On Nov 11, 12:36*pm, "Ed Huntress" wrote:
"Searcher7" *wrote in message

...

On Nov 11, 11:33 am, "Ed Huntress" wrote:









"Searcher7" *wrote in message

...

Thanks everyone.
I'll have to give a couple of those ideas a try.
And speaking of hacksaw blades, I have to cut some down for use as
backing springs for some leaf switches similar to the one shown he
http://i290.photobucket.com/albums/l.../Arcade%20Stuf....
(I assume snips of some sort are the best tool for that job).

A hacksaw blade will wreck your snips. It's too hard.

My favorite tool for cutting hand hacksaw blades is a silicon-carbide
cutoff
wheel in aDremel. You will want to use some kind of abrasive cutter to
avoid damage to good steel cutters, and a little cutoff wheel is easy and
faster than most other methods.

If you're just cutting them off square, you can hold the blade in a vise
and
break it off, and then grind off the rough edge on a bench grinder.

--
Ed Huntress
I'll pick up some silicon carbide cutting wheels for one of myDremel
XPR 400 tools. The springs blades I have to make will be about 1/4"
wide and 3" long.
Thanks a lot.
Darren Harris
Staten Island, New York.

Aha. A 3" cut is a long one to do with aDremel. If you're just doing a few,
and if you're patient, no problem. But if you have to do a lot of them, you
may find that method to be too slow and tedious for such cuts. For jobs like
that, I use my die grinder and bigger wheels.

Or, if the cut is straight, I'll cut part way through with theDremel, put
the blade in a vise, and whack off the waste part at the cut line, using a
big chisel to break it. Then I grind the edge smooth with a bench grinder..

If you haven't used those little SiCDremelwheels, please observe this
caution: The wheels shatter easily, if you twist theDremelout of line even
slightly. WEAR EYE PROTECTION! Those little bits can do serious damage to
your eyes.

But for short cuts, they're awfully handy. I use those little wheels a lot.