The all new, amazing ScrewChopper®!

[DICKEYBIRD]

It slices, it dices, it comes apart for easy cleanup in your dishwasher! Not really, but it does cut off screws & bolts with ease.

I started this thing months ago but didn’t get a chance to get back on it until (AT LAST!) finishing a long term project yesterday. My hardware collection has a lot of screws & bolts that were bought long and are cut down to fit to keep the inventory lower. I’d been cutting them on the bandsaw but since switching to coarser blades I’ve grown tired of ruining blades when the smaller screws grabbed and stripped off a tooth or 2.

It’s made from square tubing off of a parted out treadmill, a few scraps of aluminum & steel plate, a couple oilite bronze bushings, a bit of drill rod, misc. hardware and some rubber feet from the same treadmill. The angle grinder mount was made last year when I was messing around with a small AO stone mounted on the lathe grinding a trepanning tool. It was pretty easy to add a couple brackets and bushings to the existing mount. The grinder is a cheapo 4” HF unit that should last a long time in its new job. I’ll get another, better quality grinder so this one can stay on this rig indefinitely.

[DICKEYBIRD]

The screw holder/clamp was made from some mystery metal that was a horror story in itself. I’ve always had good luck building my projects from whatever I can scrounge, choosing stuff that cuts easily with a file. This stuff was devious. It came from a Westfalia towing package bracket off of Land Rover vehicles. I got several from the scrap box at work and easily cut off all the bent & welded bits with the bandsaw. I had several feet of the stuff in stock & it was the perfect thickness for this project. It sawed great, milled great and drilled pretty good with medium size bits. The problems started when I tried to drill 4 deep holes with a #36 drill. I shattered a good #36 drill, 2, 6-32 taps, and boogered the ends off of a 1/4” 2-flute end mill and a ¼” 4-flute rougher trying to cut a couple 1” long slots. I abandoned the slots and went with 3 holes on each end. The stuff goes from a happy cut to a bound up work hardened screech in a flash with no warning. I’m not going to scrap the rest of it but will not use it when any small drilling/tapping is needed.





I slit the base with the cutoff wheel for clearance and when the holder is adjusted even with the slit, a good flush cut is insured.



I’ll make a fence later so hardened dowels & rods can be cut accurately.

[Black_Moons]

Nice, I like it, though my mind tells me that clamp is gonna flex and needs to be tightened well.. Don't really like the lack of threads in the clamp either. Im sure its fine, but maybe glue some thin rubber there like from a bike tire or inner tube? Will grab the threads nicely without marring them.

I bought an angle grinder that looked cheap and had good mounting points on it for making something exactly like that, Mainly for bolts and threaded rod too, Since those are the harder metals I don't like doing on my bandsaw (Love it when they get loose and the rolling of the threads against the blade acts as a great tooth remover!)

[JoeLee]

Thats a nice idea if your cutting screws all the time. When I cut screws I always put a nut on it so after it's cut removing the nut will open up the threads. It's easier than trying to start a nut off a burred end.

JL.................

[gary hart]

Dickeybird, I like it.

A neat attachment might be a small vise that you could saw right through the jaws just to side of the vise screw and have a small v groove in the jaws.

Then you could cut small stock and have the work clamped both sides of the cut. Kind of like commercial cold cut saws.

[DICKEYBIRD]

Yeah, B/M I toyed with the idea of having tapped holes but this way's much quicker and a few holes do all the sizes I use, 4-40 to 3/8". It's over 5/16" thick and holds all sizes of screws very securely. The clamp screws are just snugged up with no flex noted.

I have enough of the devil-metal left to do a metric sized holder but I don't use many metric screws. At 64, I ain't likely to change before they chunk me in the clay either.

A vise, hmmm, good idea Gary, thanks.

[uncle pete]

Milton,
Very clever and well thought out. Yours and about anything written up in that Shop Built Tools thread could be a very good item for both of the VP magazines.

Pete

[DICKEYBIRD]

Thanks Pete, I appeciate your kind remarks. I started a couple articles a few years ago for George; one is 95% done, the other 75% but work, side job work and other projects keep getting in the way. I've had 8 magazine articles in another hobby published some years back (before the lathe grabbed me) with CAD drawings, text & pictures. It takes a lot of time and effort, that's for sure!

[TR]

When I cut screws I always put a nut on it so after it's cut removing the nut will open up the threads.

Dicky could tap threads in the clamp.

I like it.

[wierdscience]

I like it,beats a hacksaw all to pieces.One more thing to build