Machine for cutting paper tubes

I imagine some kind of lathe-like machine that can cut paper tubes easily and accurately. I want to cut 18 and 24mm BT into little thrust rings. I can do it by hand, or I can wrap masking tape around the motor, but it never comes out as neat as the factory cut.

What do people use to cut tubes?

Ari.

Like this?

https://www.apogeerockets.com/Build...Cutter?zenid=164aed602448981ad1a6b2d9d186d1f5

I use a power miter saw with a 60 tooth blade, a sharp blade.

ChrisAttebery said:

Like this?

https://www.apogeerockets.com/Build...Cutter?zenid=164aed602448981ad1a6b2d9d186d1f5

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Yeah! Something like that.

Thanks Chris.

Ari.

rharshberger said:

I use a power miter saw with a 60 tooth blade, a sharp blade.

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I do that with thicker tubes, but even my 120-tooth blade tends to chew up thin-wall tubing.

Ari.

The Kuhn cutter does a decent job, but has its limitations. It doesn't handle larger diameter (3" and up) tubes well, and it doesn't really do longer lengths of tube at all. But I would think that upscaling to use a relatively long, larger piece of angle would address these issues.

I have had good success with a tubing cutter, (Plumbing pipe cutter), and it works pretty well if you put a used engine in the tube before cutting. I even have a rather large tubing cutter for larger sized tubes. I've cut up to 5.5" tubes with it and had good success. Just go slow and don't try to cut too fast.

Estes tube marking guide and a Xacto razor saw.

I just made my own this past weekend. I'm starting a Groove Tube clone and wanted to make sure the fin tubes were uniform.

KidShelleen,

I like how you mounted the blade. Mine has the blade on a swinging arm, such that you lower the arm to contact the tube, and apply pressure as you are rolling the tube. But rolling the tube smoothly really takes two hands, and makes it difficult to try to apply pressure to the blade arm while cutting. I think I'll redo the blade mount location like yours.

If I had the desire to make mandrels, I think I'd cut tubes on my lathe. It has 40" between centers, so it could cut most tubes I would ever use. A compromise might jsut be to make mandrels for motor tubes, which is mostly what I cut.

I haven't tried it yet, but if I wanted to make a lot of thrust rings out of tubing, a band saw would likely make very quick work out of it...it slices things like butter. Only thing is that you have to premark and also account for cut width. That and it's a verrrrry dangerous machine.:eyepop:

I make thrust rings/engine blocks out of spent motors which I cut up with a hacksaw. I imagine a band saw would make quick work of it. The rig I made and the Kuhn cutter wouldn't be a good choice to cut up anything as thick as an engine casing.

KidShelleen said:

I just made my own this past weekend. I'm starting a Groove Tube clone and wanted to make sure the fin tubes were uniform.

View attachment 270380View attachment 270381View attachment 270382View attachment 270383

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Cool tube cutter

Very nice Kuhn style cutter Kid! I've used an original Kuhn cutter for decades for small tubes...it works fine for thin tubes, but I'm leaning toward getting the miter saw to cut bigger and thicker stuff.

I've been showing My Tube cutter for Years. Made by hand with scrap aluminum angle and bar with just a hack saw and electric drill and hand tap. Works with all body tubes T2 through BT-101(3.987") and UP. Cost was under 20bucks if you include the cost of the scrap aluminum and Hardware.

The most important thing to cutting tubes and couplings is to use the proper INTERIOR Mandrel as you cut. IF you want smooth ends as the manufacturers do then Proper sized mandrels are critical. Once made the last for a long time.

Hope this helps.

View attachment Tube Annihilator-42000-a_Section & views Dwg_02-25-10.pdf

KenECoyote said:

I haven't tried it yet, but if I wanted to make a lot of thrust rings out of tubing, a band saw would likely make very quick work out of it...it slices things like butter. Only thing is that you have to premark and also account for cut width. That and it's a verrrrry dangerous machine.:eyepop:

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Ya, no kidding! I have not (knock on wood) ever had a problem with a band saw, though I have heard SEVERAL horror stories. I am super cautious and respectful of power tools, but band saws no kidding actually scare and intimidate me...

Micromeister said:

I've been showing My Tube cutter for Years. Made by hand with scrap aluminum angle and bar with just a hack saw and electric drill and hand tap. Works with all body tubes T2 through BT-101(3.987") and UP. Cost was under 20bucks if you include the cost of the scrap aluminum and Hardware.

The most important thing to cutting tubes and couplings is to use the proper INTERIOR Mandrel as you cut. IF you want smooth ends as the manufacturers do then Proper sized mandrels are critical. Once made the last for a long time.

Hope this helps.

Click to expand...

John,

Can you please repost the "MicromeisterTube Cutter pics & Parts List_02-10.pdf” file? The forum software keeps showing it as a 1x1 pixel file rather than a PDF.

The other file opens just fine.

Thanks.

Cheers,
Jon

dave carver said:

Estes tube marking guide and a Xacto razor saw.

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I agree with Dave.
You can get the kit that has tiny miter box, that's what I use.
If you are making thrust rings, use used motors.
Airframe tubings won't hold the pressure of thrust.
3 good places to buy them are at unclemikesrocketshack.com sunward1.com and erockets.biz

When I work at CMR, Howard had a surplus 1/2hp motor that turned a 1/2inch shaft and another 1/2inch shaft that had a lever with a single edge razor blade that could adjusted to the length of the body tube you wanted. We simply wrapped masking tape around the rotating shaft until the body tube fit, turned on the motor and dropped the lever down onto the tube to cut it. The machine also could be used to sand and finish tubes to a class like finish. The old over wrapped CMR tubes were ideal for this.

I have always wanted to make one of these, if I could just find the right motor cheaply.

very thick tubes can be cut using a miter saw. But the thin ones are very hard to cut.

The tube factory places the long tubes on a lathe and then cuts the tubes to size using a sharp and rigid cutter or cutters. It is very hard to do this by hand even with a jig. You need the spinning action to get a clean cut.

j.a.duke said:

John,

Can you please repost the "MicromeisterTube Cutter pics & Parts List_02-10.pdf” file? The forum software keeps showing it as a 1x1 pixel file rather than a PDF.

The other file opens just fine.

Thanks.

Cheers,
Jon

Click to expand...

10-4 Jon:
Attached below...
Edit: Humm apparently I will have to re-type the parts list as the .gif doesn't seem to work. However in the mean time; all the parts are shown and labeled on the drawing.