Not too electronical in nature, but I have reason to believe a handful of people here will find this entertaining.
This is purpose-built to slice up a forklift. There will be a video on that to follow.

The above video is a follow-up this other, less interesting video:

I'm trying to turn myself into a wildly successful youtube celebrity so if you don't mind...
Giving the video a "like" (on youtube) pushes it to the top of other people's feeds.
Subscribing to my channel helps me get closer to being recognized by youtube as an actual content creator and be eligible for getting a cut of their ad revenue.

Any tips or constructive criticism on the content, presentation, video quality, etc. is accepted and appreciated.

 

Here's a sneak preview of the video I'm editing currently:

That's a cast iron transmission housing and I'm cutting the long way through the flange.

 

Very interesting... I would've thought that cutting with diamond coated wire required some sort of lubricant, or at least water to prevent the wire from going dull too soon.

 

Very interesting... I would've thought that cutting with diamond coated wire required some sort of lubricant, or at least water to prevent the wire from going dull too soon.

You're 100% correct, it should be lubricated. Not only because of wire wear but because this creates very fine dust. While cutting the cast iron it became hard to breathe in the shop so I left. Next morning I found black "puff balls" on the ends of magnets on the other side of the shop. How fine must a cast iron particle be in order to float suspended in air? I don't know, but probably fine enough to go places it shouldn't go inside your lungs. Also inside every electronic device in my shop not inside a sealed enclosure; I'm sure they didn't appreciate that any more than my lungs did.

A continuous steam of cutting fluid would have kept the particles entrained in the fluid instead of in the air. I didn't use cutting fluid because it would have required a rather elaborate catchment and recirculation system that I didn't want to spend time working on. Had I known how bad the dust would be, I would have put in the effort, or done my experiments outside.

All that said, the wire was still cutting good as new when I pulled the plug. I don't know what kind of working life to expect from the wire, dry or lubricated; surely much longer lubricated, but the dry performance was impressive (in terms of life, not in terms of cutting speed).

 

A continuous steam of cutting fluid would have kept the particles entrained in the fluid instead of in the air. I didn't use cutting fluid because it would have required a rather elaborate catchment and recirculation system that I didn't want to spend time working on.

Maybe next time you could use a vacuum cleaner and a properly sized intake nozzle?

 

Maybe next time you could use a vacuum cleaner and a properly sized intake nozzle?

Yes, I'm sure that would help. The thought occurred to me, but in my head I saw the dust blasting straight through the filter and exiting the vacuum exhaust with even more enthusiasm than it exits the cut. What only occurred to me now, is that I could put the vacuum outside and run the hose through the door.

Thanks for the suggestion!

 

I'm trying to turn myself into a wildly successful youtube celebrity so if you don't mind...

well, with scenes like holding of workpiece in first video (6:30) that is bound to happen.

 

In the first video, where you're using a chair to hold your work, it reminds me of the manual for some lab chairs that we purchased many years ago. There was an illustration in the "Warnings" section depicting a V-8 engine block on a chair of the type we'd just purchased. It had a circle and slash, as in, "Do not support your engine block with this chair!"

 

I liked the videos but just by nature things like this attract me. Sort of like a moth light thing.

Seriously though I enjoyed the videos.

Ron

 

Yes, I'm sure that would help. The thought occurred to me, but in my head I saw the dust blasting straight through the filter and exiting the vacuum exhaust with even more enthusiasm than it exits the cut. What only occurred to me now, is that I could put the vacuum outside and run the hose through the door.

Thanks for the suggestion!

You could also place a magnet right at the vacuum's exhaust ... cleaning the magnet afterwards would be a challenge, though.

Another idea would be to put the vacuum's exhaust in a bucket full of water, and have it blow lots of bubbles in it whilst (probably) keeping most of the dust in the water. Although a serious drop in the vacuum's suction power could occur, of course.

 

All that said, the wire was still cutting good as new when I pulled the plug. I don't know what kind of working life to expect from the wire, dry or lubricated; surely much longer lubricated, but the dry performance was impressive (in terms of life, not in terms of cutting speed).

When you mentioned this, some time ago, the first thing that came to my mind was the technique used to cut the chains (I ignore the name in English) keeping the mines in position under water. From the little I recall it was very similar but yes, it was not exactly dry... There were small vessel (minesweepers) specially fitted for such a job.

BTW, yesterday I went to YT to confirm, once again, my incapacity to understand American accent in videos. Congratulations anyway.

 

You could also place a magnet right at the vacuum's exhaust ... cleaning the magnet afterwards would be a challenge, though.

Another idea would be to put the vacuum's exhaust in a bucket full of water, and have it blow lots of bubbles in it whilst (probably) keeping most of the dust in the water. Although a serious drop in the vacuum's suction power could occur, of course.

More ideas and idea seeds in your reply than meets the eye.

I like the idea of passing the air stream through water, but with a restriction on the exhaust side I think the reservoir of the vacuum will have positive pressure instead of vacuum as it is designed for. Result: dust blowing out around the seal.

If instead I had the water chamber on the vacuum side, the water should filter out most or all of the dust before it ever reaches the vacuum. Or, Since my vacuum is wet/dry vac, maybe I just fill it with water? Not exactly the same concept, but maybe it would be better than without water. Much simpler to try, than building huge water bong.

And, magnets in baggies. I've used this trick for cleaning iron filings in the past. Turn the baggie inside out, drop the magnet inside(outside) and sweep over the area. Then turn the bag right-side-out again, and you've got a baggie neatly full of iron filings and clean magnet stuck to the outside. Magnets in baggies stuck everywhere around the cut area, and all over the vacuum exhaust.

 

well, with scenes like holding of workpiece in first video (6:30) that is bound to happen.

Yeah I was not surprised by it either. I came up with a better work holding plan for the next video(*): A heavy metal lift cart with a vise clamped to it.

(*) EDIT: Clarification, the next video that I will be uploading to youtube. Not the next video linked in my OP.

 

When you mentioned this, some time ago, the first thing that came to my mind was the technique used to cut the chains (I ignore the name in English) keeping the mines in position under water. From the little I recall it was very similar but yes, it was not exactly dry... There were small vessel (minesweepers) specially fitted for such a job.

BTW, yesterday I went to YT to confirm, once again, my incapacity to understand American accent in videos. Congratulations anyway.

I'm not sure what you're referring to regarding mines. My understanding is that diamond wire cutting of this kind (not including jeweler's hand saw) is a relatively new technology. Depending on what time period you are referring to, it may have been diamond wire or not. I know that the concept has existed in the maritime industry since before the diamond wire. There is an old technique of using a chain itself as a cutting implement. Say a shipwreck needs to be removed and it's too large to be raised in one piece, it can be sawn by chain stretched between two ships and dragged back and forth over the shipwreck.

 

I liked the videos but just by nature things like this attract me. Sort of like a moth light thing.

Seriously though I enjoyed the videos.

Ron

Thanks! Glad you enjoyed. You might want to consider subscribing to my channel, as there is more than a redneck wire saw in the works and some of it involves reloading.

I started this youtube channel back in '08/'09 and it was about knife making. I had over a million views (all videos combined) and a few thousand subscribers (now I'm down to just a few hundred, not sure why anyone would have unsubscribed?). Then I got a job offshore/overseas, and didn't have time to make new videos so my channel "dried up" and I never rehydrated it. If I had kept it up I might be an internet celebrity already .

I posted another video or two since then but they didn't get any attention. Now I'm trying to pick it up and dust it off, get active on YouTube again. I've invested in some professional(-ish) photography/cinematography hardware (that im still learning how to use) and I'm making an attempt to clean up my videos and give them a more professional feel, where I never did before. I'm hoping this wire saw project will draw in some viewers.

The channel won't be about knifemaking anymore. It will be about whatever crazy thing I feel like making. Machining & fabrication videos, machine builds like this, electronic circuit builds, tractor-related builds, firearms & reloading -related builds, automation, etc. I came up with a list of >250 projects I'd like to do and upload (I won't finish before I die) and here are the first few in the list:

• Build a miniature CNC Swiss lathe for making solid copper bullets (That's what the fork lift cast iron is for - the reason behind building the wire saw)
• Cut my two seater UTV in half and extend it, adding a back seat.
• Build a manual CVT for the UTV
• Build a PTO Dynamometer for the tractor & Hack the tractor's ECU for more HP
• Build a pantograph plasma cutter attachment for the CNC mill
• Build an Amphibious aluminum jet boat
• Build an automated range brass sorter using machine vision and AI.

I Said I plan to become a "wildly successful youtube celebrity" tongue-in-cheek but I am seriously interested in seeing where this goes.

 

I'm not sure what you're referring to regarding mines. My understanding is that diamond wire cutting of this kind (not including jeweler's hand saw) is a relatively new technology. Depending on what time period you are referring to, it may have been diamond wire or not. I know that the concept has existed in the maritime industry since before the diamond wire. There is an old technique of using a chain itself as a cutting implement. Say a shipwreck needs to be removed and it's too large to be raised in one piece, it can be sawn by chain stretched between two ships and dragged back and forth over the shipwreck.

I was a cadet in the Academy, that is around 1966 and not sure but the cutting element was chain IIRC. Rather fuzzy in my memory.

 

I was a cadet in the Academy, that is around 1966 and not sure but the cutting element was chain IIRC. Rather fuzzy in my memory.

Does this fill any holes in the memory?

 

World's biggest chainsaw!


Took them a couple of years to get it out. Plus it caught in fire during sawing operations. Also had some problems sawing the engine block.

 

That seem to be the salvage of Tricolor. It took year and a half. there is impressive video of the salvage operation and massive cutting cable in action.

 

Perhaps but a nice big rare earth magnet inside shop vac. Or, better yet, at the bottom of a cyclonic dust collector.