.125 4130 steel brackets.

[dem3]

Hello all, I'm a new guy and am building a DE. I have completed the ribs and have milled out the spar caps amd am going to do what I can before making the building table. I am thinking of cutting out the 1/8" 4130 brackets with a jig saw. Has anybody done this or are there any tips worth considering? Thanks in advance for any help.
DEM3

[pappyadkins]

Give it a try... I used a bandsaw or grinder with cutoff blade for all my metal cutting... if the jigsaw doesn't work, maybe hacksaw... Not to be negative, but maybe none of my jigsaws were ever very good, but I've not ever been happy with cutting metal with my jigsaws... Good luck...

[DA Miller]

I agree with Pappy on the jig saw. I remember reading quite a few comments on cutting out those brackets. Use the "search" function at the center top of the home page, not the search function in the top right hand corner of the home page. Type in "brackets". You'll get quite a few hits. The search function is also a good place to start with any other questions you might have.

[Chuck in Indiana]

I have a hard time imagining me cutting out 1/8" 4130 with a jig saw.  If you are willing to learn the simplest CAD and can draw them, you can take a blank and a .dxf file to your local laser or better yet water jet shop and they will cut them out for *very* little money.

[dem3]

Thanks everybody for the input. What a great builder community

[Chuck in Indiana]

I have never seen double eagle drawings, but 1/8" is overkill for the XL. Mine are 3/32" and are plenty stout. After all, the pieces bolted to them are .035".

[SmallCar]

The Double Eagle uses 1/8" 4130 for the landing gear/strut brackets.  I cut mine using my metal-cutting band saw tipped up so I could use its little table.  Even with that machine, it's a pretty slow process.  By "jig saw" do you mean a hand-held "sabre saw?"  You might get that to work but there are two things to keep in mind: (1) 4130 can be difficult to cut and you have to push pretty hard to make progress.  (2) 4130 does not like to be cut at high speed and unless you can slow down your jig saw from the normal wood-cutting speeds, the process will devour blades at an alarming rate.  If your budget can stand it, you might consider a "Porta Band" type machine along with a bench mount for it so you can concentrate on cutting and not holding up the machine.  But, your idea is a good one because there are a number of metal parts that you can fabricate before making the building table. 

[dem3]

I'm using a Bosch variable speed variable stroke handheld sabre saw on low speed and straight up and down stroke with highest quality blades and adding rapid tap cutting oil while cutting. The thin blade width on the metal blades helps with the gentle curves. Then I use the grinder, belt sander, drill press, and files to finish off. I'll bet I had 2 hours into my first one. I might make one of each pattern and see about a metal shop to make the duplicates with my patterns. Yep, excruciatingly slow! I'll let you guys know if I come up with anything better. Thanks for your thoughts!

[Rick]

Cut off wheel on a angle grinder worked very well and fast for me. Must wear a face shield due to the high amount of sparks and will need white paint pen for marking lines. Of coarse drill holes before cutting out, then finish the corner radius on a grinder.