Ok - why not buy a pipe cutter - take it apart and steal the cutter
wheel from it. Then make a holder - pin the wheel and mount it on
your cross slide. Then cut. It really spreads metal apart.

You could do about the same thing with a V pointed tool - or a square
face cutoff tool. The trick is to cut slowly. Slow is relative.

One could put a tool post grinder with a saw in it - and saw off
lengths, while having a mandril of hardwood.

Lots of ways for creative minds.

Having something within keeps it from flattening.

Martin

On 5/9/2012 6:21 PM, Tom Gardner wrote:
We use 2" x .049 wall tube cut 4" and deburred. We also use three
shorter lengths but in small quantities. I usually get 200' and send it
out. For the short lengths, we cut the tube on a bandsaw then deburr
each end, inner and outer, in a lathe.

Would it work if I slide 1' pieces onto a mandrel in the lathe and used
a pizza cutter type wheel in the cross slide to part the tube? Kind of
like a pipe cutter.