track torch

[ww]

way back when i was in hs shop class we had one of these. it held the cutting torch and rolled on a track. it had a thumb wheel to move it along.nice cut every time. I'm not very steady anymore. anyone know where I can get one?

 

[Jim Broughton]

WW: Hey,I used one of those in metal class at our community college...couldn't afford one. set up two sawhorses on my nice level shop floor and screwed a roller skate to each sawhorse, then clamped an old ski rack unit with a ring on it in a vertical position on one of the sawhorses, laid my 4inch pipe on the skates, fired up the cutting torch using the "ring" to hold the lever down on the torch, and simply rotated the pipe...voila !! Neat clean cuts for a nice weld job on pipe !! AND a very cheap tool to make !!
Hope this helps. Jim B.

 

[Puddles]

Are you talking about one these?

Copy & paste this link.
http://www.koike.com/Machines/Machine.aspx?MachineID=426

 

[Anonymous-0]

You mean a Radiagraph(Airco/inventer name) with a variable speed electric motor. The thumb wheel is to adjust the torch up and down and another one is for in and out. There are some oversea's models made but even those are around $2000. Really good ones can be over double that. A much easier way is to just use a straight edge. I have a magnetic straight edge made by Curve-O-Mark that works great but any straight piece of metal or pipe clamped on the piece will work. It takes a little practice but you can make nice straight cuts a lot cheaper than buying a track cutting machine. Most track cutting machines also do circles with a radius rod attached. If you have lots of straight line or large circle cutting to do, a Radiagraph is the cat's meow though. Some places even mount a MIG or flux-core gun on a Radiagraph. Commonly referred to as Radiographs or track cutting machines. They can use a cutting torch or a plasma torch. Dave

 

[Puddles]

I paid $50.00 for this one.

Can't remember what I paid for this one!

Use this for cutting circles. Table rotates, torch stays in place.

 

[Tramway Guy]

I have heard it called a 'turtle'....

 

[S.Crum]

I looked at a system for torches called "buggo" or something like that, it was a track affair that wasn't overly expensive. I went off the deepend though and put in a full CNC plasma table after one of the suppiers to my shop went belly up. Be nice if I had more steady work for it though. I even designed and built a rotational axis for cutting baffle tubes

 

[JMS/.MN]

I"ve heard of making a simple device, using a small collar that clamps to the tip, and has a small wheel (bearing?) attached to it to maintain uniform height. Running that against a straightedge would help.

 

[Anonymous-0]

There are models called a Puma, a Hawk, a Beetle and a Beaver from Koike. $50 with a section of track is a steal!!! The torch alone is worth about $200. Using one to cut the slot's like on Puddles bucket would be a bit of a pain though and for that application the manual straight edge is much easier to set up. Dave

 

[Anonymous-0]

You can buy kits that clamp on the tip and use a bearing(s) on the plate. I tried one and hated it. Ever tried to move a torch at a very even slow speed rolling it across mill scale or other imperfections? It's one of those things that looks great on paper or in the package but is another story when you actually use it. Dave

 

[bill b va]

my KISS method

a hose clamp and a piece of one inch angle iron works for me ...... mark your cut lay the angle iron along the line . clamp the torch tip with the hose clamp for for maintaining space to cut . let hose clamp knuckle slide along top of angle iron using hose clamp as guide

 

[Joe N E Texas]

I like that circle cutter, can't cut freehand anymore getting too old and shakey. I have been using a piece of 1/2 x 2 flat for a straight edge.

 

[Jerry/MT]

I use a piece of angle iron for a straight edge and clamp it to the piece to be cut. I manually guide it against the straight edge to make straight cuts.