What to use to cut tires with?
- Thread starter Gorski07
- Start date
alvin l nunley
Site Supporter
I used to have a friend that was in the quarter midgets business. He had a lath and a cutter he made from knife edge band steel. His reason for cutting tires was to get them perfectly round and flat. I can't see how you would ever get a tire round and flat using a file. Maybe, if you have a lath and some way to hold the file so that it didn't follow the contour of the tire, you might be able do it. I can't see how you could ever get the tire round and flat holding the file by hand.
The same way that a tire cutting machine does. The file cuts the part of the tire that is higher and leaves the part that is lower, until it gets to a point where the whole tire cuts and the tire is perfectly round or true'd
JPMKarting
Site Supporter
While you will never get it perfectly round with a file, you can certainly help take out some of the high spots.
Besides, we cut tires to alter the profile, not so much to make them perfectly round and flat
crankincraig
New member
If you use a file or rasp won't it tend to follow the high and low spots so to speak , like a ball hone in a cylinder just more or less hones the existing profile , i would think a tire might be somewhat similar .
With an actual lathe the tool or cutter is fixed allowing you to remove only the high spots. Does that make sense?
JPMKarting
Site Supporter
It does...but if you get pretty crafty with the rasp and can identify the high/low spots, you can work around them to even them out. Again, it will never be perfect, but you can make it better
SoCo Tire Treatments
Moderator
A lot of the top Pros in the sport do it by hand.
JPMKarting
Site Supporter
You need to go progressive on your grit.
I usually go 60, 80, 120 grit to get the cut lines out
alvin l nunley
Site Supporter
with a tire cutting machine, do you hold the file by hand, or is the file held by some tool holding device? This is exactly what I said.
alvin l nunley
Site Supporter
it would be really nice if you had a link to someone demonstrating how they do that!
There was a time, many years ago, in the early nineties, when absolutely nobody talked about slipping the clutch at peak torque. I was the one who convinced everybody, (after a long time) how important it was. If I were, or were not, the first one to talk about it, I myself, never heard anybody else talking about it. That I remember anyway. I for sure never heard of any, "Top Pros" telling people to do it. My friend, the one that showed me how he did it, (true tires) was considered a, "Top Pro" in the quarter midgets field.
Consider this; the Top Pros, in every field of endeavor, are constantly coming up with new and better ways to do things, nothing is cast in stone.
You certainly aren't going to find a video on YouTube or elsewhere of a "professional" or someone who cuts tires as a side job or part of their tire program they offer. Tire cutting is kind of like engine building, you won't see the top builders on here or anywhere else giving away their secrets of the trade that they have spent alot of time learning or honing those skills. Sure some might give you a few pointers but I can't see anyone making a video and showing everyone their technique or method.
CarlsonMotorsports
Site Supporter
Actually, I was considering doing just that, Weddle.
Being that we sell cutting bits for tire lathes, I get phone calls and questions just about daily on how to use them, how to cut tires, how to finish tires, what coolant to use, etc etc.
I figured it just might save me a good amout of time explaining all of this over and over again if I could just point them to an online video.
Now, I doubt that you'll see too many guys offering their template numbers or getting into proprietary details, but I think a thorough video would still be most helpful.
Now, with that said, I won't be using a bondo file.
Coming up with the time to produce a "quality" video for our website or youtube is another thing.
Al, I get what you are saying. The only way that you can make the tire's circumference "round" or concentric with a file is if you used some sort of steady rest and were REAL good (think craftsman on a wood lathe.) What most guys are doing with a Bondo rasp is simply shaping the tire by removing rubber from the shoulders to make it have a more rounded profile.
-----
Thanks and God bless,
Brian Carlson
Carlson Racing Engines
Vector Cuts
www.CarlsonMotorsports.com
Celebrating 25 years of service to the karting industry
765-339-4407
bcarlson@CarlsonMotorsports.com
Being that we sell cutting bits for tire lathes, I get phone calls and questions just about daily on how to use them, how to cut tires, how to finish tires, what coolant to use, etc etc.
I figured it just might save me a good amout of time explaining all of this over and over again if I could just point them to an online video.
Now, I doubt that you'll see too many guys offering their template numbers or getting into proprietary details, but I think a thorough video would still be most helpful.
Now, with that said, I won't be using a bondo file.
Coming up with the time to produce a "quality" video for our website or youtube is another thing.
Al, I get what you are saying. The only way that you can make the tire's circumference "round" or concentric with a file is if you used some sort of steady rest and were REAL good (think craftsman on a wood lathe.) What most guys are doing with a Bondo rasp is simply shaping the tire by removing rubber from the shoulders to make it have a more rounded profile.
-----
Thanks and God bless,
Brian Carlson
Carlson Racing Engines
Vector Cuts
www.CarlsonMotorsports.com
Celebrating 25 years of service to the karting industry
765-339-4407
bcarlson@CarlsonMotorsports.com
Freezeman
Site Supporter
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nexf97OKBXc Now I can't tell you if he is a "professional" but IMO it looks like he is doing a good job. LOL
Sorry, now I see this has all ready been posted. So I'll just share this thought here, which I think Brain and many others might agree with.
In go karting I always share with other karters everything I know that may be of help to them in hopes that some day we might have too many fast karters to race with.
Sorry, now I see this has all ready been posted. So I'll just share this thought here, which I think Brain and many others might agree with.
In go karting I always share with other karters everything I know that may be of help to them in hopes that some day we might have too many fast karters to race with.
racer47
New member
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KdVB_n0nuJk
Here is a guy using a rasp. Obviously if its out of round hes probably not helping it any. But with a rest for the rasp to sit on, on each side of the tire, you might could true them up.
Here is a guy using a rasp. Obviously if its out of round hes probably not helping it any. But with a rest for the rasp to sit on, on each side of the tire, you might could true them up.
He is well known in the South.