Cutting up a car, Sawsall or Air saw?
- Thread starter Danglerb
- Start date
Merkava_4
Banned
They cut a car completely in half at the local Home Depot several years ago. They were demonstrating the capability of the new (at the time) DeWalt cordless reciprocating saw.
chammyman
Well-known member
I chopped a couple up with a 4 inch angle grinder 
A stihlsaw with diamond tipped blade is a lot quicker
A stihlsaw with diamond tipped blade is a lot quicker
I chopped a couple up with a 4 inch angle grinder
A stihlsaw with diamond tipped blade is a lot quicker
Thats one of those chainsaw motors with a round blade things?
No fooling, cut a car in half in a few minutes.
Surprised the heck out of me, but I had a gas line replaced a few weeks ago and the plumber cut the slab with a typical looking nothing special skilsaw with a diamond blade in it. Blade likely cost twice what the saw did.
chammyman
Well-known member
yep it is indeed, one of my favourite tools ever. Cuts through concrete, steel, wood, bone and so on.
picture yes I'm stealing someone elses bandwidth boo hoo
picture yes I'm stealing someone elses bandwidth boo hoo
Rigmaster
Well-known member
Corded sawzall with a Milwaukee "The Torch" blade.... Seriously, the blades make all the difference in the world!! They're somewhat pricey when compared to the cheap blades- maybe $3-5 each, but you can cut a whole car up using 1 blade if you're good....
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trackwelder
Well-known member
sawzall on the lowest speed.
This is great info! I will need to cut up my 'donor" vehcle soon enough. Guys at work wanted to make a party out of it if I supplied the burgers and beer! ....Hmmm beer and angle grinders, I think we'll save that for the after-we're-done party.
goodfellow
Well-known member
Actually for detail cuts on larger panels, the new reciprocating saws are great. Better blade selection and more powerful motors make these things real winners.
I cut out the floor boards and rockers on my old '88 Mazda pickup truck last year and used my plasma cutter, sawzall, reciprocating saw and a cutting wheel. I used Irwin IRW372618P5 sawzall blades and they performed well.
I cut out the floor boards and rockers on my old '88 Mazda pickup truck last year and used my plasma cutter, sawzall, reciprocating saw and a cutting wheel. I used Irwin IRW372618P5 sawzall blades and they performed well.
terabyte
Well-known member
another vote for sawzall with "the torch" blade
Rigmaster
Well-known member
uhh,uhh,uhh.......
Get the longish ones, 9" would be minimum, 12" if you're cutting through lots of double-walled sections (rocker panels, etc). I've found that the longer the blade, the less chance of it bottoming out and bending.
How small do you need to cut the pieces?? Are you trying to load it into the back of a Pickup, sneak the pieces into the dumpster at the local C-store????
rsanter
Well-known member
sawsall, low speed, good quality bi metal blade
been doing it this way for years
bob
been doing it this way for years
bob
MAD
Well-known member
I have stripped a few cars down to the bare chassis and then faced the dilemma of how to get rid of the bones. Each time I considered cutting it up into pieces that I could load into my pickup and take it to the metal yard. After considering the cost of the saw blades and the time involved, it has always made more sense to pay to have a wrecker haul it away. The guys that own a rig with a steel bed will just drag it right up. Don't bother calling a towing operator with an aluminum bed if there are no wheels. I have never paid more than $40 to get rid of a car shell, but I am sure cost would vary by area and the price of scrap steel.
Rigmaster
Well-known member
True.
Around here the price of scrap cars reached ~$11 per 100 lbs a few months ago at the local scrap place, but it's now down to ~$3-4 per 100.
Before I paid someone to haul it off, I would post up in the FREE section on Craigslist- I'll bet you could get it hauled off for free, even with scrap prices low. Especially with the weak economy, people will do what they can to make a little extra $$$.
om-nc
Well-known member
pl_silverado
Well-known member
Sawzall, Miluwaukee Torch Blades, shouldn't take no more than 30 minutes.
Stuey
Well-known member
Yup, so is Ringmaster.
You do realize that you can just hit "reply to post" scroll down to "manage attachments" and then upload the pic to GJ directly from the URL?
Hotlinking due to naivety is one thing, laziness is completely different.
Anyways, I'd go with the recip saw. Worst case scenario, if it doesn't work, rent a bigger tool.
That's what I was thinking. In my area there are signs everywhere saying free hauling of junk cars, appliances, etc.
Rigmaster
Well-known member
Well, I'm not stealing anything. I'm using the pic from another site, I seriously doubt that the few added views of this pic is gonna kill their bandwidth. It's not that hard to prevent hotlinking with some basic html, so I gotta believe if it were an issue, they'd do just that.
But seriously, please tell me if this is a big deal around here and I'll refrain from doing it anymore.
OH and BTW, it's Rigmaster (no "N").......
afazz
Well-known member
The Craigslist posting is a great idea! My friends got paid $200 and $300 to haul away junk cars after they were done parting them. "Tim the Junkman" from craigslist got them both 
After scrap prices went down, I had a car hauled away for free - no wheels or suspension, and I took the motor.
If you still want to cut it up, Sawzall with Milwaukee Torch blade is probably the best option.
Or you could scrape off the VINs, remove the plates, push it into the street, set it on fire, and call the police
After scrap prices went down, I had a car hauled away for free - no wheels or suspension, and I took the motor. If you still want to cut it up, Sawzall with Milwaukee Torch blade is probably the best option.
Or you could scrape off the VINs, remove the plates, push it into the street, set it on fire, and call the police
Seeing you are in SoCal you might not be allowed to do that at a residence, but I have no personal experience in your area. Another option is to ask the local Fire Dept. if they want to do some car cutting practice, or use it for recruit training.
speed bump
Well-known member
Oxy-acetylene torch.
I have a title, but if you cut it in half there is no paperwork or other fuss.
Some of the junk guys make a distinction between hauling away a wreck with a load of potential parts they can sell as cores etc., and hauling away a stripped chassis with no wheels and anything worth a nickel removed. I may give the Craigslist a shot, but wow I hate to put a phone number in those ads, and email response usually ***** with this type of ad.
If I cut it up, it will be a one day fiesta for practice removing a roof, and idle curiosity about the structure.
OTOH I am thinking about another parts car when this one goes.
Some of the junk guys make a distinction between hauling away a wreck with a load of potential parts they can sell as cores etc., and hauling away a stripped chassis with no wheels and anything worth a nickel removed. I may give the Craigslist a shot, but wow I hate to put a phone number in those ads, and email response usually ***** with this type of ad.
If I cut it up, it will be a one day fiesta for practice removing a roof, and idle curiosity about the structure.
OTOH I am thinking about another parts car when this one goes.
jimvannoy
Well-known member
When I cut on a car it depends on what I am doing as to what I use. If I am cutting out sheet metal for a patch panel I use a cutoff wheel and/or air saw. If I am cutting through thick metal like a door or windshield post I use a sawzall. For some thicker stuff I use a cutting torch.
I have a title, but if you cut it in half there is no paperwork or other fuss.
Some of the junk guys make a distinction between hauling away a wreck with a load of potential parts they can sell as cores etc., and hauling away a stripped chassis with no wheels and anything worth a nickel removed. I may give the Craigslist a shot, but wow I hate to put a phone number in those ads, and email response usually ***** with this type of ad.
If I cut it up, it will be a one day fiesta for practice removing a roof, and idle curiosity about the structure.
OTOH I am thinking about another parts car when this one goes.
Are you saying if you have a title there is still other paperwork needed? In Texas all you need is the title to take a vehicle to the scrapyard.
afazz
Well-known member
Or you could scrape off the VINs, remove the plates, push it into the street, set it on fire, and call the police
This was sarcasm btw, this would be very illegal
This was sarcasm btw, this would be very illegal
I just figured you thought I lived in MA.
rsanter
Well-known member
you also have to ask what kind of car it is and what parts of the body are still good
if the car is a desirable model and it has some good pannels on it still you might want to carefully cut those pannels off to sell them and recoupe some cost
bob
if the car is a desirable model and it has some good pannels on it still you might want to carefully cut those pannels off to sell them and recoupe some cost
bob
Speed-Racer
Well-known member
- Joined
- Aug 25, 2008
- Messages
- 731
What size air compressor do you have? I would go with the electric model, unless you have large dual stage compressor, then it may be a toss up between which is a better tool. You maybe able to have it towed away for free, it will save you a lot of work. The cutting is the easy part, hauling the pieces away and clean up is the pain.
PAToyota
Well-known member
Rigmaster
Well-known member
That would be my choice as well...
Plasma might be the cool choice, but maybe not the practical one.
I think you could do the whole car with 1 $4 blade, how many plasma tips and nozzles can you buy for $4 ?
Frank Elson
Well-known member
Stihlsaw, diamond blade. Job done.
mkdive
Well-known member
Junkman
Well-known member
Borrow a backhoe, and dig a hole. Drop the car in the hole, and using the hoe, beat the thing down. Fill in with the dirt, and forget about it. I 50 years it will be totally rusted away. You should remove the gas tank, engine, transmission, and differantial first.
Stuey
Well-known member
You're not a big offender, and neither is the other guy, but I took his "so what if I'm hotlinking" as a shot to myself b/c I complained about it in another thread. One photo here and there from a large site isn't a big deal, but some guys on this board do it very often and indiscriminantly.Well, I'm not stealing anything. I'm using the pic from another site, I seriously doubt that the few added views of this pic is gonna kill their bandwidth. It's not that hard to prevent hotlinking with some basic html, so I gotta believe if it were an issue, they'd do just that.
But seriously, please tell me if this is a big deal around here and I'll refrain from doing it anymore.
OH and BTW, it's Rigmaster (no "N").......
I've seen whole websites' hosting be suspended due to bandwidth overages. In one of those cases, someone hotlinked an image into their avatar or signature on a forum, and everytime any of their posts were served to someone's webpage, it used up 2mb of bandwidth of the website which hosted the image.
I really don't care if Sears or another large company loses a few cents of bandwidth fees, but you have to be careful of hotlinking to smaller websites' photos. Like I mentioned elsewhere, in those cases, someone who only has a small hosting package can run into huge fees if they go over their bandwidth allotment. That, and smaller websites are usually managed by one person, and sometimes they will swap URLs between an innocent photo and an extremely obscene one. Hotlinking to small sites should be avoided at the very least, but developing the habit of not hotlinking to all isn't a terrible thing.
Sorry about the ringmaster bit - I saw rigmaster but was thinking about whether it was the title of a B movie or not.
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