55 Gallon drum lid cutters

[SeymourDumore]

Guys

Can anyone recommend a decent manual cutter to remove the lid of the 55G drums?
I am thinking about the "can opener" style ones that leave a relatively smooth edge.

I found these on McMaster, but can't figure out what makes one 5x the price of the other, let alone the min/max drum capacity.
Is there a difference in lip thickness in drums based on what is normally stored in them? Be-Cu blade cuts a thicker lid than steel?


Thank You

 

[memphisjed]

Be cu is for non spark.

 

[DDoug]

I picked up one of those (the plain one, not the "non sparking" model) used from HGR one visit.
It leaves a jagged edge, no matter how I adjust it.

Have to go around with a hammer to bash down the edges.

 

[Garwood]

I sliced through most of my thumb on the sharp edge left by one of those. I thought the drum was a lid type and just grabbed it.

 

[michiganbuck]

We used to just hammer and cold chisel the top out, it made a decent cut and doesn't take that much time, It was not uncommon to make a burn barrel out of a 50gal drum... safety glasses would be.

 

[SeymourDumore]

I picked up one of those (the plain one, not the "non sparking" model) used from HGR one visit.
It leaves a jagged edge, no matter how I adjust it.

Have to go around with a hammer to bash down the edges.

That sucks.
Like Buck said, I normally just go around with a cold chisel too, but banging them sharpies down is a hit or miss, usually a miss.
Just wondering what the "pros's" use as most of the barrels I get as a replacement from the scrap guys are pretty nicely done.

 

[DDoug]

That sucks.
Like Buck said, I normally just go around with a cold chisel too, but banging them sharpies down is a hit or miss, usually a miss.
Just wondering what the "pros's" use as most of the barrels I get as a replacement from the scrap guys are pretty nicely done.

There is an electric one that uses a wheel just like a home can opener.

 

[michiganbuck]

Likely going around with a cutting torch would be good/ok, but I have never done that.
Be good to out of flammables first.

 

[Ultradog MN]

Reminds me of the year I spent working for Halliburton Services in the Utah oilfields.
It took two guys to open a barrel top.
One guy held a 15" pipe wrench and the other guy used a 3 lb hammer to beat the moveable jaw into the edge of the barrel top. Around the barrel they went - 3/4" at a time. They did get the lid cut open but there wasn't much left of a near new Ridgid pipe wrench when they were done.
But what the hey.
Wrench musta got lost in the mud somewhere and they got a new one.
Gave me the creeps the way they did things and I only lasted a year before I quit - despite it being a high paying job.

 

[4GSR]

Dad was on a job down in Brazil years ago. In the distance, there was a guy with a cutting torch cutting the top off of a barrel. They couldn't get to him fast enough; the barrel blew up and killed him. Said the barrel went up in the air about 100 feet before coming down. At least purge it with argon, nitrogen, or water before cutting on one.

 

[Turbowerks]

Air chisel with the tang on it works wonders, after its cut still need to beat it down but after the top is off use a torch to take the sharpness away. Or as light as these drums are nowdays a nibbler would probably work too

 

[Machinist Joe]

Its called a drum deheader.

 

[NewGunPlumber]

Air chisel with the tang on it works wonders, after its cut still need to beat it down but after the top is off use a torch to take the sharpness away. Or as light as these drums are nowdays a nibbler would probably work too

This is how I do it. Then just run around with a hammer. You could probably get / make a attachment for the air chisel

Second option if you know it's non flammable is take a 5" grinder with a grinding disc and run it around the top inner corner at a 45deg angle until you break through the first layer. Just tap the lid and it will fall in and leave a neat edge

 

[50BMG DUDE]

Fill it with water to the top and use a handheld plasma cutter. That's how I make all my scrap barrels

 

[swarfless]

Sheet metal workers of my father's vintage used to have a tool called a 'hacking knife' .. carbon steel blade about 5 inches long, the back about 3 sixteenths, handle was a 1/4" thick x 4 inch long leather riveted either side of the tail-end of the blade. You held the knife at about 30 degrees for 'thin' sheet up to about 60 degrees for thicker (like an oil drum) & belted the top of the blade with a hammer sliding the blade continuously toward you. In the case of a drum lid the edge made a nice guide & the cut was smooth, neat, & continuous, barely needing tapping down flush. I did two or three like this with one of my inherited hacking knives .. then I remembered the pneumatic chisel ..