How To Cut a Chunk of Steel?

A

Allan

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I have found that there is a never ending wealth of experience here so let me run this one by the brain trust.
I bought a large diameter but short chunk of steel. It is about 6" dia and 8" long. I want to cut 1" slices off of it with my bandsaw. It is too large and short to hold in the vise. I thought about fabbing up a cradle and wrapping a chain vise grip around it to hold it securely.

The idea would be to have a piece of rectangular tubing to fit into the vise. It would have plate welded on the end from which two rods would protrude to support the chunk. The chain vise grip would wrap around all three with the chunk held up agin the plate. Then the sawing would commence. The rods would be sacrificial, I guess, and could be threaded in for future replacement. What do you think of this idea. Any other methods you have tried or can think of?

Al
 
I'm facing the same issue and am thinking of clamping the stock to a piece of 4 X 4, using woodworking bar clamps.
(edit)Oops, looks like your using a horizontal bandsaw. This might work if you can raise to vertical.
Bill
 
would too much be wasted if you just chucked it up in the lathe and parted off what you need? Or how about clamp it in the mill with multiple hold-downs and use a slitting saw to go all the way around it, moving hold-downs as needed - would that get enough cut that you could finish with a hacksaw?
 
6" dia is pretty large for lathe cutoff! If I HAD to cut it into 1" slices,do or die,I guess I could epoxy the left end to a 4x4" piece of wood (or metal) that sat up flush to the miter gauge,and clamp onto that for sawing off the slices. However,I have a Roll In bandsaw,yours might not be adaptable to this idea.

On my saw,the work ids clamped to the miter gauge and the saw rolls past the edge of the gauge propelled down a ramp by gravity.
 
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I have used a ratchet strap over the top of the work to hold it down in the vise and a 6 inch or slightly less piece of most anything in the other end of the vise to keep the jaw from pivoting. My bandsaws jaws are 4 1/4" tall so I think it would hold 6" as is.
 
Your original idea might just work. Take a look at this site http://www.frets.com/HomeShopTech/Tooling/BandSawFeed/bandsawfeed.html It is Frank Ford's site about mods he has made for a vertical band saw. In it he shows a large round slab being cut that is held to a flat piece setting on a vertical saw table.
FFord_Idea.JPG
Your idea is similar but the flat piece would be held in your vise and not sliding across a vertical table as Frank has shown. Note the two pieces at the bottom that form the cradle and prevent the round stock from wanting to roll. You did not mention how large your band saw is so this assumes you have enough vertical clearances for the blade to come all the way down.

Benny
The Orphanage Never Closes

FFord_Idea.JPG
 
Too bad you are so far away, otherwise I would say that you can come over and use my saw.

If the vise jaws on your saw are tall enough to hold the stock, all you need to do is provide something the same thickness as the stock to place in the vise behind the stock you want to cut. This would keep the vise jaws parallel to each other. I don't know if I worded this very well, let me know if it doesn't make sense to you.

If the vise jaws are not tall enough, you might consider adding some flat plate to the jaws to make them taller. The plates could mount to the jaws with some flat head bolts and could be removed when not needed.

On the other hand, if your saw will not handle stock that large, see if someone else in your area has a saw large enough to cut the pieces you need. Then again, some of the ideas already listed above may be good too.
 
Some good ideas here.
Joe, my lathe is only a 10" so I'd be mighty nervous hanging that big a piece out front in the chuck. I've never had any luck extending a cutoff tool 3" either ; )

My saw is a King horizontal drop saw 4.5 x 6. There is a fair bit of room to the opposite side from the vice so the large V fixture (Randy"s link) bolted on may be the best solution. I've just got to move to the other side of the tracks! I can only cut about half way through then I'd have to turn it. As long as the cut is reasonably straight it would work. I have to face them off later anyway.

The weld on idea is a good one too. Only problem is I can't remember the alloy. It might be 12L14 and then welding is out.

Thanks for the feedback. Now to find a largish piece of angle for the "V-vise". Just what I need: another project!
 
It sounds like you are asking a lot from such a small saw but then we have all been there.

When I needed some 1" thick x 5" diameter pieces, years ago, I didn't own a bandsaw back then. I ended up getting some 1" plate from the scrap yard. I made a simple circle burner attachment for my oxy -act outfit and burned them out with a torch. It goes very quickly. It is a little trouble to clean up the blanks but with the circle attachment, they are pretty round and a grinder or belt sander cleans the ragged edge up enough to not have too big of a job to finish truing them on the lathe.

Back to your original question. I have cut some fairly big pieces on the horizontal bandsaw. I don't like spending a lot of time on firturing things unless I have an awful lot to do. I would use 2 plates that are 4" tall so they reach above the center-line of you 6" cylinder. I usuall use whatever plates I can find laying around. Place a stick that is about 1/8" shorter the the diameter of the round (5-7/8" long) under the round and between the plates. Place a second stick about even with the side of the vise, fathest from the blade also between the plates. The 2 sticks will keep the plates almost parallel when the vise is tightened and because they are slightly narrower than the round, the plates will tighten on the round when the vise screw is tightened. The plates can be extended almost up to the blade as the vise is probably an inch or so away from it.

Getting you saw to cut straight may require a bit of a tune-up. I would start with a new blade. I adjust the fixed vise jaw so it is square to the blade. You need a tool that mounts to the blade so the blade can be adjusted square to the table. I made my tool from a 1/2" x 3/8" x 2-3" piece of square aluminum. It needs to have a step cut into the bottom end. What you want is a piece that mounts vertically and clamps to the blade just above the teeth. This will allow you to adjust the guides so the blade tilt is 90 degrees to the saw table. You need to adjust each set of guides with the tool mounted close to the fixed guides and then the movable guide. Don't forget that the blade cuides also need to be adjusted for the correct blade thickness.

Hope this helps and good luck on you cuts.

Charlie W.
 
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