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Cutting 4130 sheet on a Table Saw

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wltrmtty

Well-Known Member
Joined
Oct 26, 2013
Messages
78
Location
Kenosha, WI
I see a lot of information on making parts from wood and tubing, and forming and assemby of aluminum sheet, but VERY little about making steel fittings - why isn't there a Steel Fittings Section?. The best I've found is in Tony Bingelis's Sport Plane Builder series.

I needed to cut out some fittings from 0.090 4130 and was really nervous about how to do it. CNC LASER & plasma are out, I don't have a shear and no desire (or $$) to buy or build one, and using a cut off wheel really didn't excite me for some reason. I bought a Black Bull band saw, but the throat is too narrow for the cut. So, that left me with the table saw....ugh. I'd read some posts about the sparks, smell, and noise associated with cutting steel with a table saw, so was not really excited about the 'possibilities.'

I bought a good quality steel-cutting titanium tipped Lenox blade for my old Craftsman contractors table saw. Safety glasses on and ear plugs in, I took a deep breathe and let-er-rip. Amazingly, it cut almost like the proverbial hot knife through butter. No scream from the blade and minimal sparks - what smell? I could see the titanium inserts getting red, so I slowed down a bit. I also used Boelube on the blade - not sure if that helped. I had very little burr and the steel was only warm to the touch - no heat affected zone.

Anyway, I thought I would share. I hope this will be a help to someone.
 
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