How would you cut a 1" thick piece of cast iron?

[toy]

Shield Arc Thanks, just wanted to know for sure.

 

[jimcolt]

Wet metal has little or no effect on cut quality, thickness or speed with plasma. There are thousands of applications that cut underwater....I personally have cut 3.5" stainless steel about 20 fett underwater with a 1000 amp plasma system.



Jim Colt Hypertherm

 

[crashz]

J,

Check to see if the pipe is cement lined. Many are/were. May not be as much, and if it is lined, it would not be considered "clean" at the yard.

 

[sandman2234]

Part of this countrt's problem is the scrap it, buy what you need attitude. (This is not pointed at the poster who mentioned it here). We have become a throw it away society, instead of a use what you have society that our ancestors were. Granted, labor costs and abrasive wheel cost may make the use of that pipe for that purpose unacceptable but all that means is your either using the wrong process, paying too much for labor or the piece isn't right for the intended use.
Rough cut ok? Carbon arc on a portable welder. Plasma would also be nice (dry air can be obtained via cylinders from your local welding supplier, but increases the cost of disecting the pipe.)
Scrap as a last resort, as it really is the lowest value, but has the fastest turnover into cash, which is why so much valuable material is scrapped.
David from jax

 

[tlbuser]

Plasma would also be nice (dry air can be obtained via cylinders from your local welding supplier, but increases the cost of disecting the pipe.)

try a dive shop or the local firehouse. SCBA bottles work pretty good.

 

[J_J]

If the metal is at the shop, then the plasma will cut it, but if it is in a ditch somewhere, you will need a generator, and compressor, plasma cutter, etc. If in a ditch, and no generator, then oxy/acetylene, oxy/gasoline, or exothermic cutting rods/slicer rods, using a battery and oxy.

 

[J_J]

We have learned by many posts that you have to have dry air going into the plasma cutter to cut with because it will burn up consumables and the machine don't like it.

I have a question, If you have dry air going into the machine like is recommended but the metal that you are cutting is wet or damp is it ok to cut that metal or should you let it dry first? I have some metal off of the top of a building that I want to cut up but don't want it inside the garage to do it and it don't look like it is going to dry up anytime soon. The metal has some salvageable sections that I can use and some that has too much rust to use. All of the metal that I have cut so far has been dry, I just want to cut this up so I can sort the good and discard the bad. Thanks.

Yes, it can be cut wet.

 

[showcattle]

Had an instructor in high school who showed us how to cut cast with an E6010 electrode. (I think, been a long time ago) Run it at the opposit polarity it's supposed to, and crank the welder up. Worked well, but sure did burn up the rods quick.

 

[wvpolekat]

Wont be clean cuts, but a jackhammer would bust it up. Cast iron is pretty brittle.

 

[Jstpssng]

Wont be clean cuts, but a jackhammer would bust it up. Cast iron is pretty brittle.

I tried to make it smaller with a sledge hammer. No good, but what a way to get myself into shape.:cool2:
I think the most fun way will be to have the crane pick it up and drop it a few times.
That will still give him pieces big enough to work with.

He does have torches and a lightweight plasma cutter. The trouble with cast, especially a piece that thick is that the heat dissipates too much.

If I can get it onto a trailer we'll get it to his house and he'll figure something out.
The guy who wants it is an engineer who took early retirement. I think much as anything he wants the challenge, to keep the old grey matter in shape.