wrote in message
...
On Fri, 23 Jun 2017 16:32:32 -0700, "Bob La Londe"
wrote:

As part of my mold making business I often have to make insert pins
for
various custom projects. Sometimes those pins are odd sizes making
them
either hard to find or expensive to buy as pins. Frequently I can
buy wire
of some form or another that is exactly the perfect diameter, but
then I
have to cut it to length and clean up the ends. One of my common
sizes is
3/32. 10lbs of 3/32 stainless tig wire makes a lot of cheap pins
for the
price. I just finished a mold that requires an insert pin thats a
little
over 1/16. I found some straight lengths of .064 stainless wire at
McMaster
that will do the trick.

If I use a clipper of some kind the end requires a lot of dressing
on the
grinder and/or bench sander. If I use a cut off wheel in a rotary
hand
piece the cut is straighter with just a burr that needs to be
polished off,
but its awkward and a little hazardous with sparks going everywhere.
Also,
its hard to get lengths just right when length is important. The
answer is
to make them a little long and grind them to length. YUCK! Huge
time suck
ensues.

I debated making a little chop saw using a rotary hand piece, and
setting it
up with a chute (for cut pieces to slide down into a catch box, and
a length
stop of some kind so I could dial in once for a particular project
and cut a
bunch of insert pins at once. I may go that way. When I was first
learning
about CNC machining I built a couple setups to use rotary hand
pieces as
spindles. One was an adjust dual head setup to cut two molds plates
at the
same time.

ANYWAY, after spending some time thinking about I did a search for
miniature
chop saws to see if there was anything out there. It looks like
there
might be a few. Even if I have to modify one or make a tool to go
with one
for a length stop its got to be faster than making one from scratch.
I
could, but then instead of using my tools... well if you actually do
your
craft to make a few dollars you see where I am coming from. I'm
looking for
a solution. Not a project.

So, here are the questions:

Do you have a miniature chopsaw or know somebody who has one?

If you do (or know somebody who does) how well does it work?

If you do (or know somebody who does) how well does it hold up?

Is it home made or factory manufactured?

If it is factory made what make and model is it?

Does it use an abrasive blade or some other type?

How easy is it to change blades?

Do you (or the person you know who has one) cut metal with it?

I also make a few teflon pins. It would be nice to be able to cut
them
quickly and easily to specific lengths as well. If such a saw had a
toothed
metal cutting blade or could be quickly changed to a toothed blade
it might
serve a dual purpose.

Greetings Bob,
Years ago I had a similar job. I had to cut hundreds of springs that
were just a straight rod about 4 inches long. The spring stock came
in
36 inch lengths. I had to make rods from two different diameters, 2
mm
and 2.5 mm. An abrasive cutoff saw was needed but they were
expensive.
What I ended up using was a chop saw made for wood. The saw was made
for 7 inch saw blades but I put an abrasive blade on it. I put a
little air vise on it. I mounted a switch on the saw that controlled
a
solenoid valve that caused the vise to open when the saw was raised.
This setup made for very fast cutting of the spring steel.
Eric

I've used a cutoff wheel in a table saw for pieces large enough to
hold safely.

The burrs that it leaves prevent cleaning up the ends on my collet
lathe. I put a 1/2"-20 mount Jacobs chuck on an AA/Sears lathe and use
it for tasks like that which need high RPMs but not accuracy.
-jsw