Cutting cast iron

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  • Bill in Buena Park
    Veteran Member
    • Nov 2007
    • 1865
    • Buena Park, CA
    • CM 21829

    Cutting cast iron

    A while back I bought this diamond blade for my recip saw to cut some old cast iron plumbing. These are not new, so I'm sure most of you have had a chance to use one, and can appreciate how well they work.

    I recently found another use for it, an idea from something I read, possibly here.

    My HF 34706 12x36 lathe came with a 12 inch cast iron tool rest. Its an adequate rest, but at times the 12 inch length is not a good fit for the intended operation, and so I've been looking for an affordable 6 inch version with a 1 inch post (1 inch post because I bored out my banjo from 25mm to 1 inch). Not finding any, I decided to take a stab at making one by ordering a second rest from HF ($12), and lopping 3 inches off each side. For an extra $85 including tax and shipping, I also ordered the bearings and pulleys for the Reeves drive - as talismans against wear and breakage, such as my spare BT3 drive belts.

    I was thinking of using a metal cutting disk in my angle grinder for this, but then remembered this cast-iron blade - and what a great job it did! It cut smoothly and with good control, and only a little light grinding was needed to clean up the ends. And now I have an affordable 6 inch tool rest.
    Bill in Buena Park
  • capncarl
    Veteran Member
    • Jan 2007
    • 3564
    • Leesburg Georgia USA
    • SawStop CTS

    #2
    It's good to hear that the diamond blades in the recip saw work. That is about the only tool I haven't cut metal with and will pick up a couple of these blades "just in case". The recip saw is a much less aggressive tool to use cutting metal compared to the pucker factor the angle grinder has.

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    • JimD
      Veteran Member
      • Feb 2003
      • 4187
      • Lexington, SC.

      #3
      Good to hear of that option. My house has a mixture of plastic and cast iron so I may need to cut the old cast iron when I start into the plumbing.

      I am more comfortable of my control with an angle grinder, however. I cut tile with mine and once made a picture frame shapped piece to mount a soap dish. I broke one but got it on the second try. But I've had bad luck with inexpensive diamond blades for it. I use abrasive ones.

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      • tfischer
        Veteran Member
        • Jul 2003
        • 2343
        • Plymouth (Minneapolis), MN, USA.
        • BT3100

        #4
        I actually *bought* my recip saw years ago as an emergency buy when a plumbing repair went bad... was replacing the drain in our bathtub and the old one just would NOT come out. Ended up running to HD to buy a recip saw (always nice when I can score a tool due to an 'emergency' lol) and was able to cut it off from underneath and then nip at it from above. Since it was soft brass a standard metal blade did fine though, never tried the diamond ones yet... good to hear they work well.

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        • capncarl
          Veteran Member
          • Jan 2007
          • 3564
          • Leesburg Georgia USA
          • SawStop CTS

          #5
          I've cut a lot of stuff using a recip saw, literally wore several completely out! All with good quality blades from industrial supply houses, not cheap HF blades, and never used a diamond blade. This includes stainless steel, carbon steel and cast iron. Cast iron is probably the easiest to cut with thr recip saw!

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          • Bill in Buena Park
            Veteran Member
            • Nov 2007
            • 1865
            • Buena Park, CA
            • CM 21829

            #6
            I have cut a fair amount of metal in the past, steel, stainless, etc. and always had good results from the standard Lenox and Milwaukee blades of the bi-metal variety, until I encountered this old cast iron drain pipe. It was like trying to resaw oak with a 14 tpi bandsaw blade - going nowhere fast. That's when I discovered this diamond blade, and although I won't say it "cuts like butter", it sure went more quickly. And where you normally get "filings" from cutting steel, cast iron gives a kind of gritty dust, but that's likely the result of the diamonds not being true saw teeth, just an extreme abrasive.
            Bill in Buena Park

            Comment

            • capncarl
              Veteran Member
              • Jan 2007
              • 3564
              • Leesburg Georgia USA
              • SawStop CTS

              #7
              Anyone cutting or drilling metal will benefit from using a cutting fluid such as Tap Magic. Other cutting fluids are available and may work as well, I buy mine at the local welding supply shop or Fastenall. It improves drilling 90%, and makes sawing cast iron and stainless a lot better.
              capncarl

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