DIY Oil filter cutter/opener

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I was sick of opening filters with a hacksaw so it was the time to get an oil filter cutter, but none of the shops of my area sell those things. There was the option of buying a pipe cutter, but that was too expensive at more than a $100 USD.

So, the only sensible option was to make one myself, the only thing that I had to buy was a replacement blade for a tube cutter that cost me $4.00 USD for a package of two. All the other bits are scrap or remnants from other projects that I have collected over the years, including: a piece of aluminium, bearings and the axle from a mountain bike, an assortment of nuts and bolts, and the left over reinforcements from a kitchen cabinet that I built some time ago. Anyway, next are the pictures of my prototype that performed well beyond my expectations.

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This is the blade that I had to buy.
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The end result. Now I want to cut many more filters.
 
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Nice design. You should be involved in the space program. Funny how we do something really well once and then we wanna do it all the time. Thanks for sharing.
 
And your cutter does not leave a trail of filings behind like a hacksaw would. This means you can pour out what's left in the filter onto a piece of white paper and get a true picture of what's accumulating in the can. Good job.
 
Fine work! You should make a few more and BITOG members would probably buy them.
 
I wonder if it would cut better if you had the blade sandwiched between 2 steel pieces rather than it hanging below just one.

Might be something for me to try. Good job either way. Thank you for sharing.

*Your username is very appropriate as well.
 
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Nice work. I even like how you indexed the filter so the arrow was pointing at the cutting blade for good pictures.
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How do you operate the cutter? Do you mount it in a vise and use a filter cap socket to turn the filter? Does it work by just using your hands?
 
Darwin that's nice work!

I know I've shown my oil filter cutter a ton of times on BITOG over the years. I got it from eBay from a cycle shop, but it's got to be home-made. Super simple construction having been milled out of aluminum. Some lathe work too. The center peg is held on the back by a bolt and big washer and simply slides in the slot.

 
Thank you for your comments, the cutter works really well, without all the swearing associated with the hacksaw. It works just by turning the filter by hand as the blade requires little force, in fact if you put too much pressure in it it will bend the canister and then you can't turn the filter.

The things I want to improve are:

1) reduce the height of the bearings by using the normal flat locknut against the cone nut and cutting the excess axle, so it can be easier to turn by hand, especially the small filters of my car.

2) give the eyebolt it's own support by putting another bolt in the aluminium base, I will have to get a wider base for this.

3) put the blade between two arms as dlundblad suggested, because specially with thicker filters the blade makes an spiral cut so you miss the start by a couple of mm. But it is easily solved by moving the two pieces until the small piece holding them together snaps.

I want to take credit for the arrow pointing at the blade, but I must admit that it was a coincidence.

As I was imagining how to make the cutter the first sketch that I made was very similar to the cutter of JTK, I must have seen it in another post and stored it in my subconscious, but I thought that that design will be more difficult to make.

If someone makes another cutter please post pictures of it.
 
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