Harbor Freight Spot Weld Cutter

[ATOMonkey]

Just picked one up today. We'll see how it works on the old Maverick. The online reviews are good so I'm encouraged. I'll know for myself by Saturday.

[19,69camaro]

A few tips either use a punch or a pilot hole to center so the bit. I'm assuming its the saw type? Also go slow and let the drill do the work. When your done use a chissel to knock off the weld thats left over.
I used one of these to take off the firewall on my camaro and it did a pretty good job, but I did go through a couple of times. Adventually I broke down and got some super fancy german drill bit type. Whats nice about this is it bores a hole with almost no pitch. Yes it wasnt cheap but I've used it for hundreds of spot welds and it hasnt dulled one bit.

[65convertSSl79]

If the tip is supported by a spring there is a set screw you can adjust the spring tension so you don't push down and break all the teeth.

[ATOMonkey]

Oh, I didn't realize that the "guide" was on a spring. Very cool.

[SShep71]

I always just drill a pilot hole and stick the guide through to help from walking.

[TT302Z28]

Hit it with a quick shot of WD40 and it will last longer and cut cleaner.

[ATOMonkey]

I only used it to cut about half a dozen spot welds, but it worked great.

I used a center punch to guide the tool.

My only complaint is that the guide broke. Don't know if it was sticking out too far, or if I was pusing too hard, or a combination of both. It was likely user error.

So, I re-ground a point back on it, and we were back in action.

It seemed to cut well at low speed - high pressure and low pressure - high speed. I was able to cut welds on uneven surfaces without it walking around. Just had to use the low pressure high speed technique to get it started. Once the cutter gets settled in, it doesn't walk around at all.

I have used a die grinder with a double cut oval burr on spot welds before, but it always hangs up at some point, and jumps out of the hole, or chips the tool. Not ideal. This spot weld cutter is almost just as fast, and I don't have to worry about the tool jumping around or wrecking burrs. There were some welds that were too large, but a chisel made fast work of them.

All that was left was to grind down the welded area that was left over.

I have ground, burred, drilled, and chiseled out of multitude of spot welds in the past, and this is by far the best tool I have used so far.

[Mr_Roboto]

Personally, I preferred using a pilot point drill bit over these. They seem to leave less junk to clean off although you do need to give the metal a bit of love with the welder unless you're going to use the holes for plugs.

ED:something else to mention is that I have been told the sleeves are universal, and a lot of people take the HF bit and use better quality replacement sleeves. Supposedly it makes a huge difference.