rustyshackleford Posted September 24, 2008 Posted September 24, 2008 Having purchased my welder and being the proud owner of it for all of five hours, my neighbor brought a proposal to me. The project is simple: make 20 squares out of rebar. 10, one foot squares, and 10, 1/4 metre squares. I have to price the materials out tomorrow as it was too late to call concrete mixers this evening, but looking at the Lowes website, their cost would be $43. should I purchase an abrasive disc and just cut them with a mitre saw? should I heat and chisel the lengths out? this determines how long the project will take, obviously. (wish I had a metal muncher!) Does labor cost typically exceed materials cost for welding? I am at a loss because I have never had a comission welding before. Thanks guys ;) Quote
LarryM Posted September 24, 2008 Posted September 24, 2008 If there going to be used to reinforce concrete. I 'd bend the squares and weld one corner. Three less cuts to make per square. Larry Quote
ironwolfforgeca Posted September 24, 2008 Posted September 24, 2008 labor & materials cost depend on the job it can go either way that is something hard to say best thing to do if you can is make one then you know what it take,s to do the job if you can ? and wright it down that helps the next time you do something close as to cutting re-bar get a 14" GOOD cut off saw you will need one anyhow working with steel--I have had good !! luck with millwalkee tools bad sp I use all the time in my welding shop it never has a nice easy day !! years later it still runs cost about 160.00 or so Quote
ironwolfforgeca Posted September 24, 2008 Posted September 24, 2008 I agree with Larry to on the cutting Quote
rustyshackleford Posted September 24, 2008 Author Posted September 24, 2008 I also agree with Larry on the cutting (I had decided that after having a "duh" moment) Perhaps one of these saws will be next on the tool list. Ironwolf: that is a firm method of going about it, and one that I had considered. guess I'll scrounge up a piece and bang one out while timing myself. Well, thoughts confirmed. Thank you, gentlemen! I'll just throw a number at the client after I make one and see if it sticks ;) Quote
Blacksmith Jim Posted September 24, 2008 Posted September 24, 2008 You can use a 4.5 inch angle grinder with cutting disc to cut them. A lot cheaper then a big chop saw. Quote
Glenn Posted September 24, 2008 Posted September 24, 2008 A cold chisel will cut rebar, and leave a nice bevel for welding. Quote
burd Posted October 1, 2008 Posted October 1, 2008 The 14" milwaukee chop saw will cut circles around the 4.5" angle grinder and is ALOT safer Quote
acoop101 Posted October 1, 2008 Posted October 1, 2008 heat and bend, it will take a lot less time and will look cleaner in the end imho. ;) Quote
John B Posted October 1, 2008 Posted October 1, 2008 Bolt croppers are good for quick cutting of smaller bars of rebar or other steels up to 1/2", you can get larger ones too Quote
rthibeau Posted October 1, 2008 Posted October 1, 2008 11 responses and 8 different suggestions......what a deal!!! Quote
philip in china Posted October 7, 2008 Posted October 7, 2008 How thich will the rebar be? I would go with bolt croppers if it is thin enough. Also try to think about making a jig to bend. It can be very simple with this rebar. Here they just put pegs into holes in a piece of wood and bend round that. If things are a bit stiff at the end just put a length of pipe over the end of the rod to give a bit more leverage. What are they for? High spec rebar shoudn't actually be welded but if, as I suspect, you are just making reinforced paving slabs or something like that it actually doesn't matter. Quote
rustyshackleford Posted October 7, 2008 Author Posted October 7, 2008 The porject is finished, bu to answer your questions, it's 3/8 inch. what i ended up doing was bending it in both the hard on my anvil, and in my small post vise. The idea for the pipe is great, and I realized that the hardy accomplished the same thing. I also had the idea for the wood; I was going to pond some RR spikes into a large stump we had. They were used to plot out a specific area, so nothing "high spec", you're correct though. Thanks for the input Phillip :) Quote
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