Printable View
I have a 3/8" thick, 6" wide, plow blade cutting edge I want to cut to lengths for hanging steel targets.
How would you go about cutting this thing? Easiest for me would be a saw blade that could handle it. I have access to a torch that can cut it, but I've never been good at torch cutting.
Water jet, If you heat the steel it will lose its temper
Plasma torch....
Use the torch, the steel will only anneal in close proximity to the cut. Not a big deal.
But, you had best know how to set up, adjust and use a cutting torch correctly.
I've several used blades along with a decommissioned fire hose that I wanted to find uses for. Well yay & thanks OP!
Thanks for the replies all. I’ll use the torch, despite being mediocre at best with one. I was hoping I was missing an obviously easy alternative to getting it done.
I’m always glad when I can set an idea in motion ChichNorris. Yay!
Set your acetylene regulator to 8-10 psi, oxygen to 30 or so. Crack the acetylene valve, light the torch. Open it until you have a strong yellow flame that does not give any soot. Slowly open the oxygen and "walk" the flame back to the tip. You want a neutral flame with clear and well defined jets.
Preheat the edge of your steel, you don't need to preheat to much. Rookies try to get a big red hot preheat. You just heat the edge up to where it starts to yellow and throw sparks.
Keep your torch tip about 1/8" above the surface of the steel.
Hit your cut lever, you should see a nice stream of molten steel jet through the edge. Slowly move the torch in direction of the cut, keeping a steady stream of cut flowing from the backside.
Torch speed is the key, too slow and you just make a blobby cut that seals back up with slag and you overheat the workpiece, too fast and you outrun your preheat and lose the oxidizing jet which is what actually does the cutting.
If cutting a straight line is tough, clamp a piece of angle iron to your workpiece to act as a fence.
Like BP said
The other option if you have saws is the ax blades from Milwaukee or a burner fiber blade if you have a worm drive skillsaw. Plan on one blade per cut at a minimum.
I've always cut them with a chop saw. get the right blade and they cut just fine. You get a clean edge that way...if that matters to you. When we were making wear edges for plows, we needed clean cuts.
What is the right blade? I have a metal saw with basically a big grinder and it barely does anything.