[TowerTalk] Cutting 3/16" EHS...

[Dale Martin]

The 100' roll of 3/16" EHS I ordered last week arrived on my doorstep Friday
(UPS doesn't even knock anymore).  

Since I had never really cut EHS before (the tower came with the house), I
checked the TT archives and saw references to metal cutting grinding wheels
and bolt cutters.  

I went over to the local Lowe's this morning and cringed at the grinding
wheels....just doesn't seem to be a safe or sane way to cut metal to
me.....Are they really effective at cutting EHS?  How many cuts can you make
off of one 7" wheel? 

I looked for and found the bolt cutters.  The 24" HK Porter cutter was $50
and the 18" was $20.  I had a 3" piece of EHS with me and the salesman let
me try cutting the piece with the 18" cutter.  One try and the EHS was 2
pieces of EHS.  Fortunately, I was close to and faced a corner when I cut
the EHS because both pieces shot out and into the display cases and bounced
to the floor--out in the open, they could have gone some distance and
possibly hit someone--lesson learned there...  Neither of us was expecting
that. 

Anyway, I bought the 18" cutters and 30 minutes after getting home,
measuring out and marking the cut points I wanted to make, the job was done.


$20 well spent. 


73,
Dale, kg5u