Thread: best way to cut bolts?

i ended up getting some kincrome crimper/cutters from bunnings for 13 bucks, they work just as well as i imagined. the bolts are 3/16" (4.76mm) but i chucked them into the M5 hole in the cutters and it was surprisingly easy to shear the end clean off! the bolt tilted a bit owing to it not being the right size for the hole, but it's still a very acceptable result. the nut trick would probably fix the tilt problem as well as serve as a means to clean up the end of the thread... in fact i'll give that a shot now since it's so fun

*tries it*

yes... that works much better indeed much squarer cut. trimmed a 25mm bolt a couple of times, now it belongs in the 16mm box! heheh

thanks for the paint/rust protection tip, i never thought of that; yes i am using zinc-plated bolts.

power tools are pretty much out of the question now, i can't do it with the thing assembled due to proximity to very expensive electronics, so i have to do it before it goes in. with the cutters i just bought i can do each bolt straight out of the box, indoors, and in about 10 seconds per bolt which is plenty fast

ozsheeto... lol.

A tip about pop rivets - if you want them to be a bit loose, just put a large paper or thin card washer under the metal washer. Punch a hole in the paper washer with a small hole punch (rotating plier punch) and make a slit from the hole towards the edge. When the rivet is set tight, you can then rip the paper washer free. A card washer just makes the rivet looser.

This also works with solid, pound over rivets.

If the washer won't all come out, just work the joint a few times & the left behind paper will crumble & fall out in little bits.

thanks for the tip bsrlee. even though the pliers i just bought solved my bolt cutting problem, i'd like to hone my skills with my rivet gun because to be honest i'm just pathetic at using it! i don't know if i'm just weak or what, i have no trouble at all cutting steel with tin snips or using the pliers to shear bolts, but the rivet gun... nup. as much as i hate to admit it, i think i'm afraid of it going 'SNAP' when the shaft breaks free - something i haven't prioritised conquering especially given that i can bolt it together just as quickly!

Hi chylld,
It sounds like you've solved your immediate problem, but I'll chime in with few ideas anyway! I would have searched for the right lengths to start with
I got a nice medium sized set of bolt-cutters from a local tool supply shop, on special, for $30 (A little tweaking to align the cutting edges) which will easily cut 8mm bolts, and I'd prefer to use them than a grinder. The deformed section is relatively easy to grind into shape on a bench grinder/file. A thread file is a wonderful thing!
Further to Apricot trippers nut-on-the-thread-before-cutting tip, using either cut-off wheel or hacksaw: if the bolt is hex head, both head and nut can be clamped in the vice which will keep it all steady and protect the thread. I usually have a set of soft jaws handy, which are just aluminium angle, to slip over the standard jaws. If the head is countersunk or some other type, clamping in the vice can damage the head, so I clamp the offcut end of the thread firmly in the vice... damage there is irrelevant.
Pop rivetting...one of my favourite joining techniques to teach students! They come in a handy range of length (rivets not students) up to 32mm grip length!, diam, head, and material. Even the snap-off stem can be got in steel, s/steel, copper and aluminium.The choice of material is prolly causing your problem, 3.2mm diam in soft aluminium shouldn't pull into the MDF if you use washers, or the new larger head type. I've even rivetted drafting film (paper) and rubber onto wood with these. It also helps to have one of these pneumatic rivet guns, but then I've done thousands of the things at a go, for surface texture!!
Cheers,

hehe well i did buy 12mm, 16mm and 25mm long bolts, since i have so many bolts of required lengths of 12, 13, 14mm etc. i figured it'd be best to buy the popular sizes and then cut them down, instead of having to order 32 12mm ones, 18 13mm ones, 22 14mm ones etc. But yeah thankfully the problem is solved (and i got a new tool so i'm happy)

i'm using 2 types of bolts, square ones and hex nyloc ones; square ones cos they come with the bolts i found that if i wind the nut onto the bolt first, then screw the bolt into the cutter, then wind the nut down to the cutter and tighten it a little bit, that works wonders in keeping the bolt straight and the cleanup afterwards is a trivial case of totally unwinding the nut. given the speed and cleanliness (?) of the whole process, i really couldn't ask for better! i'm glad i came to the forum to ask for help though, wouldn't ever have guessed crimping pliers would be the thing to look for.

yeh using washers helped the pull-in problem, i still don't like the manual gun though. now that i think about it, maybe it's because i bought a cheap one - my friend's one worked better, but it might just be a case of differing mechanical advantage. a pneumatic one would be the best though! if i go into production i'll most probably be taking that approach.

thousands of rivets for surface texture - that's... interesting

Buy yourself a cheap 4 inch angle grinder at Bummies for about $50 and an a few 1mm abrasive wheels.You will have to go to a real tool shop for the disks!

One of the most usefull tools in the workshop, hardly use the hacksaw these days..will cut corrugated roof sheets..frequently cut small items from 4mm steel sheet.. 10mm rod. One good feature is that if you miss-treat the blade it just shears off around the boss without any real drama! with a bit of practice you can cut curves as well!

Bought a cheap mount from Bummies also $60 which turned it into a docking saw, cut hundreds of 45 degree cuts on 15 mm*2mm steal tubes.

Paddy