I had a couple rims and some automotive castings sitting around and resized them today so I have plenty of casting stock. I cut it all on my table saw with a carbide blade. It took about an hour. I cut the rim into hoops but leave a little tab on each hoop at 120 degrees apart. I cut the little 1/2" tabs holding the hoops apart with a recip saw. I've found this to be a lot safer and keeps the stock from shrinking on the blade and causing jams. I do the same thing with the separate hoops cutting them almost through and then I can break the hoops apart by hand. Best, Kelly
That is a nice cache of metal. I need to cut up some iron. I got a bunch of large electric motor end bells.
That’s one thing that royaly SUX about our area, the scrap yards will Not resell ANYTHING to the public.
Do you find any spring in the wheel casings when cutting them up? I have heard that alu wheels are sometimes pretty likely to move during cutting, due to built up stresses in the castings.
Yes indeed. That's why I only make cuts that are 95% complete because if you cut through, they usually shrink onto your blade and cause problems. I can usually break up what's left by hand. Best, Kelly
How do you get on with the reciprocating saw? I use a circular saw to cut up wheels which works great but find the teeth can clog and I have to keep a check between each cut. I don't have a reciprocating saw ( I modified the one I had to make a sand sifter) but would buy one is I thought it would be helpful.
Frankly, not very well. My recip saw is quite high power as far as the norm ("SawzAll" is a Milwaukee brand trade name often used here in the states), but even so, I find it to be excruciatingly slow. In fair weather, I can blow wheels apart in no time with my plasma cutter, but it takes me as long to set up, tear down, and clean up as it does to just do it on my table saw. Plasma is messy. I need to suit up because it tends to splatter, and it creates oxides in the vicinity of the cut. It's not safe for me to use the plasma cutter inside because my shop has too much flammables, and it is bitter cold here.....so table saw. If I had 5-10 wheels to do I would probably use plasma. It's hard to beat the convenience of some of the bulk scrappers I've seen here and AA, but you get very clean metal with this method at the expense of a little loss to saw kerf. I should have taken pictures but I just set the fence on the table saw at the width of the hoop (usually just behind the center spoke/hub), set the rim on the saw and roll it onto the blade cutting through the rim barrel. I leave a small interruption to the cut in three places around the circumference of each hoop to keep the wheel in tact so I can do the same on multiple hoops/cuts. I only use the recip saw to cut the remaining areas of the interrupted cuts to separate the hoops. That only takes a couple seconds per cut, then I have three hoops. To make the cuts on the spokes near the hub, I clamp it to the table and raise the blade with the crank wheel, cutting nearly through but still enough to hold everything together. What's left can be knocked apart with a light blow from a hammer. I make cuts in the remaining hoops dividing them into segments but again leave about 1/2" to retain the hoop. For those cuts, I just set the table saw fence to 1/2 the wheel diameter and guide the hoop free hand. It's amazing how quickly the cut is made. After those cuts are made I can just lean on the hoops and break them into pieces with my hands. My table saw is 3HP, 10" diameter blade. I use a carbide toothed rip blade that I would consider worn out for woodworking. The fewer teeth help clear chips and reduces loading by the aluminum. I dress the blade teeth with grinders grease occasionally and that cuts down on loading as well, but occasionally do need to pry off some tooth loading. Controlling feed and speed by feel helps too. I feel pretty comfortable doing this on the table saw. I use a handheld circular saw to resize aluminum plate up to 1/2-3/4" thick but take pause at attacking a shape like a wheel with it. Do you find it kick's back often. I already have one but wouldn't buy one for this job. I could cut the hoops apart with a hand saw in short order. Hope that helps. Best, Kelly
Thanks for the reply. I don't have any problem with the hand held saw kicking back. just the teeth clogging. I try and get blades with not many teeth . I have a small plasma cutter. I tried it on the wheels when I first got it but it was massy . I have some steel sheet to cut up this week with the plasma so I am going to try it again. This time I plan to mount the torch rigid and move the wheel around it. I found it hard to keep the torch on the curved wheel freehand.
I have found that using a car wax on my saw blades seems to work better then anything else and is way cleaner then WD40 or an oil. The commercial blade lube used in the machine shops is basically wax. With my tilting furnace i very seldom need to break anything down even with an engine block i just put it in the furnace with the door open and within 15 to 20 minutes it gets hot enough to break up and close the lids. Art B
I believe the "grinder's grease" I mentioned is paraffin based. Not sure what else is in there but it clings and persists better than most I've used. At room temperature you can gouge it with your thumb nail. I also use it on carbide burrs to prevent loading. I don't do enough scrapping to justify a set up like yours Art but still creates a little furnace envy. Best, Kelly
BOELUBE boys.... Seriously.... BOELUBE! https://www.mscdirect.com/browse/tn...fwZVpKUKVJP_OEqIGaptDyEY_ir62y2xoCWmcQAvD_BwE
I tried the plasma cuter again today. I was able to cut the thinner parts OK and the inside rim but the rest was too much for my small plasma. I also got splashes of ali stuck all over my boiler suit so I won't be trying that again. So it's back to the saw. I have a 2ft diameter lorry wheel to cut up, not sure how to tackle that one yet.
How do I get my hands on a boiler suit? My wife is getting pissed at seeing wax stuck to my clothes. You boys in england need this guy! No fuss, the work is done for you and free shipping! https://www.ebay.com/itm/ALUMINUM-I...261652?hash=item2a69f48f94:g:0kgAAOxyLm9TBrNJ
Large chin-to-ankle apron of 15 ounce canvas might serve, in lieu of a boiler suit. If leather-fronted, can serve for welding and foundry as well, especially if one puts ceramic felt between leather and canvas.
+1 to what Jason said! I picked some of this up years ago, to try it out. I keep some on hand now, and have given it to friends because it's amazing on Aluminum works great on steel too.
Or, if you cannot score Boelube, then try "waxen chain Gunge." 1 ounce beeswax, one ounce soft microcrystaline wax, 8-12 ounces paraffin, and 8 to 16 ounces ISO 680 synthetic Gear Oil. I melt this in a crock pot, and steep my chain in the heated mix after a good cleaning. It stands up to a BBSHD mid drive.
I'll take your advice and give it a try. I use a tapping fluid from enco- MSC Direct- that's like a gel. I'm confident that it works well for tapping as theres little heat generated and it's still all over the tap when I'm done, but when I'm drilling it's hard to tell if it's just burning off.
