Exhaust Question

[Plasticmodeler702]

Custom exhaust tips always make the car look way better. I have aluminum tubing, and my first tip looked great because the ends were already smoothed and filed nicely. Now how do I cut the aluminum tubing without it bending and how can I make it look nice and smooth at the tip? Is there anyway to cut it besides using a tube cutter?

Sorry for the question, but I have read and tried doing it, but I can't seem to get it. I do have a dremel, maybe I am not using it correctly? Thanks for any help..

Basically I am asking, how do you guys get those custom exhaust tips so smooth looking after being cut up?

[tigeraid]

Originally Posted by Plasticmodeler702

Custom exhaust tips always make the car look way better. I have aluminum tubing, and my first tip looked great because the ends were already smoothed and filed nicely. Now how do I cut the aluminum tubing without it bending and how can I make it look nice and smooth at the tip? Is there anyway to cut it besides using a tube cutter?

Sorry for the question, but I have read and tried doing it, but I can't seem to get it. I do have a dremel, maybe I am not using it correctly? Thanks for any help..

Basically I am asking, how do you guys get those custom exhaust tips so smooth looking after being cut up?

Sorry.... "Use a tube cutter." ... Seriously, they're like $10 at your local auto parts store, and work wonders. If you have a vice, you can clamp the tubing into it with a cloth around it and very carefully hacksaw it, and it would likely come out straight, too...

[JTRACING]

use an exacto knife with a new blade, place the tubing under the blade and roll the tubing back and forth, the blade will cut through and leave a perfect cut for you

its important to just roll the tubing and not press down with knife.

and then just lightly sand the end you just cut with some fine sandpaper, like 800 grit

[willimo]

I like to use my hobby miter box and my X-acto hobby saw. It helps me cut through the tube straight, and there is minimal cleanup. I also find that the tubing is too thick to replicate a 1:1 exhaust in scale, so I run a sharp blade around the inside of the tube a few times, which shaves a thin strip of aluminum away and thins it to a more scale thickness at the end.

[Plasticmodeler702]

Thanks guys, I will give the exacto knife a try with rolling it. I am going to pick up a respirator sometime at my local hardware store so I will pick up a tube cutter too, sounds like another tool that is good to have.

[Some_Kid]

Just get the K&S tube cutter. Its really simple, just put a firm enough grip on the tube with the cutter and move it in a circular motion over and over and youll get a clean and unpinched cut.