Reefer madness shop

[mvdavid]

Hi all,
I have been lurking for a while and now seek ideas on accurate ( + -. The 050” ) cutting of 1 qt rectangular plastic oil bottles.
These will replace 50 year old “ Pik a nut boxes which are getting rather flimsy. I have thought about a few methods, 200 bottles need cutting to a dimension which fits original racks. Mobil 1 oil bottles are close to required dimensions but need to be cut to length. I am leaning towards a DIY hot nichrome wire because I could later use for cutting foam insulation. Another idea is a knife edge circular saw blade if such a thing is available and economical.
One other idea which I have considered is to cut oversized, install a whittled fitted plug into bottom of bottle and cut by knife, chop saw etc.
I am old, so efficiency counts. Fast and accurate is my goal. Once again, 200 plastic bottles need cutting. I have searched online for plastic boxes with correct dimensions and had no luck.
So, I need to make a tool and system...that’s the fun part for me.
Thank you for any ideas
Sincerely DG

 

[rayra]

80T blade on a table saw, , bottle bottom to the fence, slow move thru the blade. Should make an easy clean cut thru that HDPE plastic.
Be very careful if you decide to set the blade high to do it in one pass.
Would be much safer to set the blade just a 1/4" high and make four passes, one for each face of the rectangular container.

 

[Squashfest81]

I’d toss them through the bandsaw.

 

[matt_i]

Be cautious holding it but a mitersaw sounds perfect to lop off an oil bottle and leave the bottom as a 5-sided box.

Larger tooth blades would help slow the cut per tooth down.

And I would expect some mess if they weren't purposefully cleaned beforehand.

 

[RPH]

Bandsaw, fence, and a stick. Quick and easy.

 

[mvdavid]

Thanks for the ideas everybody. I plan to try them all and will let you know how they work out.
Reefer madness shop reefers to my 40’ refrigerated trailer which I am converting to a workshop slowly but steadily.
Thanks again, David

 

[ard]

...although the nichrome idea WILL give you an added tool....

 

[NUTTSGT]

Bandsaw would be my go to as well. If it cuts at an angle due to the weak plastic, I'd cut oversize and then use some shears/snips to cut to the correct size.

Knock a 20-30 a night and call it good.

 

[mvdavid]

It was too cold here today to try any methods. While my reefer trailer has heat, I made such a mess hole-sawing 21 holes into a scrap piece of 4” schedule 20 plastic pipe ( for draining bottles ) I will wait until it warms up a bit outside before cutting bottles to length. The plastic (pvc?) is an airborne mess when cut. I will post some photos of various methods once I have enough posts under my belt to qualify for photos.
Thanks for the ideas! David
ARD, I like the way you think, building a hot wire foam cutting tool appeals to my sense of inanity, let’s spend a day building a tool to replace a utility knife which would do the job in a couple of hours. Sounds like fun to me!
David
,

 

[1MtnGoat]

Do the nichrome thing. Cutting with any toothed blade will leave a bit of a jagged edge to clean up. And it will be way safer.

 

[fourbyford]

If you decide to use a chop saw... be VERY careful!!!
We can get lulled into a false sense of security with this tool because, when used as intended, they seem very "tame"... I'm here to tell you, THEY'RE NOT!! I once tried to use one to cut an angle much greater than 45°... I didn't have the set-up exactly right the first time around (although I thought I did)... the saw grabbed the workpiece out of my hand faster than you can imagine. Fortunately, my hand was nowhere near the blade... no harm done. I did finally figure out how to make the cuts.
But, when trying to cut these bottles, your hand WILL be close to the blade!
I like the option of setting a fine-toothed blade 1/4" high on the table saw. Once you find a rhythm, it'll go quickly!

...D

 

[Shiftless]

I once had to cut a large number of 3/16 inch thick acrylic pieces. I used a tip I learned somewhere and installed a 120 tooth blade backwards on the table saw.
That blade melted through the pieces and left a very smooth cut. That trick might work with the much thinner plastic bottles. Try it and see.

 

[LXCam]

I’d make a wooden box/jig to use as a guide and do this.

 

[Abeo]

I once had to cut a large number of 3/16 inch thick acrylic pieces. I used a tip I learned somewhere and installed a 120 tooth blade backwards on the table saw.
That blade melted through the pieces and left a very smooth cut. That trick might work with the much thinner plastic bottles. Try it and see.

I tried that on acrylic light panels for a drop ceiling, and I ended up exploding a panel and getting fragments everywhere lol so I ended up using a grinder with a cutoff wheel and just melted it that way. I can see it working for softer plastics like the oil bottles, but I'd prefer the hot wire method personally.
I'd use some 2x4's to make a jig to standardize the cut height

 

[hop up]

I would go the nichrome way and in fact I am making some resistors right now which Nichrome and great stuff. At the shop we used it for cutting foam for packing on the machines we built.

 

[49tandc]

I did this exact thing a couple of years ago on plastic oil cans and anti-freeze bottles as well. Like others said - bandsaw is the quick and easy answer. I use them to store bolts/nuts, small things inside an old punch cabinet.

Bandsaw made quick and clean cuts.

49T&C