cable cutting

[brents]

I have some 1000 kcmil aluminum cable that needs to be cut into pieces for scrap..

I want to buy a tool to cut this stuff..How do you figure what pressure is required to cut this stuff..I would like an air tool that would do this, since we see this stuff a lot..

I can't figure out how much force is needed to cut this..

thanks,
Brents

 

[JStephen]

My first thought would be to contact manufacturers/ sales rep of the equipment you are considering. If they can't tell you whether they can cut it, hopefully you could test some samples on their equipment and see how it did.

I would think other considerations besides just cutting it in the first place would be the speed of the operation, and how often you had to replace or sharpen cutting edges (and the price of them).

I once hauled a truck load of 1.5" steel cable to a scrapyard that was willing to cut it into 3' pieces by torch, for scrap. This was oily cable with fiber core, you couldn't hardly give the stuff away. I pity the guy that got the job of cutting it.

 

[MintJulep]

Hydraulically powered cable cutters are commercially available from places like Granger and McMaster-Carr. I can't ever recall seeing a pneumatic one, although that doesn't mean they dont exist.

If they do exist, they would be designed to operate on normal shop air pressure, around 100 psi typically.

 

[unclesyd]

Google "wire rope cutters" "cable cutters".
There are plenty of hydraulic and impact cutters around.
I have an impact cutter, 16# hammer needed, that will cut 1 1/2" wire rope.

If this is a one off type deal check your rental shop for a large rebar cutter.

Check your scrap yard as one local yard will accept AL and Cu wire as is.