suggestions on how to cut a steel belted automobile tire

Carbide grit sawzall blade?

Position yerself upwind.

--Winston

They've tried a lot of things around here for tire recycling, most of the shredders cost millions, one reason we've got one of the world's largest tire piles in the state. If I were to do it for a one-off, I'd just get out a sidewinder and have at it. Rubber's nasty stuff to actually cut, anyway, the embedded steel just makes it worse. Just stay upwind! One of the old-timey dodges for turning rubber rollers was to freeze the thing before trying to machine it. Got some liquid nitrogen?

I've seen dock fenders made from flattened tires, were just cut at regular intervals from bead to tread and nailed on. Not sure how it was done, probably just a guy with a hacksaw and a lot of spare time.

Stan

Take a sharp utility knife and cut the tread loose from the sidewalls. Use a thin cut wheel on a grinder to cut the steel belts from the inside. The rubber isn't as thick there. Steve

do you want to make something from the tire or just cut it off the wheel? if you want to make something (like machinery pads - old tires are great to put under heavy stuff if cut into 4X4 or so pads) you might try the harbor freight metal cutting circular saw - it's got a lower speed carbide tipped blade that won't jam up and should cut it well - you can also cut through the wheel if that is helpful

I've used a sawzall with a demolition blade when I cut out the tread of a tire to make a bump stop for a pickup truck on a concrete wall. It leaves a bit of a ragged edge on the belts so if you need to handle the cut tire often it might not be the best choice.

It cuts at a reasonable speed and the blade lasts surpriseingly well since the steel wires seem to be broken more than cut.

WayneJ

I make planters out of old tires. I take a complete tire/rim. Then dismount the shallow side. Then I cut the entire bead free using a sawsall. Then a pair of bolt cutters to shear it for removal. Then I cut wedges into the sidewall and turn it inside out. When done it resembles a large flower. Paint the inside with some good paint and toss a piece of drainage mesh in the bottom. Then a chunk of weed block and fill with soil.

What's that Lassie? You say that William Wixon fell down the old rec.crafts.metalworking mine and will die if we don't mount a rescue by Sun, 1 Nov 2009 03:15:36 -0600:

Sawzall. You will need two helpers with vise grips. Use a medium tooth metal cutting blade. Get the thicker ones, short length.

Your two helpers are to pull the two cut sides apart so they don't rub the side of the blade. I've cut lots of rubber mats for horse stalls this way.

At work (tire factory) we have bandsaws in the DOT area that cut up tires to take a cross section for inspection. I think the band saw blades are grit edge. When tires get stuck in production machines, I've seen mechanics cut them apart with a sawzall before to get them out.

RogerN

I had to take 2 light truck tyres off of my tractor wheels (Fordson Super Major or Ford 5000 in USA) recently, the cast iron rims kept slipping off the machine when removing the bead.

It is definitely messy, wear throwaway clothes.

Using tools I have, a 9" angle grinder with cutoff disks, it took about 3/4 hour and wore out 3 disks for the two tyres.

Alan

thanks everyone for your suggestions and help. just after i posted my original message i wondered if a throatless shear would be able to cut through the steel belted tread area of a automobile tire, like, being able to slit it into various designs? wish i knew someone nearby who had one so i could try it out. would that be abusive to the tool to cut all those thin wires? just wondering.

b.w.

I once cut through the entire face of a tire to split it in half with a hack saw. Not too tough... But I can imagine that clamping for a band saw might be an issue.

As for recycling, you want a high-torque shredder driven by a diesel on the back of a truck IMHO.

Regards, Joe Agro, Jr. (800) 871-5022

Here is a manufactured unit that will do the job. I wonder, also, if a slight modification to a wood splitter would do the job for you?

Paul

On Mon, 02 Nov 2009 03:05:55 GMT, the infamous snipped-for-privacy@privacy.net (dan) scrawled the following:

A recip saw works well, too, with a fine-toothed metal blade. It breaks the steel cords that it doesn't cut.

What's that Lassie? You say that Larry Jaques fell down the old rec.crafts.metalworking mine and will die if we don't mount a rescue by Mon, 02 Nov 2009 19:39:21 -0800:

Um, yah. That's what a Sawzall is.

On Wed, 04 Nov 2009 02:19:36 GMT, the infamous snipped-for-privacy@privacy.net (dan) scrawled the following:

Har! I saw every word in your post _except_ "Sawzall." My bad.

-- "To compel a man to subsidize with his taxes the propagation of ideas which he disbelieves and abhors is sinful and tyrannical." -- Thomas Jefferson

replying to William Wixon, Spackle wrote: Just faced this challenge myself, to make dock bumper for out pontoon boat. I came up with a fairly easy method using a metal blade on my sawzall. First I was able to cut away the sidewall easily with a large sharp knife, leaving a flat ring of steel belted tred. Trying to cut that with the sawzall results in the blade catching on the wire mesh and vibrating the tire back and forth, rather than cutting through. So I s rewed the tire diwn to a piece of scrap wood, using two screws on either side of the cut. Then cut through the woidr and the tire at the same time. Worked great!

replying to William Wixon, Spackle wrote: Just faced this challenge myself, to make dock bumper for out pontoon boat. I came up with a fairly easy method using a metal blade on my sawzall. First I was able to cut away the sidewall easily with a large sharp knife, leaving a flat ring of steel belted tred. Trying to cut that with the sawzall results in the blade catching on the wire mesh and vibrating the tire back and forth, rather than cutting through. So I s rewed the tire diwn to a piece of scrap wood, using two screws on either side of the cut. Then cut through the woidr and the tire at the same time. Worked great!