Please help with metal cutting tips, shortening Jet fence rails

[Larry Rasmussen]

Thanks in advance for any metal cutting tips. I am putting together a Jet Pro Saw table saw to use with a Jessem miter slide attachment. I am going to shorten rails by about a foot, just a hair shy of even with the main table top. That will give me the stock 30 inch rip capacity and I really do not want longer rails to the right. To install the Jessem slider I need to have no fence past the main table.

The back support is L shaped, perhaps 1 3/4" per side and 1/8" thick. Front rail support is another L a bit larger and about 3/16" thick. What I think of as the rail is a square tube 2" to a side and 1/8" thick.

Available: 10 inch chop saw, light recip cordless saw, Makita cordless jig saw, hack saw.

Experience tells me that if I use the hack saw it will be a pain and not very clean. I don't have metal blades for any of these so it's out to Home Depot or Lowes after work tomorrow. Is this a practical cut on the 10" Hitachi sliding miter saw without spending big bucks on a blade? Any suggestions will be helpful.

Thanks,
Larry R,
Seattle

[Ray Newman]

I'd call a few machine shops and ask what they would charge to cut & dress the rails. Might be cheaper in the long run.

[Paul Atkins]

Not sure the cordless tools would give you a nice cut in a short time. A power hacksaw or a metal bandsaw would be my choice. A brand new bimetal hacksaw blade would actually do a good job, but not too speedy.

[Cary Falk]

To use your chop saw you will need something like this.
http://www.amazon.com/Bullard-Abrasi...718337&sr=1-28
It is going to make a big mess of you saw and if you use your saw for anything other than shopping 2x4s and building fences in the back yard I would probably advise against it.

A good blade in the reciprocating saw is rpobably your best option on the list. I vote for having someone with a horizontal metal bandsaw doing the cutting. I don't know where you are at, but if you are near me I will do it for you. Maybe a high school with metal shop could do it on the cheap.

[Rick Lizek]

http://www.mkmorse.com/
The Morse Metal Devil would work on your miter saw. I've cut 2" cast iron and 1/4" angle iron on my miter saw and table saw. Most folks don't know about these blades. I first saw one demonstrated 20 years ago. I believe a company called Jancy Engineering pioneered the technology. It was years before anyone else came out with one. Makita, Milwaukee and even Harbor Freight has them. A few sparks at the most.

[Jeff Willard]

I just used a fine toothed metal blade in a reciprocating saw when I did my 66. Dressed it up with a file. It's not a particularly difficult task for a decent blade.

[Larry Fox]

I used a hacksaw and dressed it with a file when I did the rails on my Unisaw. It came out fine I think. Do yourself a favor and save the offcuts in case you want to have them welded back together in the future.

[ROY DICK]

A good hacksaw frame, (I have a spartan), and a new blade, like a lennox 24 tooth. Use a square to mark the sides and follow the lines. It should do a great job, then dress up the edges.
I agree save the cut offs no matter how you decide to cut it.

Roy

[Fred Belknap]

Can you just move the fence to the left a little?

[george wilson]

I could cut them and mill the cuts nicely for free,but you'd have to send them in a returnable box with return postage.

[Frank Martin]

If you already have a new bi-metal hacksaw blade and a file, believe me it won't take more time than tinkering through all the options. That is what I did when I needed to shorten my unifence rail and the uniguard rail which did not really take that much time (less than 5 mins for each cut). Cleaned up nice with a file.

[John Coloccia]

I would personally just cut them with a hacksaw, and clean it up with a file....much like the other folks here.

I have a small cutoff saw for metal, but it wouldn't even be worth it for me to dig it out for 2 cuts, and the ends would still have to be filed clean.

Consider a quick spray with something like rustoleam when you're done to protect the exposed metal from corrosion in the future.

[Chris Tsutsui]

I would do the hack saw approach as well. But if you think it will take too long then put a metal cutting blade on the sawzall and maybe use some cutting oil as well to reduce friction/heat.

Then I'd clean up the edge with a file, or a dremel.

[William Schmitz]

I second the use of a 10" abrasive cut off wheel. I shortened my rails recently using this type of wheel in a radial arm saw. A miter of cutoff saw would work just as well.

You get a clean, even cut, and the abrasive wheels are cheap.

[Cliff Rohrabacher]

Is this a practical cut on the 10" Hitachi sliding miter saw without spending big bucks on a blade? Any suggestions will be helpful.

I have frequently put a metal abrasive blade in my makita chop saw.
In fact I purchased it exactly to cut 3/8" thick aluminum flat stock in a commercial application.

It's performed brilliantly every time.

If the Rails are Chromed an un-cooled abrasive saw will shock the chrome loose from the cut ends and start peeling.

So use a coolant flow if they are chromed. Any coolant will do. Even a stream from a garden hose.

If you worry for the motor poly bag it for the short period the cuts'll take
It won't burn up.