Well, I received my Rugged Ridge front bumper light bar and since I have the Expedition One Rubi skid plate mounted on my frame rails, the brackets for the bumper bar won't fit.

I can make it fit, but need to cut the bottom of the brackets about an inch. The brackets are about 2.5" wide by 6" high and are 1/8" steel. They have a very nice thick powder coat on them and seem very well put together. The welds look great and craftsmanship seems pretty good.

I've never cut or welded metal before in my life and am wondering what the best thing to do would be?

I guess I could take it to a body shop and have them cut it and test mount it to see if it fits and if it doesn't have them grind it until it fits. Anyone in Raleigh, NC know how to do this sort of stuff?

Just checkin'. Thanks.

 

Would a good quality jigsaw with a good metal-cutting blade do the trick? Or will I just be damaging a good quality jigsaw?

Sawzall? Anything home-made?

 

if it's only an 1/8" thick and you can get it to sit evenly on top of the metal, a jigsaw will give you better control and a cleaner cut. a grinder will help to finish up whatever you missed and smooth things out.

 

Thanks. That's what a friend of mine said also - he said he's cut 3/16" tempered steel with a jigsaw. He said it wasn't fun, but he cut it. I figure just use plenty of WD-40 and a couple of blades and I should be OK.

Another question:

I've never used a grinder for a project like this. Will a grinder just smooth out the rough edges, or will it "sand" the entire edge down in case I need to shave another 1/32" off? How hot will the metal get?

Thanks again!

 

with an aggresive blade, you can do a lot of cutting & shaping with a grinder.

 

jigsaw with a metal blade will work... just go nice and slow. you can also use a grinder, band saw, or a ton of other tools. If you want a real easy way to cut them off fast and straight... you can put a metal cut off wheel on your circular saw, make sure the bracket is in a vice or held still, and hold up the safety guard on the saw and push it straight down through it like a chop saw. That is my favorite way to do that type of thing. It is super fast, ez, and straight. Good luck!

 

Would it work on a miter saw? I have been in carpentry for 25 years and have tons of wood cutting tools, just nothing for metal. I have a great Makita sliding dual compound saw that would work great if I can find a 10" metal cutting blade. I guess I need some good eye, face and body protection - 'cuz the hot metal pieces would fly everywhere.

 

ya. that would be just like a chop saw. Just wear gloves and glasses. Maybe some long sleaves. It won't be as bad as you think. I think a mitre saw would work great. Use a blade like this style: the black material kind not a metal blade.

 

Will the side of that blade also work as a grinder? In other words, can I turn on and lock the chop saw in the down position, while slowly pushing the bracket towards the blade? Or would it cause too much friction or pressure to possibly damage the blade or saw?

Just curious at this point, just in case I undercut and need to shave off 1/32". Otherwise, I guess I could just put the bracket in a vise and use my handheld grinder.

 

you shouldn't use it as a grinder. Just use the angle grinder in the vise to clean it up. It will cut real straight and clean probably, so you shouldn't have too much more to do than just clean the edges a tiny bit.