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ratchet
20th Feb 2006, 05:14 PM
I want to do a little job for my son who is a chef

I need to cut some food grade stainless steel pipe , say 90mm dia into 50 mm lenghts

He intends to use them like egg rings ( which are not big enough)

I was going to use A 254MM RYOBIE drop saw with a 230mm metal cutting blade .

Is it going to work , do I have to be careful of the thickness of the metal , is so what would be the maximum .

rod1949
20th Feb 2006, 05:53 PM
Wouldn't it be easier and safer to have them cut/turned off in a metal lathe.

echnidna
20th Feb 2006, 06:13 PM
grit discs cut stanless ok but they wear out faster than than when cutting plain steel.
Feed very slowly.

DanP
20th Feb 2006, 06:13 PM
Wouldn't it be easier and safer to have them cut/turned off in a metal lathe.

Yep. Plus you can clean up (debur and remove sharp edge) each cut on the lathe, as you go.

Dan

bsrlee
20th Feb 2006, 07:50 PM
You will find a problem with the tube remaining food grade after you have 'hot' cut them with an abrasive wheel - if you get stainless over 700 dergrees (I can't remember if thats C or F) the chrome selectively reacts with atmospheric gases & the steel is no longer stainless - that's why rudders and similar bits keep falling off yachts - here was a recent case on TV about a bodgy keel weld on one of the racing yachts.

You really need to cut the stuff 'cold' - either on a lathe, or with one of the fine tooth metal cutting blades. I'll bet Henry Bros. could sell you a suitable blade for your bandsaw or power hacksaw.

DanP
20th Feb 2006, 08:16 PM
I've seen plenty of food grade stainless welded and have welded a few stainless food vats myself. Welding is a lot hotter that 700° so I can't believe that (unless a lot has changed in ten years).

mickp
20th Feb 2006, 09:53 PM
Can't imagine heat changing the properties of your stainless, I worked in an abbatoir for a while as a fitter/welder. everything was made from food grade stainless, the heat from welding never changed it at all.
if it was me, I would go with the drop saw. just let the weight of the saw do the work dont try to force it through. then clean off the burrs with a file

Grahame Collins
20th Feb 2006, 10:32 PM
It sounds as though you have not got the pipe yet? If you haven't, the price of 90mm pipe may surprise you.
I foresee some problems in addittion to those already mention. First an explanation re the yacht stainless failure. Food grade stainless is really 316L stainless steel. It also sometimes travels under the marine grade stainless steel and surgical stainless steel labels.The L designation stands for low carbon content.If a weld is not performed using the correct metalurgically matching electrode,the interface between the weld bead and the parent metal may suffer intergranular corrision due to the constant harsh marine environment. Anywhere the sparks from your saw land may cause corrosion if the environmment is harsh enough.( Not knowing exactly what is in the cooking makes it difficult to be more precise)

Cutting the pipe using the friction dropsaw may create problems in keeping the cut square to the axis.The saw blade is very likely to run off vertical line.
Ruining expensive stainless pipe in your saw is not a good way to find this out. May I suggest a simpler solution.Find a sheetmetal works ( one that specialises in kitchen bench tops would be ideal-316L again )

They can cut and roll flat strips into rings and tig weld them. Ninety mm by 3.1614 will give about 284. Give them the height you want and you are set.

Man that was long
I think I have earned a cuppa.
Cheers
Grahame

garf
22nd Feb 2006, 04:45 PM
Hi Ratchet,
Not sure whether food grade aluminium tube is available, but if you have a choice about which material to work with then choose the ally for this job.
Reasons are.....Tube wall will probably be thinner ie easier to cut and kinder to your machine.
......................Less expensive, much less expensive I should say.
......................Use a circular saw blade, in your dropsaw, go for one with lots of teeth, will leave less machining marks and less chance of tearing the material.
......................Quicker and easier, 5 minutes and your done.
Regards,
Gary.

iitommoii
21st Sep 2009, 08:06 AM
:o
It sounds as though you have not got the pipe yet? If you haven't, the price of 90mm pipe may surprise you.
I foresee some problems in addittion to those already mention. First an explanation re the yacht stainless failure. Food grade stainless is really 316L stainless steel. It also sometimes travels under the marine grade stainless steel and surgical stainless steel labels.The L designation stands for low carbon content.If a weld is not performed using the correct metalurgically matching electrode,the interface between the weld bead and the parent metal may suffer intergranular corrision due to the constant harsh marine environment. Anywhere the sparks from your saw land may cause corrosion if the environmment is harsh enough.( Not knowing exactly what is in the cooking makes it difficult to be more precise)

Cutting the pipe using the friction dropsaw may create problems in keeping the cut square to the axis.The saw blade is very likely to run off vertical line.
Ruining expensive stainless pipe in your saw is not a good way to find this out. May I suggest a simpler solution.Find a sheetmetal works ( one that specialises in kitchen bench tops would be ideal-316L again )

They can cut and roll flat strips into rings and tig weld them. Ninety mm by 3.1614 will give about 284. Give them the height you want and you are set.

Man that was long
I think I have earned a cuppa.
Cheers
Grahame

Dave J
21st Sep 2009, 12:57 PM
I am not sure where you are buying it from,but they maybe able to cut it for you for a little extra.
Dave

12teethperinch
21st Sep 2009, 02:22 PM
I used to cut a lot of stainless tube with a good bi metal blade on a import metal cutting band saw. The stuff wasn't food grade but it shouldn't make a difference. Stainless is strange stuff moved like crazy compared to carbon steel when we used tig weld it, and if you got it hot when you were drilling, it became so hard the bits would be absolutely destroyed. I never managed to destroy any bits myself but the guys I had working for me seemed to sure go through a lot.
Darrell

malb
21st Sep 2009, 07:02 PM
However you cut it, you need to be able to secure it to the machine properly before you cut it. Round tube is very prone to trying to rotate during the cut, even in a brobo style saw. If it can, it will spiral (feed while rotating) spoiling the cut, the blade and possibly you day or week. Unless the saw has a decent vice system that caters for round materials very well, I would not try it.

BenM78
21st Sep 2009, 09:51 PM
90NB schedule 5 has a wall thickness of 2.1mm so is pretty heavy. I have an 80mm long piece of sch10 here that I just went and had a look at and it seems to be a hefty bit of gear for tossing around a kitchen. I'd be rolling it up from 1.2 sheet and welding it.