Hi, I'm trying to cut a piece of brass threaded rod in two to use the halves
as racks for focussing a view camera. Now I can cut it no problem with a
slitting saw, but my problem is that is then starts doing some interesting
contorsion and looks like a spiral or some kind of randomly generated
curve... I presume that internal stress are released by the cutting and
causes the deformation to occur (also so it just cutting a piece from a flat
bar of brass, 3/16 thick, quite surprising to see the piece your cutting off
take a 1/8 inch curve in about 5 inch of lenght...). So my question is for
all the saavy people out there, can I and how do I relieve the stress to
prevent (or at least reduce) the deformation caused by machining.

(yes I know I could probably buy the racks but considering the price of
threaded rod vs the price of racks....)

Thanks all for you help.

Alain Labbe