I found a post that mentioned a preference for "Walter" cut off blades. Any other preferences , make and model? ========================= I have to cut a 1.25 inch thick paddle made out of NiHard 1 - a variant of cast iron with a lot of nickel or chrome or something to form iron carbide or whatever. It's hard. A file won't cut it. My 14 inch chop saw with Home Depot or Lowes abrasive blades cut about 1/8 inch deep then just stopped, even when I lean as hard as I dare on the handle. The paddle's too thick for my smallish plasma cutter. Most places say oxy-acetylene either won't cut normal cast iron, or does it badly. ESAB describes the technique to do it. But My NAPA cutting torch (bought new ~ 1973) decided to develop an internal hemorrage and alternate between soot and internal combustion (yikes) despite multiple cleanings. The welding supply place closed at noon, so I went to Lowes and bought a new Lincoln/Harris PRO-KIT. Brass (plated steel), made in Poland (better than "heche in China") , only one weld tip #5. Sure Feels kind of clunky compared to the old NAPA auto body set. http://images.clipartof.com/small/1...ig-Red-Marker-On-His-Shoulder-And-Writing.jpg I may return it and get a smaller real set from the welding supply place Kind of on a whim I tried a few 0.040 and 0.045 thick blades in the low end Bosch angle grinder. DeWalt and Norton from LOWES. They worked GREAT, cutting steadily until the cut was over 1/4 deep or so and started to drag on sides and sort of melted and tore.
I chopped, cut, and sliced my entire frame using Norton cut off discs from Home Depot on a 4 1/2 Makita. Ive probably used 900 of the damn things but they seem to work for me!
The brand of wheels from Mc Master Carr changes depending on the size or style of wheel but, they have always been of good quaility. http://www.mcmaster.com/#cutoff-wheels/=g7tej2
Metabos are all Zman and I use. But this sounds like some tough material. I bet there is some sort of lube you can use to ehlp, like they do with a wetsaw?
Cutting thick stock with an abrasive is not easy, can be unsafe, not accurate, and not a good way to do it. You need to cut the kurf larger so as not to drag the bade sides. Most of the time that means your piece is not the size you want and will need to be ground to size and squared. A saw blade cuts its kurf wider, an abrasive doesn't. Try a saws-all and some good blades. They have blades for cast iron. You'll wipe the teeth off the blade, but you can shorten the blade and grind a new mount on it.
Metabo, PFERD, SAIT, all work better than the Menards garden variety. I'll be cutting into Nitro-bar at work this week, using a Carbide triple-set blade. (similar to NiHard hardness not Nickel vs. Nitride)) I assume it's as tough as induction hardened chrome. So my question is, Do you have available, a bandsaw w/carbide blade? RemGrit blades are another option, just take longer.
Back in the days of my youth-early 70's-I worked at Pekor Iron Works. Every thing they made was either Ni-Hard 1 or Ni-Hard 3. This stuff won't cut with carbide tooling. Abrasives are the only way to work it. It does not take kindley to being welded on either. Use great caution about getting it too hot because it doesn't just break it shatters, sending very sharp "splinters" in all directions. Norton used to make a line of discs and wheels just for this stuff. You will most likely have to go through a Norton industrial supplier to get it. Hell of a deal ain't it-a materiel too hard to cut and designed to be abrasive resistant. Have fun and share your results.
I might get ragged for saying this but those Harbor Feight cutting discs work great. I would never buy any tools there, but a lot of there disposals work really well. I bought a 5 pack of cutting disc for my 4 1/2 yesterday for $5 bills and only used one. Prior to that I bought three dewalt discs and used them up within 5 minutes each.
Iv used hundreds of Nortons at work. BTW Please be careful . These things will hurt you bad when they let go. Usually when you dont see your rubbing threw the offset center part making a deep / wide cut . Then wamo you have a big hole in your new Carhartt jacket and gut.
The best "inexpensive" 4 1/2 inch cut-off wheels I've found are the Diablo brand 1mm at Home Depot. Regards, X
Metalbo. I run a warehouse for an Electrical utility company and have stocked about every brand of grinding and cut-off wheel available. Every mechanic, every machinest and every welder prefers the Metalbo brand.
Dan, lets see if I can help you out. First off the metal you are working with can be 1}, Ni-Hard-1, or 2} SUPER Ni-Hard, or 3} HIGH CHROME IRON , all have a Brinnel from anywhere of 560 up past 600-625. That said, you need what's called a " soft cutting wheel ". Soft refers to the binding system of the cutting media. Example- a RESIN bonded wheel is considered a soft wheel, as apposed to a rubber bonded wheel which is a hard wheel. You actually want the cutting media to go away as you cut, leaving fresh cutting media to always be in contact with the hardmetal you are attempting to cut, TR
The catagory of wheel I'm discussing above is a abrasive type wheel so there is no confusion. This is the correct way to cut the type of metals mentioned above, TR
Search for a local shop with a water jet. For a quick/easy cut it might only cost you a few bucks to have them lop it off....or for a few bucks more they can shape the whole part for you.
We use LOTS of cutoff wheels at work. The Walter wheels are good and strong, but thicker then I like. They cut slow but last. I like Metabos, thin, not much heat. But they can shatter if pushed too hard. I've cut 1 inch thick 304 stainless with them MANY times.
Ive used the Walter zip wheels before and while they did cut well, they were twice the price of any other disk and Id have a hard time saying they cut twice as much material before becoming useless. Ive never worked with a material as hard as you describe but on the harder stuff you just have to take it slow and let the material cool down.
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