Cutting Glassed Paper/Cardboard Tubes

[sailmike]

What's the best way to cut a fiberglassed paper or cardboard tube? I have access to a variety of machines at a local middle school.

Thanks,
Mike

 

[kandsrockets]

Depends on the size of the tube. 4" and smaller I use my 12" miter saw with a 80 tooth blade. 5" and bigger I use my table saw with a jig I made.

 

[BayouRat]

A band saw is going to give you the best cut. But if you don't have one then a miter saw will do. I have not tried a table saw but I am sure it can be done on one. As always YMMV.

 

[pyrovette20]

A band saw might give the cleanest cut but not the straightest. Stick with the table saw.Use a fine tooth carbide blade it will cut like butter.

 

[hounddawgracing]

If you don't have access to either and want to do it on the fly so to speak, put a 4" general purpose abrasive cuttin wheel on your grinder. You should have mininal sanding to even up after the cut if you're careful.

 

[FROB]

After trying all the above methods, i now stick to my tried and true, because it always gives me perfect, square cut. No power tools necessary, and no mess. I use a piece of thin aluminum flashing from the hardware store in 6" wide and various lengths. wrap it tightly around the tube so it overlaps at least 1 complete turn and the edge of the top wrap is perfectly lined up on the bottom wrap. Hold it in place with 2 wraps of electrical tape down the center of the aluminum, tightly stretched in the process. you now have a straight edge for marking or cutting the tube with that's perfectly square. Slide it to your cut mark, and use a utility knife along the edge of the aluminum to score it around, and keep going around the tube like that using light pressure in many passes until you cut clear through it. Always use a new blade or new section of a "snap-off" blade. If you hold the blade with the edge nearly perpendicular to the tube (not tangent) and use a light touch especially as you go through the last inner layer, you can avoid fraying the inside edge. Or use a hard cylindrical form (like plastic pipe) inside the tube to support it like some others here do. With cardboard, it usually takes 5-6 passes, if the tube is glassed, double that, but it still only takes a couple of minutes and is virtually "idiot-proof". I just debur the inside edge with some sandpaper and that's it, your done.

 

[..Pat Butler]

The utility knife method also cuts down on the fiberglass dust.

 

[sailmike]

The standard bandsaw blade can be used?

Mike

 

[sailmike]

Alright, I tried the bandsaw and it didn't give me a clean cut, but did give me a straight cut. You can see the frayed edge in the photo. Here's a photo:

 

[kandsrockets]

using a table saw I have little to no cleanup on the edges and I get square cut everytime. I just cut 8 glassed tubes last night on the table saw.

 

[heada]

A table saw or power miter saw gives a quick, straight, clean cut.

 

[sailmike]

The glass part was fine, it's just the cardboard part that was frayed. What kind of blade did you use on the table saw?

Thanks,
Mike

 

[heada]

I've used a 60 tooth ATB thin kerf blade with no problems on the table saw. I've also used a 40 tooth ATB regular blade(what it came with) on the power miter saw and if you go too quick it would pull the inner wraps like you see on your bandsaw test. Going slower helps get a cleaner cut for me. I cut everything up to 2.6in on the power miter saw.

-Aaron