Spot weld cutter

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Slowswinger said:
I use the Blair brand and put a few drops of oil on the spotweld. Be careful with how much pressure you put on them or the teeth will break like glass.
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The Blair definitely work better than the HF type but the HF will work if you are methodical. But no matter what you use, slow speed and consistent pressure is key to getting good results. If it starts walking around you risk chipping teeth even on the Blair. Oil helps. Pilot hole or "dimple" is key for cheap ones. I found my Blair will usually work with a good sharp center punch mark. If it starts to walk I partially drill a pilot. I have one of the stepped drill bit type but really haven't tried it yet, but there are multiple opportunities upcoming.
 
I got 1 whole car out of 2 cheapies I bought on Amazon, but there was learning curve. My best results were if I prick punched a spot for the center pin to ride in and use a old candle for cutting compound. Candles are paraffin. The first one I wore the hole out that the centering pin rides in, I have a few cutters I dulled to the point where they would not cut anymore. I also keep using them if the teeth break off till they just will not work anymore.
 
I have used carbide burr’s to cut them out, but the cutters are faster and cheaper. It takes patience and willingness to try different methods of using the cutters till get good at it, like 3 or 4 cutters worth. After 100 spot welds you will have a knack for it.
 
ch1ll said:
I have used carbide burr’s to cut them out, but the cutters are faster and cheaper. It takes patience and willingness to try different methods of using the cutters till get good at it, like 3 or 4 cutters worth. After 100 spot welds you will have a knack for it.
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and you will wish someone else was doing it!
 
Cuda416 said:
Curious now, roughly how many per car? never heard anyone give a real estimate.
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My numbers are probably exaggerated a bit but an old Mopar has between 5500-6500 spot welds depending on model and year. I drilled out anywhere from 3 to 8 cars a year. Enough that my hands and wrist are totally jacked up now to the point that I can't do that anymore and really don't know how much longer I can keep wrenching.
Here are the tools that I used. You can actually hammer through the welds with the Seam Busters. Works great from areas that a drill cut reach as such the seam between the firewall and floor pan. I had some that I put a curved in it so I could go around corners and reach in tighter spots. I didn't use any oil and only had to center punch the shallow and sloppy welds. Most of them I just zip zip zip right long. As stated before after a 100 or so you'll get the hung of it. I started with the cheap one and finally got the Blairs and it was like why did I wait so long? Things went so much better and faster. There are also some stitch welds here and there. Also have to keep in mind that I was removing pieces so that they could reused.

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And that is the whole key part that moparmarks made, dissassembly so the parts can be reused. I have a Blair cutter kit as well. I use it in cases where both pieces need to be dissassembled and reused. If the one side I am removing is junk such as in the case of a rotted floor pan, I dont use the blairs. I just rotary file the welds on the side I am discarding and chisel it apart. The incredible disappearing barracuda I nicknamed " the cudaver". I needed a bunch out of it to unFuck a hack minitub car. What I didnt need I was able to sell. If it was scrap, then I scrapped it. I used a combination of b li air cutters, a cutoff wheel, and rotary files on this. Took a couple days.

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moparmarks said:
My numbers are probably exaggerated a bit but an old Mopar has between 5500-6500 spot welds depending on model and year. I drilled out anywhere from 3 to 8 cars a year. Enough that my hands and wrist are totally jacked up now to the point that I can't do that anymore and really don't know how much longer I can keep wrenching.
Here are the tools that I used. You can actually hammer through the welds with the Seam Busters. Works great from areas that a drill cut reach as such the seam between the firewall and floor pan. I had some that I put a curved in it so I could go around corners and reach in tighter spots. I didn't use any oil and only had to center punch the shallow and sloppy welds. Most of them I just zip zip zip right long. As stated before after a 100 or so you'll get the hung of it. I started with the cheap one and finally got the Blairs and it was like why did I wait so long? Things went so much better and faster. There are also some stitch welds here and there. Also have to keep in mind that I was removing pieces so that they could reused.

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Thanks for that, I'm off to a good start, same tools. Love those rotabroaches.
 
Oh I used a touch, Sawzall, cutoff wheel or whatever to cut away the junk metal. Rust will dull the bits pretty fast.
 
Here's another vote for the Blair. It worked fantastic for me. Sadly, I will be using it a LOT when I start getting into the sheet metal on the Dart.
 
moparmarks said:
My numbers are probably exaggerated a bit but an old Mopar has between 5500-6500 spot welds depending on model and year. I drilled out anywhere from 3 to 8 cars a year. Enough that my hands and wrist are totally jacked up now to the point that I can't do that anymore and really don't know how much longer I can keep wrenching.
Here are the tools that I used. You can actually hammer through the welds with the Seam Busters. Works great from areas that a drill cut reach as such the seam between the firewall and floor pan. I had some that I put a curved in it so I could go around corners and reach in tighter spots. I didn't use any oil and only had to center punch the shallow and sloppy welds. Most of them I just zip zip zip right long. As stated before after a 100 or so you'll get the hung of it. I started with the cheap one and finally got the Blairs and it was like why did I wait so long? Things went so much better and faster. There are also some stitch welds here and there. Also have to keep in mind that I was removing pieces so that they could reused.

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Poor cars! No offense to you but I hate seeing that! It makes me sad to see these classics get cut up and parted.
 
dartfreak75 said:
Poor cars! No offense to you but I hate seeing that! It makes me sad to see these classics get cut up and parted.
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I look at it as supporting the hobby,and helping another one on to the road. And not getting crushed.
 
Tooljunkie said:
I look at it as supporting the hobby,and helping another one on to the road. And not getting crushed.
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That is true. Cars that would've been crushed and total loses become donars to help another one survive. Its still sad to see lol
 
I said it one time. Got run over like a freight train. Since it's you that asked, Kevin, I'm showing you this. The belt sander is the damned quickest way to get the job done. No, I haven't done half a million, but I've done enough using the bullshit tools shown so far, and unless I cannot get the belt sander in where a spot weld is, I will not use a cutter anymore. They are just way slow. Use what you want. You're going to anyway.

 
Tooljunkie said:
I look at it as supporting the hobby,and helping another one on to the road. And not getting crushed.
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That's right! The cars that stuff came off of were never going to run again, so saving what you can makes a lot of sense.
 
I've used grinders, sanders, die grinders with carbide burs, and spotweld cutters. I've tried regular drill bits, but just got frustrated since some times then weld just isn't uniform enough and there too much material still attached for the drill bit.

For me, it depends on if I plan on re-using the panel. If so, I prefer the Blair spot-weld cutter just because it leaves such a clean hole. If not, grinders, sanders, and carbide burs all work well. Pick your poison.
 
Blair makes a good product, I finally bought a set last year and they work good.
I will also take a grinder to the top panel sometimes if it is not going to be re-used.
Also other times I will drill a small pilot with a 1/8 bit and follow with a 1/4 inch bit just thru the top layer of metal.
Nothing is real fast, just time consuming, but if you are careful you will not damage the metal you want to save.
 
There is one panel I plan on reusing. But the rest is just removal of rusty panels
 
RustyRatRod said:
I said it one time. Got run over like a freight train. Since it's you that asked, Kevin, I'm showing you this. The belt sander is the damned quickest way to get the job done. No, I haven't done half a million, but I've done enough using the bullshit tools shown so far, and unless I cannot get the belt sander in where a spot weld is, I will not use a cutter anymore. They are just way slow. Use what you want. You're going to anyway.

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And that works great when your separating panels and discarding one of them. If your trying to save both pieces a Blair cutter works the best.
 
moparmat2000 said:
And that works great when your separating panels and discarding one of them. If your trying to save both pieces a Blair cutter works the best.
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Absolutely! I agree the cutter is by far the neatest. But my problem is I want instant gratification. LMAO
 
RustyRatRod said:
Absolutely! I agree the cutter is by far the neatest. But my problem is I want instant gratification. LMAO
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Lol I like to have an arsenal of options. So thank you for the belt sander idea tbh I didn't understand it at all till I watched that video just now!
 
Definitely not just one way to do it. Especially if you are not saving the panel you are removing compared to recycling the panel. I can do some amazing work with a long stroke slow speed air chisel with a modified chisel bit. That guy with the boxside video ain't working flatrate.
 
dartfreak75 said:
Lol I like to have an arsenal of options. So thank you for the belt sander idea tbh I didn't understand it at all till I watched that video just now!
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It works good. I like it even when I plan on reusing the panel. The belt is narrow. Unless you're a drunken redneck hillbilly, you can keep it controlled and limited to one area.
 
RustyRatRod said:
It works good. I like it even when I plan on reusing the panel. The belt is narrow. Unless you're a drunken redneck hillbilly, you can keep it controlled and limited to one area.
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You know me too well! Haha
 
RustyRatRod said:
It works good. I like it even when I plan on reusing the panel. The belt is narrow. Unless you're a drunken redneck hillbilly, you can keep it controlled and limited to one area.
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My concern is longevity of the belts. Never used one. Been wanting one for a while.
 
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