How do you cut your square tubing? Angle Grinder?

[Twang]

I don't have a lot of tools, but am prepared to buy what I need to build my Brutus 10 clone. Since I will be purchasing an angle grinder...

Will an angle grinder with cutting wheel be capable of cutting all the square tubing? How did you cut yours?

 

[EarthBound]

Yes, it will be. It won't be striaight, but that's OK if you try to grind it flat after cutting and if you're a good welder.
I cut mine using one of those big-ass bandsaws. Bandsaw, chop saw, miter saw... those are the way to go. You could pick up a saw on CL, borrow a buddy's saw, or use a buddy's saw to save your money.

 

[lschiavo]

If you can borrow or rent a Porta-band, I would recommend it. Practically zero effort!

 

[springer]

I have a inexpensive chop saw

 

[smakudwn]

Porta-band is what i went with.

 

[Homercidal]

Currently I use a cut-off disc. I wanted a chop saw for X-mas, but I didn't get it. Til I get one, the cut-off disc works ok, just have to straighten the cut afterwards. The chop saw would be better for angles though. And faster.

 

[Bensiff]

Steel isn't cheap so no use skimping out on tools and end up with bad angles and a sloppy looking brew rig. If money is tight I would rent something that can give you reliable angles or maybe pick up a HF chop saw to keep the price down.

 

[weizen]

Chopsaw, just go nice and slow or there is the risk of the "blade" flexing and making un- square cut

 

[Photomask]

There's a multitude of ways to cut steel tubing including an old-fashioned hacksaw. An angle grinder with a welder's razor blade will do it but not accurate or repeatable. It's also very expensive per cut. A portaband does well with straight cuts in small tubing but requires skill to get accurate repeatable cuts and doesn't do well with miter cuts. An abrasion chopsaw is fairly repeatable if you don't force it, price per cut is kind of high. A coldsaw does very well but is also very expensive and the blades will put you in the poor house. For price per cut to get accurate repeatable cuts, straight and miter, a horizontal bandsaw is hard to beat. And to answer your question... That's what I use.

 

[Lonnie Mac]

For a very quick one-off cut, I used my angle grinder with a steady hand. Makes a great cut!

For 95% of the main cutting though, I must confess I had access to a diamond blade cold saw!

 

[DevilsCreekBrewing]

I borrowed a chop saw from a friend. A band saw would be a great thing to have, but space is at a premium for me already.

Chop saws are nice, cheap, rentatable, decent cuts, don't take up much space.

 

[dozer4412]

A real simple and inexpensive way to do it is have the metal company your buying the tubing from cut everything to length. This is what I did and for an extra $10 everything was to length and square.

 

[HappyValley]

I use a Porta Cable PC1410 Cold Cut Saw. Works great. I remember paying around $250 for it a few years ago, but they seem to sell for a great deal more now.

 

[camiller]

Build a jig to hold the angle grinder. Could probably do it with a hinge and a couple scraps of wood.

 

[onelegout]

I was lucky enough to get to use a huge horizontal band saw at my friend's dad's workshop (He's a farmer) - it cut so cleanly, and perfectly straight!


However, if possible you should definitely get the metal company to cut it to size, it will make a huge difference! I bought my metal in 3m and 1.5m lengths without realising how difficult it would be to cut. I also got regular box section instead of the perfectly square stuff, which made it much harder to weld, especially since I had never welded before.

 

[Marsdude]

A chop saw is the cheapest way to cut your tubing straight. Harbor Freight has them for $50. Amazon for $69. I bought mine at Home Depot, I don't know what they are selling for there but I built a steel framed 60' x 100' metal building with it and it still works fine.