Bonneville America Forums Forums Technical Forums Exhaust Shortening Sceptre's

I have this idea that I would like to shorten my sceptre's a couple of inches. I talked to a machinist on the matter and he said the best way to cut stainless would be to use a small die grinder with a cutting wheel. Just curious if anyone ever attempted to shorten theirs and what by what means was used?
Kerby

Find a decent machine shop with a floor mounted horizontal cut-off band saw that you can set the proper angle and cutting speed along with depth of cut speed and you should be fine. All the good saws have a cooling spray as well.

I've seen some very good cuts made with a 4 1/2" cut off blade on an angle grinder. It's all in the hand.

When I questioned the machinist we were standing right in front of a horizontal band saw. That's what gave me the idea to begin with. He said cutting stainless pipe is very difficult with a band saw. He mentioned that the blade would not cut the pipes because of a few different reasons. I'm know expert but I wasn't gonna question him, Plus didn't want to add any extra designs to a set of $600 pipes. Of course, this machine shop is at my work. And home projects seem to pile up on this guy. Maybe that was his way of saying "get lost kid, you're bothering me"

Use the cut off disc, go slow, wrap with tape before and to protect the finish. Problem with the band saws is stainless can be hard on them as is cutting to thin a material. Rule of thumb is that the material being cut must be 1 1/2 teeth thick, otherwise it ripps the teeth and the material. It could make quite a mess of your pipes speaking from experience, we have 3 of these saws in our shop. Not saying it wont work or can't be done, I have the garbage blades to prove it can be done. Best bet would be go slow with a chop saw with a thin cut off disc, in my opinion.

I'm no machinist but I do know that steel will turn blue if using a cuttoff wheel and it sits in one place too long and overheats the metal. Maybe not with stainless.

Jake, That's pretty much verbatum what my machanhist told me.
Thanks

Stainless shouldn't turn blue, but it will get a goldish color to it. The nice thing about stainless is usually you can polish or buff out minor discolorations.

I cut my scepters down with a saws all. wrapped tape around the pipe before cutting. then took a small round file to ease the cutting burr left by the saw blade. cut mine down due to mangling the ends during off road evasive maneuvers (that is a fancy way of saying crashed my a**). I like the shorter look. and i couldn't see throwing away such a beautiful sounding set of pipes just because the ends were smashed flat.

A sawsall huh? Did you cut them straight or cut them at an angle to have the slash cut look?

Plasma cutter man, PLasma cutter. Like an electric torch it will make short work of the job. only downside is you'd have to grind off the burrs & that could take a while to clean them up. If you use the sawzall get the finest blades you can, and a drop or two of tapping oil (tapfree) will keep the blade cool for a better quality cut.

work with metal all day, and have cut pipes before. jake said it Chop saw is the way to go with pipes wrapped in tape.Just need a smooth half round file for the bur. Problem with sawzall is they have a tendency to bounce if your not pressed up to the pipe. Bandsaw is next best just go slow. If your pipe does discolor which i doubt unless you have a really dull blade a small buffer wheel will take it right out. Good luck

When you say using a chop saw, what typs of blade should I use and what type of tape offers the best protection.

Use a metal cutoff wheel, any any kind of tape should work, you are just trying to keep from scratching the pipe in the clamp on the chop saw, I've even just taped up the sides of the clamp, but the pipe would offer greater protection. Just let the saw do the cutting with just a little pressure.

Thanks "Tex" Now all I have to do is get the nerve up to do it

let us know how it goes, and if it goes bad i never said anything. Na just kidding it's a breeze, good luck