Cutting FMC

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Greg1707

Senior Member
Location
Alexandria, VA
Occupation
Business owner Electrical contractor
I had a frustrating experience yesterday cutting 3/4" FMC with a Sawzall. What is best practice to cut FMC?
 
LarryFine

LarryFine

Master Electrician Electric Contractor Richmond VA
Location
Henrico County, VA
Occupation
Electrical Contractor
A fine-tooth blade is a must. Use a hacksaw frame if you can't slow the recip saw.

Also, you need more blade motion and less blade pressure.
 
Dsg319

Dsg319

Senior Member
Location
West Virginia
Occupation
Wv Master “lectrician”
tom baker said:
Try a portaband, the blade teeth will pull it against the side of the opening.
Or a vise with sawzall
Click to expand...
I deal with it quite a bit. Usually pack around a mini portaband, I would say it’s probably the best to cut it with.(my opinion)
 
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Eddie702

Licensed Electrician
Location
Western Massachusetts
Occupation
Electrician
Your vise is your foot. Step on it pull it tight and use a hacksaw with a fine blade cut it on an angle same as for MC or BX. But if I have a lot to do and it's larger size I use the portaband
 
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Carultch

Senior Member
Location
Massachusetts
tom baker said:
Try a portaband, the blade teeth will pull it against the side of the opening.
Or a vise with sawzall
Click to expand...

I would agree that a portaband is a better tool for this job, than a sawzall. The sawzall is a reciprocating sawblade, rather than a continuously-revolving sawblade. The reciprocating sawblade puts alternating forces on your workpiece, while a continuously-revolving sawblade puts a continuous force on your workpiece. It is much easier to hold it in place against a continuous force than an alternating force. Keep some woodscraps on hand, and clamp them behind the flexible conduit, to hold flexible conduit in place and straight, while it gets cut. That is, behind relative to the direction that the blade moves.

It goes without saying, but don't rely on your hands to either hold your workpiece in place or the scraps of wood in place. Better to let the clamps do the heavy lifting for you, when holding your workpiece in place for power tools. Less risk of personal injury.
 
T

Todd0x1

Senior Member
Location
CA
I have a little 7-1/4 rage evolution tct chop saw I have been dragging everywhere. I use it for anything I have to cut that's not up in the air where I'd use the portaband. Perfect clean square burr free cuts. Besides pipe and strut I use it on FMC and it works particularly well on LFMC.
 
kwired

kwired

Electron manager
Location
NE Nebraska
LarryFine said:
A fine-tooth blade is a must. Use a hacksaw frame if you can't slow the recip saw.

Also, you need more blade motion and less blade pressure.
Click to expand...
If clamping in some sort of vice you can get away with more. If holding in your hand while cutting with a reciprocating saw, a worn out blade does not do so well, a like new blade seems like a hot knife in butter in comparison. Do need to keep the work tight against the shoe of the saw in all cases.
 
R

retirede

Senior Member
Location
Illinois
kwired said:
If clamping in some sort of vice you can get away with more. If holding in your hand while cutting with a reciprocating saw, a worn out blade does not do so well, a like new blade seems like a hot knife in butter in comparison. Do need to keep the work tight against the shoe of the saw in all cases.
Click to expand...

That’s the key. I always figured I could cut darned near anything with a sawzall as long as I had a correct, good blade and it was immobilized.
 
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