Metal cutter made from old hacksaws

Old hacksaws, which are a type of hand saw for sawing wood, have served their purpose and are not suitable for resharpening. They are a valuable material for use for some other useful purpose or application.
In fact, the blades of such hacksaws are made from tool steel grades 8ХФ, 9ХС, У7А, У8, У9А, У10 or steel grades 65Г, 60С2А and others, which have high technical and operational characteristics.

Let's try to use two hacksaws available, which are no longer suitable for their intended purpose, to come up with and implement a new device that will be useful both for traditional work and for non-standard applications. Obviously, such a homemade product will not be out of place in the arsenal of both a professional craftsman and a novice amateur.

Making a metal cutter (guillotine shears)

One of the hacksaws is a blade with a metal handle, and the other with a plastic handle. Moreover, the second product on the edge opposite from the handle on the canvas has a hole through which it can be hung on a nail driven into a wall or shield.
Taking a canvas with a hole as a template, using a core and a hammer on another canvas, we mark the place for drilling exactly the same hole.

Considering the hardness and strength of the blade material, drilling is carried out in two steps. First, use an electric drill to drill a small hole, lubricating the contact point between the tool and the metal with oil.

Next, drill it out to the required size using a larger diameter drill.


We connect the hacksaw blades using the holes in them using a suitable bolt, washer and wing nut. In this case, we direct the teeth of the blades in opposite directions. That is, the back (smooth) sides of the canvases will become the working parts.

We securely clamp the blade of one of the hacksaws into a bench vice and we can assume that the homemade device for cutting various sheet materials is ready for use for a new purpose.

And so that the cutting process proceeds without much physical effort, and the work is of high quality, we lubricate the blades on the contact side along the entire length with any machine oil.

For cutting, we move the free blade upward, rotating it relative to the axis, the role of which is played by a bolt passed through the holes in the blades and pressing them together. The second canvas remains motionless all the time, since it is clamped in a bench vice.
With this simple homemade device you can now easily cut any sheet plastic, linoleum and even thin sheet metal, including galvanized sheet metal. The cutting line, regardless of the type of material, taking into account the hardness and strength of the metal of the blades, will always turn out even, smooth, without burrs or snagging.



If the cutting edges of a homemade cutter become dull, they can be easily restored using an emery wheel on a sharpening machine or using an emery stone manually.

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