Cutting out the rust, cuttoff tool? Options

[swl]

I bought myself a compressor and el cheap tool kit. I was kind of hoping that the cutoff tool would be the right thing for cutting out the cancer. Had a go at it today but this tool was useless. No torque at all - stalled with very little pressure - hardly any sparks. There is an adjuster on it that seems to throttle the air supply. Played with that a bit but it didn't really make any difference.

So do I have a faulty tool or just the wrong tool for the job?

[Michael Oberg]

Looks like everyone has covered the basics and answered your question, but I wanted to reiterate what has been said by mentioning what works best for me.

I have a 5HP, 20 gallon Husky compressor similar to yours and it cannot do any heavy work like cutting or grinding. I believe that the CFM ratings that you see on air tools should be treated as minimums, and I know that both my cutting wheel and my die grinder just don't work for cutting with the 6CFM coming out of my Husky, but work well with the 12CFM from my 240V IR compressor.

What I recommend:

- electric 4 1/2" angle grinder, for cutting disks, grinding wheels and flap disks. The flap disks are nice for grinding with a little more delicately and giving a nicer, smoother finish than the grinding wheels. Several in different grits are nice to have, depending on what it is you just welded. I like to have 2 angle grinders, one with a cutting wheel on it at all times (harbor freight el cheapo), and another with one of the grinding wheels (nicer unit that can take more abuse) - speeds up a lot of work.
- electric drill and a wire cup. This is for taking off rust, paint and other messy stuff that would gum up the grinding wheels or flap disks.
- everything else are air tools, I even prefer my air drill to the electric one that I have.

Ive done a lot of sheet metal cutting with the angle grinder, and man I wish I just would have bought a good body saw before I started (just finished making a blast cabinet). My sawzall worked horribly for me (I had to clamp 2 pieces of angle iron with a gap inbetween just to get a straight line). The body saw should work well with your 110V compressor.

Hope this helps, and heres to not finding any surprises when you open up your longs.

- Michael