[Rbeckett]

What a great idea!!! Thats a neat way to use a slitting saw and jig, I never would have thought of it for splitting tubing. Thanks for the great pics too.
Bob

 

[hq308]

Very cool Jeff, so what was the half pipe for?

Jerry.

A very small skateboard.:lmao::lmao::lmao::lmao::lmao::lmao::lmao::lmao:

 

[Old Iron]

Great idea never would have figured that one. I'll file it away for later use.

Paul

 

[churchjw]

A very small skateboard that's a great idea. Now I just need a .030" long skateboard. The bearings are going to be tough. :lmao::lmao::lmao::lmao::lmao::lmao::lmao:

Strangely the tubing is for a 12 scale dollhouse for my minion. At that scale it makes perfect 4.5" copper guttering.

Jeff

 

[Plumber]

A great job on the pipe splitting how about some pictures of the doll house would like to see the rest of your detailing..Jack

 

[Chazz]

Neat fixture, you can add a twist too, drill and tap a hole over the slit and then you can 'clamp' a razer blade in the slit and (in this case) use it to slit 1/2" rubber tubing.

Cheers,
Chazz

 

[churchjw]

Neat fixture, you can add a twist too, drill and tap a hole over the slit and then you can 'clamp' a razer blade in the slit and (in this case) use it to slit 1/2" rubber tubing.

Cheers,
Chazz

You could make a shaft for a rotary razor blade like used for cloth cutting. Then do the same set up to cut rubber or plastic tubing. Never tried it but it should work. You would still need some kind of lube on the cutter since it would drag badly on the rubber. Soapy water might work or maybe just water. Not sure. Give it a try and post what you find.

Jeff