Well guys, first of all, happy new year to friends here and abroad. I hope 2018 turns out to be a year of prosperity, peace, and good health for all of us. Northern and Cire (and I'm sure others), I do feel badly I've not yet replied to your considered thoughts....feel if someone takes the time to reply, it behooves to take it in and at least reply back. Just want to say, haven't forgotten, just playing catch up.
Now:
I burned my friend's angle grinder trying to cut these supports off. I've never seen this - like, not sparks, but a serious amount of fire shooting out. It was an older one, but I'm concerned I did something wrong. Stupid, and I count myself lucky anyway. Diamond wheel and no guard.
My friend gets a new grinder of course; I'm still left with trying to get these things off. In addition, on another piece, I got a moment of pretty nasty kickback though I hold strong with two hands. Given my long history of being a klutz and consequent accidents (did I say I shot myself with my brother's crossbow as a kid?), I'm wondering if I'm courting disaster.
I only have 4 supports to do. I understand trying to hacksaw through the bead itself is futile, but what if I saw on the near side of the bead, and use a grinder to simply grind everything flush again? I've no experience with oxy, much less cutting torch. That being said, is that the standard, really, in doing something like this? Is there a big issue with distortion near the area of the cuts (these would be perpendicular to the horizontal support member)? My friend actually has an oxy setup with torch....and I know....but I'd like to learn this anyway....
Finally, I hate to do it as I've come this far, but any thoughts on taking it in to a shop to just sever these supports, and make clean, flush surfaces, so I can weld new ones in place at the correct position (about 2" closer together)? Any idea on what a reasonable cost would be?
And this may sound ridiculous, wasteful, and a host of other things. Part of me also thinks, just buy another $140 worth of stock and start over, as I do feel like I've learned a lot in doing this one, listening to you guys and just getting a feel in place, as opposed to reading from a book. I then have a pretty well-connected piece of scrap for future projects. (on the other hand, itching to brew and it's so close. So....)