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Advice on cutting 10mm steel plate


Maverik

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Hi folks, as part of my bench build I need to cut/shape the top plate which is 10mm x 2000mm long and needs a 400mm strip cutting off it...

What are people advice for doing this... I've tried going at it with my wee 4.5" angle grinder with slitting discs... Suffice to say I got about 40mm before the disc was caput...

Options I think I've got are, bigger angle grinder... plasma cutter, oxy/acet...

Any advice/thoughts...

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I used to do quite well with my 9 inch grinder, oxy acetylene is awesome, oxy propane is probably more affordable unless you can get a loan of a set of bottles? Or if you have a compressor then splash out on a plasma cutter ;)

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Hind sight a great thing ain't it....

No compressor Nige so would be part of a purchase...

I've been doing some reading on oxy acet and I'm being swayed by the flexibility aspect, considered getting a torch for sometime but never quite managed it.

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Find a local fab shop that will come out and gas cut it for you on site , I'm sure there must be someone nearby who will do it for £50 ? Or hire some bottles and do it yourself . for cutting propane is fine btw

And if you ever need anything cut in plate pm me , we can cut to your requirements , holes , slots etc and freight it HD plasma or gas above 30mm ;)

A 9 inch disc cutter would do it too , just sooo much dust and noise

cheers

Steveb

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Hobby weld do oxy acetylene bottles, lower pressure than box or energas but plenty good enough for home use and no rentals.

I find the 1mm dronco or bluespot disks do ok in the 4.5" grinder, I once chopped a 27mm thick x 446mm long piece of en8 to make a bit for the press, didn't use that many disks so long as you kept them straight. Took a while though.

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Depends how much you wanna spend/what tools are already in your possession

Either oxyfuel or plasma will be the least effort, just use a guide to cut against unless you have inhumanly steady hands

Oxyfuel is fairly cheap to get set up with, it just has the enduring cost of rental and refills on the oxy. The best thing is you already know someone local with a set, everyone does, ask about in the pub/local hardware supplies/farm supplies and see who can lend you theirs for an hour or two

A plasma cutter is a significantly larger investment, especially since you also require a compressor. Even looking at low end Chinese plasma's and diy compressors you will be north of 300quid, not exactly have a versatile setup, and suffer from low run times dictated by the compressors output. The plasma cutter is arguably the most useful of the three options here though

A 9" grinder will go through it no problem, and will give a fairly neat cut, you would probably use a couple of decent quality discs. Every workshop should have a 9" so if you don't have one yet then it's about time :)

You could probably get a diy spec grinder for circa 50quid or a decent one for around £100

Personally I wouldn't consider the cut on a 4.5" grinder, but it is doable, just time consuming, noisy, tiring, and heavy work for the tool and consumables

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He's probably right, box of decent discs and JFDI. Will give you the least amount of grinding cleanup.

That said:

I'm gonna say take the spendy option and get yourself a plasma. My cheapo chinese job will do 10mm plate, and with a steady hand and a guide will give decent, if not perfect results. Inlcuding import taxes it cost me £250 delivered. This was a pilot arc model mind.

You're going to want a compressor in your workshop anyway, might as well get it installed properly, in a suitable place as you're building up the workshop. Oh and spend £13 on large bore hose to connect the 2 together!

Matt

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Thanks for your views chaps. Well I've actually hit the button on getting an oxy acetylene set up... this allows me to weld, heat and cut all with the same set up and with the smallest outlay of cost. The belt drive compressor is on the Christmas list... I just can't quite justify a plasma cutter as most of the work I do can be done quite easily with my wee hand grinder and slitting discs...

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Thin 1.5mm? Discs in the 9" and use some angle as a straight edge don't try and cut through all the way just run the disc up and down taking a little off each time this makes discs last much longer than when they grab going through.

I realise you've got oxy but that method really saves thin discs.

Will.

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How does that work then Si?

It's kind of like a plasma cutter. The arc provides the plasma and the steam generated by the wet rod like the air jet. It's nowhere near as good as a plasma as neither the arc, nor the jet are as defined or directed - but it's still enough to blow the molten steel out of the way. It's on old Farmers hack!

Si

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I've used gouging rods in the stick welder to cut tooth lands and toe plates off when repairing digger buckets

It's quicker than oxyfuel on plate that thick (30mm ish), wasn't exactly fun though

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I've bought a cutting/welding gas kit from Weldequip, I got my welder from these guys and they're pretty good, good to talk to on the phone too! - as I've been pretty pleased with my hobbyweld welding gas, and after finding that the garage around the corner from the new house actually supplies the stuff it was a bit of a no brainer - not cheap to buy the Acetylene but it should be a one time major cost. I've not used Acetylene since I was back in school, so I was doing a bit of reading up on it last night, looking forward to having this new tool in my arsenal!

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