Model Forum / General / Rockets / July 2004

A Radial arm saw or an electric miter saw.  Band saws do nicley IF the
throat is deep enough. 8-)  They don't cut a right angle as well as
the other two.

Alos, I think Rocketry Online has an article for a jig to cut tubes.

We use diamond circular saw blades for our production carbon and glass
windings. You can find consumer versions that are used for cutting ceramic
tiles etc. Abrasive cutoff saws can be used but the grade selection is
important. Wet cutting will give you more flexibility in that regard and
prevent burning of the matrix and delamination. You can rent ceramic saw
setups if you only plan on a few cuts. A band saw will make a mess unless
you use a blade with a carbide edge designed for composites. Many industrial
supply houses carry them.

Anthony J. Cesaroni
President/CEO
Cesaroni Technology/Cesaroni Aerospace
http://www.cesaronitech.com/
(905) 887-2370 x222 Toronto
(410) 571-8292  Annapolis

Put a pipe clamp around the tube, making sure that it is on
squarely.  Use a hobby saw, guided by the clamp.  When you get to
the screw, loosen the clamp and rotate making sure you keep it square.

This method usually requires a bit extra work to square up the cut,
but it is very fast and easy.

I'm using a 12" slide miter saw.  However using a smaller miter saw is
possible by eyeballing and making two or three cuts.  The cut with the
12" is incredible and does up to 5" tubing perfectly square.  Don't make
the cut too slow as to melt the glas, nor too quickly which can make it
chip.

Chuck

I'd look at a wet saw with a diamond blade. The water will keep the dust out
of the air and out of your lungs. Either material will eat conventional
blades for lunch.

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I've done quite all right with a hacksaw and a good fresh sharp blade on
Hawk Mountain 6" x .074" fiberglass tubing. The trick is to mark a clean
line on the tubing (wrap a strip of paper around it for a marking guide)
and make several passes with the saw - start with a light, carefully aligned
"scratch cut" and go all the way around like that until you have a continuous
groove that will guide the saw for deeper cutting. It seems best to get the
whole groove most of the way through the material before cutting all the
way in any spot, and when you start breaking through, try to leave a few
evenly spaced small points of connection as long as possible: you don't
want the cut section to try to flop loose while there's still a thick
spot that will tear the surrounding material.

(I've tried the round abrasive grit blades sold for cutting ceramic
tile; they work, but not really any better than ordinary steel blades,
and the regular blades give a narrower cut.)

The above method doesn't leave an _absolutely_ clean edge, but it's close
enough to clean up nicely with a few strokes of a file.

-dave w