Splitting a rr-track with angle grinder. In real time

[Tuomas]

Very boring video.
That shows how long it actually takes to split 270mm long piece of 170mm thick rr-track.

Answers also question about "how many wheels it takes?", " Is it hard Job?" And If watched carefully, also gives some hints about how to.

Cutting happens in real time, only parts where i adjust camera etc are speed up.

Video is boring and lasts about 30min. Don't watch it If you have better things to do.

[Ralphxyz]

one question why?

[Tuomas]

one question why?

Another question. Why you need to know?

To make nice bookends?
Jaws for the coming vise project? Or for some other reason.

[nova_robotics]

I'm just surprised he survived.

[TheElderBrother]

I had a philosophy professor who did the fun professor trick and gave us a one word final exam. The question was "Why?"

Most of the students hadn't heard the joke before so they sat there writing extensive essays and filling the whole allotted hour with philosophy textbook answers.

The B answer was "Why not?" because it's poor form to answer a question with another question.

He would have given an A- for "Mind your own business," but the A answer was "Because."

If you don't want to watch a half hour of a guy making sparks out of a piece of railroad track, you're welcome to move on, but some people will inevitably find value in knowing what kind of time and material a piece of hardened steel like that will consume in the effort to shape it to a useful
form, or, they just like watching a big grinder making sparks for a while.

Basically, because.

[Tuomas]

That's well said.

Also there is a little "trick" why its so easy to split RR-track. I think metalworkers here get it if they think a while. If not, i explain it little later.

[Toolmaker51]

That's well said.

Also there is a little "trick" why its so easy to split RR-track. I think metalworkers here get it if they think a while. If not, i explain it little later.

Well of course there is a trick involved-
But the rest of us are regular humans, so...

[Tuomas]

Well of course there is a trick involved-
But the rest of us are regular humans, so...

Its the profile of the track. Same works with a H-beam too.

If you look the end of the track.
Its easy to see that top and bottom sections, are much wider than section in the middle.

When one cuts steel with angle grinder, cut groove expands wider when steel is getting hotter. But, when steel starts to cool down, it always shrinks little more than it was expanded.

This shrinking makes cut off wheels to get stuck and jump. Specially when cutting thicker materials.

When you cut through the tracks thicker section, keeping groove equally heated as possible. And reach the narrower section, it happens that wider parts of the track resists shrinking forces more than there is " power to shrink " in that narrow area.

Groove starts to open wider and wider, like a flower.

Shortly " Remaining sides in the thicker area, resist shrinking. While sides of the narrow section are expanding, this makes groove wider and wider. " You can easily cut straight through when groove forms to V- shaped and guides wheel to the bottom.

So, " trick " is to do it with minimal breaks, keeping it warm all the time. Profile of the track does the rest.

[Tuomas]

This was a reason number 1, why i wanted to split rr-track.

[Tuomas]

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