Cutting Threaded Rods / Bolts

Discussion
1

This is an extremely basic question - what is the most effective way of cutting a bolt or other threaded rod at SLMS?

I have two projects that will see me cutting ~30 bolts or similar to a shorter length. I have been using this technique at home with limited tools:

  1. Thread two nuts onto the thread and move them down away from the cut location
  2. Do a fairly poor job of cutting the bolt with a hacksaw without a vice
  3. Use a file to tidy up the fairly rough cut and remove spurs
  4. Wind the nuts off to repair the thread at the point of the cut

This is effective but frustrating. I’m hoping that there’s a simpler technique I can use if I bring them down to the maker space?

2

That’s basically it…my suggestions:

Buy the right size bolt to start with (!) This job is a bit of a pain!

Using a vice will help massively.

If you’re inducted you could save a little bit of time by using a slitting disc in an angle grinder.

I’d use a grinder with flapdisc to clean up the ends and chamfer them a little - but I’m lazy like that.

Some will say cut the bolt, screw off one nut, file the end, screw off the other.

Hope this helps!

1 Like
3

The lathe has a die holder.

4

I’ve used the lathe to shorten/modify threaded rod

5

Discarding the piece you cut off? (if not, hold in the vice between chunks of wood, obtainable from woodshop dumpster)

Mark with sharpie, hold it firmly in the vice by discarded end, chop with hacksaw/angle grinder depending on diameter, then use belt or disk grinder to clean and do 45° chamfer on the (makerspace metal only has disk grinder). 99.9% of the time this doesn’t require cleaning threads afterwards, use the die if necessary.

Whole process takes ~30 seconds per item, idk why people here complain.
Definitely avoid the lathe if you’re not after anything precise.

3 Likes
6

Vice is your friend. As Roman says…. lathe is not. When we have the vertical band saw, you’ll be able to do the whole batch in 5 mins. #NotLongToWait

1 Like