7 replies to this topic

[Pablo]

Here is a tip. You may already know this, or you may benefit from it. 

 

When you cut lengths of rod or wire with a pair of dikes or Linesmans pliers, it leaves high and low spots, like this 

 

 

If you don't make that cut concentric by rolling it on a Dremel disc or whatever, when you lay in on your jig and solder it in, that piece is going to cause high and low spots on your chassis. So you can make your wires and rods flat to begin with, or you can fight a continual "lack of flatness" issue for the duration of your build.

 

I guess it depends on how flat you want your chassis and how much you want to avoid issues by making your parts as perfect as possible 

 

Here are a couple of lengths of Swiss plated .063 wire for main rails on my Lola hardbody

 

 

All four ends are champhered and I haven't even made any bends or soldered them yet. They lay flat and they get soldered flat

 

[Bill from NH]

You tend to see much of this dykes/plier cutting on eBay chassis. I have a pair of German-made vanadium steel cutters that will snap .063 wire like a toothpick, but I only use them when making 3' lengths into more workable shorter lengths. Otherwise, I use abrasive cutoff discs for cutting wire.

[Pablo]

I forgot to mention, even a thin 409 Dremel wheel cut leaves a raised surface. You can spin it off with the wheel, or you can file it off.

[Ecurie Martini]

One of the most frequently used tools in my shop is  miniature "chop saw" with a ~ 2" abrasive blade like this one:

 

https://www.micromar...ws/cut-off-saws

 

I use it for brass and steel wire and tubing.  After cutting, a quick spin at an angle against a rotating abrasive disk cleans up the edge and, for tubing, the end of a needle file takes care of the bore.

 

I set the length of the cut with my calipers, dialing in the desired size and positioning the piece by butting it against the base of the caliper with the extended scale touching the partly lowered cutting disk.

 

EM

[Gene/ZR1]

Same thing for $34

https://www.harborfr...-saw-62136.html

[MattD]

I have the Harbor Freight unit.   You have to cut slow to not bind it up in bigger material, but it works fine and cuts smooth.   Use can use the discount coupon or find it on sale.

[Jay Guard]

Check on Zoro.com, they have several  2" dia. x 1/32" thick x 3/8" ID arbor for around a $1 a piece.  They work great on the Harbor Freight unit.

[Matt Sheldon]

I use this from Grizzly Tool with a cheap $15 Harbor Freight 4" angle grinder and super thin wheel. Fast with very little heat build up and you can do mass amounts at a time for production style builds. It was easy to incorporate a part stop as well for duplicating lengths.

 

PSA - It is a tad on the dangerous side with regards to lack of safety hoods and deflectors.