Cutting Eletric Motors

I've always dreaded cutting motors. It is always my last thing to do during the winter. I've always used a standard cut off wheel and cut one end of the motor off. Kind of dangerous and the blades where out fast. Recently I found a ridgid blade. A little pricey, close to 15 bucks a blade but I've cut about 100 motors with it and its still going.



On another note I use a 14" gas chop saw to cut the cases open.

https://www.homedepot.com/p/RIDGID-4...TL45/204202513

Nice,. I use a 9 inch disc and by the time I have cut thru 10 or more compessors its getting a bit small to cut the windings end off to get the Copper out.
I can cut about 15 of them open with a US$7 9 inch cutoff disc. So that's about 2 in 15 loss to overheads (discs).

That diamond disc would save me a lot of $$ in the long run. Thanks/e

Yes I've been using that same blade and it's really nice for anything, been cutting a lot of copper windings with it.

I just started using that blade when I started a big scrap removal job last month. I finally wore it out on the last day of the job. I am figuring I would have used about 20-30 blades. It cuts a little slow and one of my guys(paid by the hour) was complaining about it. But changing blades takes time too ans with the fact that it doesn't lose size makes it really nice IMO. Lets say you are cutting a bunch of 1 inch conduit. After just a few cuts with an aluminum oxide blade your blade can't cut the conduit in one pass.

Nice tip. Thanks!

Id have to agree. For cutting steel I really like the metabo slicer. Although I was cutting steel to be fabricated rather then scrapped. It has been really nice for windings because it does not gum up nearly as bad as the bonded blades do.

I use an old makita miter saw with a metal cutting blade for the windings. it was doing them real quick and the blades would last a while. But just today the motor started acting funny and then smoke started pouring out of the housing. the thing was nearly 3 decades old or more and I beat on it ever since I started using it. I don't think I cut even one piece of wood on it since Ive had it. Its been all metal cutting for the last two years. wondering if the dewalt chop saws would be better since I guess they're actually designed for that purpose.

thought about getting this: https://www.homedepot.com/p/Evolutio...AGE2/203633549

Originally Posted by Lexwallm

thought about getting this: https://www.homedepot.com/p/Evolutio...AGE2/203633549

I have a Rigid that is similiar to that. Haven't cut motors with, but works good on other stuff.

Originally Posted by Lexwallm

thought about getting this: https://www.homedepot.com/p/Evolutio...AGE2/203633549

At under $200.00, it's nicely priced. Replacement blades can go for nearly that.

Call me old fashioned, but i still use my hack saw to cut one side of the windings off

Originally Posted by JnJunk

I thought about using a chop saw for windings. I was worried about the kerf. The blades are at least 3/16" thick. I would think this would take a toll on the blade and the windings

nah if you got one of them 14" metal cutting saws you'll be good. It creates a good bit of a mess though. copper dust and loose windings are pretty much scattered everywhere within the two feet directly to the right of the saw. but keep it clean before hand and clean up is as simple as a few strokes of a dust brush. I was using my grandfathers ancient makita miter saw with a 10" blade and It would cut over 100 stator cores per blade. I burned that up and got a dewalt 14" metal cutting saw. ran over 800lbs of compressors the other day and didn't even notice wear on the blade. It does tend to wander about half way through the cut though so around half way I would just stop and turn the stator and start from what was the bottom. The dewalt is about 4 times more powerful and way faster than the old makita. Shoulda bought it sooner.

Originally Posted by greytruck

Call me old fashioned, but i still use my hack saw to cut one side of the windings off

I used to hacksaw everything the first 4 years I was doing this whole scrapping thing. But then for some reason I broke my good one and kept having horrible luck with em breaking or falling into some place unreachable. After breaking about 5 in a week I finally gave in and started using power tools.

Originally Posted by miked

You're old fashioned. There you got your wish. Unfortunately I don't have any pictures of goats to go with it.

Have you or anyone else considered using a hand held band saw. https://www.amazon.com/Grizzly-J1T-1...SIN=B0000DCZ7H

This link is just to show what one looks like, I am certainly not promoting Amazon.

My neighbor and fellow scraper used one for years. They cut copper very quick but also work great on steel and Al.

73, Mike

I've thought about it. I just can't justify the price. The blades are cheap and they work could enough for me. If I find a portable band saw at an auction I'm definitely going to pick it up.

Ok so today I did something weird and went and bought the $20 milwaukee hacksaw and a 2 pack of brand spankin' new 18 tpi blades at home depot. It's almost like a power tool. It's dangerous. Now I normally would never consider such a thing. We have a couple old ones i've been trying and it works pretty good, and I already have a grinder. But, let me tell you, I can go faster than my 4.5" grinder because I'm not wasting time flipping windings around just cut straight through yeeehaw. I did one winding in 5 seconds. It's really cool haha and a lot cheaper upgrade than a portaband or chop saw, and we're trying to be quieter too.