I need to cut a rectangular hole in the side of my cast iron wood
stove, about 3"x5". I was thinking to drill holes for the corners and
then try to cut with a sawzall. I'm guessing the iron is about 1/4"
thick. Think that will work? What kind of blade would I need? Any
other suggestions? (I don't have a cutting torch or an angle grinder).


Thanks in advance.

PS For anyone who's curious, it's a very nice stove but it has a 'dead'
airspace in the top that cannot be accessed except through a couple of
narrow slits along the top. This space is not part of the fire box,
I'm not sure why it's there at all... My three year old intuitively
understood what those slits are for, he filled them with plastic mardi
gras beads. I found out about it when we fired up the stove. Now I
need to chip/burn/sandblast that space out.

fork wrote:

I need to cut a rectangular hole in the side of my cast iron wood
stove, about 3"x5". I was thinking to drill holes for the corners and
then try to cut with a sawzall. I'm guessing the iron is about 1/4"
thick. Think that will work? What kind of blade would I need? Any
other suggestions? (I don't have a cutting torch or an angle grinder).


Thanks in advance.

PS For anyone who's curious, it's a very nice stove but it has a 'dead'
airspace in the top that cannot be accessed except through a couple of
narrow slits along the top. This space is not part of the fire box,
I'm not sure why it's there at all... My three year old intuitively
understood what those slits are for, he filled them with plastic mardi
gras beads. I found out about it when we fired up the stove. Now I
need to chip/burn/sandblast that space out.


I would drill maybe 3/8" holes at the corners and then get
a ferrous metal abrasive blade for the circ saw to make the
cuts lengthwise between holes. (Lotsa metal dust, so be prepared.)
I have a bad feeling about the Sawzall in this application.

Is there no other way to retrieve whatever?

Jim

Speedy Jim wrote:
fork wrote:

I need to cut a rectangular hole in the side of my cast iron wood
stove, about 3"x5". I was thinking to drill holes for the corners and
then try to cut with a sawzall. I'm guessing the iron is about 1/4"
thick. Think that will work? What kind of blade would I need? Any
other suggestions? (I don't have a cutting torch or an angle grinder).

I would drill maybe 3/8" holes at the corners and then get
a ferrous metal abrasive blade for the circ saw to make the
cuts lengthwise between holes. (Lotsa metal dust, so be prepared.)
I have a bad feeling about the Sawzall in this application.


I agree with Jim. Sawzall creates a lot of vibration.

Speedy Jim wrote:
fork wrote:

I need to cut a rectangular hole in the side of my cast iron wood
stove, about 3"x5". I was thinking to drill holes for the corners and
then try to cut with a sawzall. I'm guessing the iron is about 1/4"
thick. Think that will work? What kind of blade would I need? Any
other suggestions? (I don't have a cutting torch or an angle grinder).


Thanks in advance.

PS For anyone who's curious, it's a very nice stove but it has a 'dead'
airspace in the top that cannot be accessed except through a couple of
narrow slits along the top. This space is not part of the fire box,
I'm not sure why it's there at all... My three year old intuitively
understood what those slits are for, he filled them with plastic mardi
gras beads. I found out about it when we fired up the stove. Now I
need to chip/burn/sandblast that space out.


I would drill maybe 3/8" holes at the corners and then get
a ferrous metal abrasive blade for the circ saw to make the
cuts lengthwise between holes. (Lotsa metal dust, so be prepared.)
I have a bad feeling about the Sawzall in this application.

Is there no other way to retrieve whatever?

Jim

I would try a hacksaw blade in a jigsaw first. Better control and you
can cut the length of the blade down to provide clearance if the cavity
is shallow. Cast iron machines easy once you get through the scale so
a saw blade should work fine.

Harry K

I'll tell you that the emergency rescue metal cutting blades for the
sawzall worked great on cast iron pipe but they are a inch long you may
have to drill quite alot but they worked better than the black blades
that are supposed to work on cast iron
fork wrote:
I need to cut a rectangular hole in the side of my cast iron wood
stove, about 3"x5". I was thinking to drill holes for the corners and
then try to cut with a sawzall. I'm guessing the iron is about 1/4"
thick. Think that will work? What kind of blade would I need? Any
other suggestions? (I don't have a cutting torch or an angle grinder).


Thanks in advance.

PS For anyone who's curious, it's a very nice stove but it has a 'dead'
airspace in the top that cannot be accessed except through a couple of
narrow slits along the top. This space is not part of the fire box,
I'm not sure why it's there at all... My three year old intuitively
understood what those slits are for, he filled them with plastic mardi
gras beads. I found out about it when we fired up the stove. Now I
need to chip/burn/sandblast that space out.

I do not know where your cast iron stove comes from or what type of cast
iron
was used.
Using a grinding disk is not a bad idea but you may have some difficulty of
getting the right cutting disk.
Plus you will have to control the speed and the sparks.
I would first try a bi-metal cutting blade and cutting lubricant. I have
done with a scroll saw at low speed using a premium quality blade with lots
of cutting oil. I mean cutting oil not lubrication oil. The cutting oil
makes all the difference. I even cut 1/4 steel plate.
First you will need a pilot hole to allow the blade to get in. Be careful
not to drill through a double wall construction. At that time, while boring
into the cast iron you will get a feel for the hardness of the metal. Some
stoves have been casted with soft iron mixed with lots of sand and when
drilling it goes very fast. Under times you may encounter some hard spots.
Always use lots of cutting oil.
If you go thought some gas pockets you will have to fill the voids with
stove cement. When cutting with a scroll saw make sure that the base of the
saw is hold firmly against the flat surface to be cut.
PS I prefer a scroll saw for the type of work plus the blade are cheaper to
buy. With a reciprocating saw you will have to make a larger pilot hole and
make sure that the reciprocating saw base stay in firm contact with the
surface to be cut and start at very low speed.


wrote in message
oups.com...
I'll tell you that the emergency rescue metal cutting blades for the
sawzall worked great on cast iron pipe but they are a inch long you may
have to drill quite alot but they worked better than the black blades
that are supposed to work on cast iron
fork wrote:
I need to cut a rectangular hole in the side of my cast iron wood
stove, about 3"x5". I was thinking to drill holes for the corners and
then try to cut with a sawzall. I'm guessing the iron is about 1/4"
thick. Think that will work? What kind of blade would I need? Any
other suggestions? (I don't have a cutting torch or an angle grinder).


Thanks in advance.

PS For anyone who's curious, it's a very nice stove but it has a 'dead'
airspace in the top that cannot be accessed except through a couple of
narrow slits along the top. This space is not part of the fire box,
I'm not sure why it's there at all... My three year old intuitively
understood what those slits are for, he filled them with plastic mardi
gras beads. I found out about it when we fired up the stove. Now I
need to chip/burn/sandblast that space out.

If you have an air compressor, part with the $10.....
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...331&pricetype=




fork wrote:
I need to cut a rectangular hole in the side of my cast iron wood
stove, about 3"x5". I was thinking to drill holes for the corners and
then try to cut with a sawzall. I'm guessing the iron is about 1/4"
thick. Think that will work? What kind of blade would I need? Any
other suggestions? (I don't have a cutting torch or an angle grinder).


Thanks in advance.

PS For anyone who's curious, it's a very nice stove but it has a 'dead'
airspace in the top that cannot be accessed except through a couple of
narrow slits along the top. This space is not part of the fire box,
I'm not sure why it's there at all... My three year old intuitively
understood what those slits are for, he filled them with plastic mardi
gras beads. I found out about it when we fired up the stove. Now I
need to chip/burn/sandblast that space out.

fork wrote:
I need to cut a rectangular hole in the side of my cast iron wood
stove, about 3"x5". I was thinking to drill holes for the corners and
then try to cut with a sawzall. I'm guessing the iron is about 1/4"
thick.
snip

Layout the hole, then drill holes along cutout line as close together
as possible, say 1/4 holes on 3/8 centers, then use a saber saw with a
bi-metal blade to cut out.

Finally, clean up edges with a 4" right angle grinder.

You will still have a pile of C/I dust, but it will be about as small
as possible.

Lew

I would not cut into the stove. Try this first, take the whole stove
outside, get a blazing fire going and just burn off the plastic.

By cutting into the cast iron this is a failure waiting to happen and then
you either scrap the stove or are faced with a bitch to repair.


--

Roger Shoaf

About the time I had mastered getting the toothpaste back in the tube, then
they come up with this striped stuff.
"fork" wrote in message
oups.com...
I need to cut a rectangular hole in the side of my cast iron wood
stove, about 3"x5". I was thinking to drill holes for the corners and
then try to cut with a sawzall. I'm guessing the iron is about 1/4"
thick. Think that will work? What kind of blade would I need? Any
other suggestions? (I don't have a cutting torch or an angle grinder).


Thanks in advance.

PS For anyone who's curious, it's a very nice stove but it has a 'dead'
airspace in the top that cannot be accessed except through a couple of
narrow slits along the top. This space is not part of the fire box,
I'm not sure why it's there at all... My three year old intuitively
understood what those slits are for, he filled them with plastic mardi
gras beads. I found out about it when we fired up the stove. Now I
need to chip/burn/sandblast that space out.

Best advice I've seen yet.

"Lew Hodgett" wrote in message
news
fork wrote:
I need to cut a rectangular hole in the side of my cast iron wood
stove, about 3"x5". I was thinking to drill holes for the corners and
then try to cut with a sawzall. I'm guessing the iron is about 1/4"
thick.
snip

Layout the hole, then drill holes along cutout line as close together
as possible, say 1/4 holes on 3/8 centers, then use a saber saw with a
bi-metal blade to cut out.

Finally, clean up edges with a 4" right angle grinder.

You will still have a pile of C/I dust, but it will be about as small
as possible.

Lew

Wouldn't the intense heat just burn the plastic material off after awhile?

Searcher

Layout the hole, then drill holes along cutout line as close together
as possible, say 1/4 holes on 3/8 centers, then use a saber saw with a
bi-metal blade to cut out.

Finally, clean up edges with a 4" right angle grinder.


This is the easiest way to to the job. The hole you leave becomes the
issue. If the stove is infact cast iron, you may getaway with a patch
of other cast iron or steel screwed over the hole. Welding a patch on
cast iron is another story and you cannot flame cut cast iron.

Next I'm having trouble seeing a cast iron stove with a dead air space
that you cannot get to. These things are all bolted together.
Unless you actually have a welded steel stove.

The suggestion to take the stove outside and "burn out" the plastic
may be the better way to go.

Roger Shoaf wrote:
I would not cut into the stove. Try this first, take the whole stove
outside, get a blazing fire going and just burn off the plastic.

By cutting into the cast iron this is a failure waiting to happen and then
you either scrap the stove or are faced with a bitch to repair.


Yeah, What he said . . .
Mother was an old-fashioned Southern cook who used her cast iron
skillets daily. Now a good skillet was a family heirloom that was
passed down from mother to daughter. They just don't make 'em like
that anymore. A couple of times in my youth, she decided that one of
her skillets had too much carbon build-up on it and needed to be
re-seasoned. She'd wait until we were burning a pile of brush - Dad
was a firebug and always seemed to be burning a pile of brush somewhere
- and she'd toss her prized skillet into the hottest part of the
inferno. She'd wait a day or so until the coals cooled down and
retrieve her skillet. It would be burned down to the bare cast iron.
She'd re-season it and it would be good for another 20 years. One time
she took the bakelite handle off her aluminum pressure cooker and put
it in the fire with her skillet. When she went back, she found her
skillet - and a puddle of aluminum.

There just ain't no Mardi-Gras beads around that can take the heat of a
good fire. The plastic should first melt, then burn to ashes.

DonkeyHody
"He who lieth down with dogs waketh up with fleas."

Which is by the way, that the modern self cleaning oven does its thing. It
gets very hot and the crud burns away to ash.

"DonkeyHody" wrote in message
ups.com...

Roger Shoaf wrote:
I would not cut into the stove. Try this first, take the whole stove
outside, get a blazing fire going and just burn off the plastic.

By cutting into the cast iron this is a failure waiting to happen and
then
you either scrap the stove or are faced with a bitch to repair.


Yeah, What he said . . .
Mother was an old-fashioned Southern cook who used her cast iron
skillets daily. Now a good skillet was a family heirloom that was
passed down from mother to daughter. They just don't make 'em like
that anymore. A couple of times in my youth, she decided that one of
her skillets had too much carbon build-up on it and needed to be
re-seasoned. She'd wait until we were burning a pile of brush - Dad
was a firebug and always seemed to be burning a pile of brush somewhere
- and she'd toss her prized skillet into the hottest part of the
inferno. She'd wait a day or so until the coals cooled down and
retrieve her skillet. It would be burned down to the bare cast iron.
She'd re-season it and it would be good for another 20 years. One time
she took the bakelite handle off her aluminum pressure cooker and put
it in the fire with her skillet. When she went back, she found her
skillet - and a puddle of aluminum.

There just ain't no Mardi-Gras beads around that can take the heat of a
good fire. The plastic should first melt, then burn to ashes.

DonkeyHody
"He who lieth down with dogs waketh up with fleas."

fork wrote:

I need to cut a rectangular hole in the side of my cast iron wood
stove, about 3"x5". I was thinking to drill holes for the corners and
then try to cut with a sawzall. I'm guessing the iron is about 1/4"
thick. Think that will work? What kind of blade would I need? Any
other suggestions? (I don't have a cutting torch or an angle grinder).

Thanks in advance.

PS For anyone who's curious, it's a very nice stove but it has a 'dead'
airspace in the top that cannot be accessed except through a couple of
narrow slits along the top. This space is not part of the fire box,
I'm not sure why it's there at all... My three year old intuitively
understood what those slits are for, he filled them with plastic mardi
gras beads. I found out about it when we fired up the stove. Now I
need to chip/burn/sandblast that space out.

Just a guess but I imaging the space is to pre-heat the air feeding the
fire. That makes the fire more effecient and effenciency is an EPA
requirement on newer stoves. If you go into the space the wrong way you
will ruin the stove even if you are successful at removing the plastic.

You may want to ask a dealer for the brand of stove what he thinks of the
problem or a chimney sweep.

The best advice I've seen here is burning it our but if that produces the
thick black smoke common to incomplete burning of plastic, that is a whole
nother can of worms and a violation of the clean air act.

ron

Drill a hole in each corner. Use a jigsaw with a metal cutting blade.
Machining cast iron is like cutting through butter. The high carbon
content acts like a lubricant (think graphite) and keeps your tools
relatively cool; enough so that you shouldn't need lubricant.

Let us know how it works out.

Michael


r payne wrote:
fork wrote:

I need to cut a rectangular hole in the side of my cast iron wood
stove, about 3"x5". I was thinking to drill holes for the corners and
then try to cut with a sawzall. I'm guessing the iron is about 1/4"
thick. Think that will work? What kind of blade would I need? Any
other suggestions? (I don't have a cutting torch or an angle grinder).

Thanks in advance.

PS For anyone who's curious, it's a very nice stove but it has a 'dead'
airspace in the top that cannot be accessed except through a couple of
narrow slits along the top. This space is not part of the fire box,
I'm not sure why it's there at all... My three year old intuitively
understood what those slits are for, he filled them with plastic mardi
gras beads. I found out about it when we fired up the stove. Now I
need to chip/burn/sandblast that space out.

Just a guess but I imaging the space is to pre-heat the air feeding the
fire. That makes the fire more effecient and effenciency is an EPA
requirement on newer stoves. If you go into the space the wrong way you
will ruin the stove even if you are successful at removing the plastic.

You may want to ask a dealer for the brand of stove what he thinks of the
problem or a chimney sweep.

The best advice I've seen here is burning it our but if that produces the
thick black smoke common to incomplete burning of plastic, that is a whole
nother can of worms and a violation of the clean air act.

ron

Fork,

First off, don't waste an entire pack of saw blades on this little project.
Haul the stove over to the nearest machinist, tell him to torch a 3 x 5 hole
in it, and then weld an over hanging 1/4" x 1" iron lip all the way around
the outside edges of the cut out piece with a small piece of it welded on
edge at aprox the outside center point to make a handle. Now you have a
permanent access door. If the area your wanting to cut is totally vertical,
then have the machinist leave one short side of the door unlipped and have
hime weld a heavy duty iron hinge from that edge to the stove.

DoubleD

__________________________________________________ __________

"fork" wrote in message
oups.com...
I need to cut a rectangular hole in the side of my cast iron wood
stove, about 3"x5". I was thinking to drill holes for the corners and
then try to cut with a sawzall. I'm guessing the iron is about 1/4"
thick. Think that will work? What kind of blade would I need? Any
other suggestions? (I don't have a cutting torch or an angle grinder).

Haul the stove over to the nearest machinist, tell him to torch a 3 x 5 hole
in it,

I'll say it again. You cannot flame cut cast iron.

pete

When you get to the machine shop, they should be able to give you directions
to the local welding shop. It's a round about way of getting directions but
it should work.

"DoubleD" wrote in message
...
Fork,

First off, don't waste an entire pack of saw blades on this little
project.
Haul the stove over to the nearest machinist, tell him to torch a 3 x 5
hole
in it, and then weld an over hanging 1/4" x 1" iron lip all the way around
the outside edges of the cut out piece with a small piece of it welded on
edge at aprox the outside center point to make a handle. Now you have a
permanent access door. If the area your wanting to cut is totally
vertical,
then have the machinist leave one short side of the door unlipped and have
hime weld a heavy duty iron hinge from that edge to the stove.

DoubleD

__________________________________________________ __________

"fork" wrote in message
oups.com...
I need to cut a rectangular hole in the side of my cast iron wood
stove, about 3"x5". I was thinking to drill holes for the corners and
then try to cut with a sawzall. I'm guessing the iron is about 1/4"
thick. Think that will work? What kind of blade would I need? Any
other suggestions? (I don't have a cutting torch or an angle grinder).

DoubleD wrote:
Fork,

First off, don't waste an entire pack of saw blades on this little project.
Haul the stove over to the nearest machinist, tell him to torch a 3 x 5 hole
in it, and then weld an over hanging 1/4" x 1" iron lip all the way around
the outside edges of the cut out piece with a small piece of it welded on
edge at aprox the outside center point to make a handle. Now you have a
permanent access door. If the area your wanting to cut is totally vertical,
then have the machinist leave one short side of the door unlipped and have
hime weld a heavy duty iron hinge from that edge to the stove.

DoubleD

__________________________________________________ __________

That might work if the machinist has a plasma arc torch or similar as a
regular oxy/acetylene one will not cut cast. He will also have to be
up on welding cast.
Both should be a part of any welding shop so not a real problem.

Harry K

In article , wrote:

Haul the stove over to the nearest machinist, tell him to torch a 3 x 5 hole
in it,

I'll say it again. You cannot flame cut cast iron.

pete


I wouldn't take the stove to a shop for problem the OP described,
there are too many relatively simple ways to DIY, but, most machine
shops & welding shops have a plasma cutter these days. And it's not
impossible to cut cast iron with oxy-acetylene equipment but it is
messy, slow, sloppy.
--
For every complicated, difficult problem, there is a simple, easy
solution that does not work.

Larry Wasserman - Baltimore Maryland -

wrote:
In article , wrote:

Haul the stove over to the nearest machinist, tell him to torch a 3 x 5 hole
in it,

I'll say it again. You cannot flame cut cast iron.

pete


I wouldn't take the stove to a shop for problem the OP described,
there are too many relatively simple ways to DIY, but, most machine
shops & welding shops have a plasma cutter these days. And it's not
impossible to cut cast iron with oxy-acetylene equipment but it is
messy, slow, sloppy.
--

Larry Wasserman - Baltimore Maryland -

Yeah! You don't flame 'cut' it, you melt it away. Makes for a very
ragged, pitted sloppy "cut".

Harry K