How to cut stainless overbraid?

[ian_uk1975]

What's the best/easiest way to cut stainless overbraid? I've got a box full of overbraid and hose finishers from SpeedFlow that I need to make a start on this weekend. Thinking a Stanley knife might work? Hack saw, maybe?

[dave]

Hi Ian.
Either a VERY strong and sharp pair of scissors or tin snips.

A Stanley knife wont touch it if it's stainless and a hack saw will just chew it up.

[Sidecarbod]

I saw a video clip of someone using a sharp cold chisel, they held the braid over a piece of wood and gave the chisel a whack with a hammer, it went straight through with a very clean cut.


Pete

[Martyn-ak427]

To get the neatest finish use a dremel with a cutting disk.

Martyn

[chedz]

I cut some the other evening.

What I did was wrap the area in insulation tape to stop it all springing apart, then cut through the middle of the taped area with an angle grinder fitted with a 1mm cutting disk.

I use loads of these discs:
Super Thin 1mm Metal Cutting Disc

doing this also leaves the unused end taped and ready for storage

Nick (Nobby) bought some tool from the states to fit the ends on the hose, its a plastic funnel type thing that you put the finisher end in then just push the hose into it. Nick has done dozens of braided hoses and swears by this funnel thingy. Its something like this one:

Powerhouse: Small Braided Hose & Fitting Assembly Tool Kit

cheers
G

[Sidecarbod]

With any of the cutting by abraison methods you must then get all of the crap out of the pipe. If you won't you could end up scoring a bearing if it's an oil pipe or flooding the carb if it's a petrol pipe. (Hope you did this Graham when you made your nice new petrol pipe! )

Pete

[ian_uk1975]

Thanks chaps... but you're all up far too early in the morning for a Saturday!

I forgot to suggest using a chisel on a block of soft wood in my list of original thoughts (thanks Pete). Will give that a go first, I think. I've hardly used that chisel, so it should do the job, hopefully.

chedz, I think the hose end fitting kit you're talking about is for the Aeroquip stuff... I'm just dealing with overbraid and the 'fake' hose ends that consist of a worm-drive clamp covered by a hex (or round) shaped anodized cover.

[Orange Cobra]

Howdy

I cut my braided stuff with a hacksaw. To stop the saw chewing up stainless I wraped the braided hose with tape and " cut through the tape" so to speak.

Regards

Frank

[Purple AK]

Ian. I first cut the pipe to length, then stretched the over braid on and secured the ends with a strip of gaffer tape positioned to leave about 13mm on the ends once cut (this keeps it all together and helps when fitting the anodised ends) I then cut and trimmed the ends with a pair of serated (cut anything) "Wonder Scissors". Worked a treat

[Nobby]

Originally Posted by chedz

I cut some the other evening.

What I did was wrap the area in insulation tape to stop it all springing apart, then cut through the middle of the taped area with an angle grinder fitted with a 1mm cutting disk.

I use loads of these discs:
Super Thin 1mm Metal Cutting Disc

doing this also leaves the unused end taped and ready for storage

Nick (Nobby) bought some tool from the states to fit the ends on the hose, its a plastic funnel type thing that you put the finisher end in then just push the hose into it. Nick has done dozens of braided hoses and swears by this funnel thingy. Its something like this one:

Powerhouse: Small Braided Hose & Fitting Assembly Tool Kit

cheers
G

The tool I bought was from here:

STAINLESS BRAIDED HOSE ASSEMBLY TOOLS from Aircraft Spruce

Saved all the hassle of pushing the pipe into the hose end with all the bad language and ripping your hands to bits. Stainless hose is hard to grip when you're bleeding heavily Not cheap but worth every penny. It works extremely well.

I found cutting the pipe is easier if you user Graham's method of taping the end tightly and then using a thin grinder disk - It doesn't fray the ends this way.(I also tried a sharp hacksaw blade but this tends to rip the braid slightly)