Hi Metallurgists amongst us.
My recent purchase of an ex police R1200 has a quiet superficial looking mounting system for town panniers, that is they are only connected by two bolts into the frame at the top, nothing onto the lower frame. I am thinking of using a couple of stainless steel high tensile bolts in there but it looks like I may need to cut about 5 mil or so off the ends.
Question: If I cut them with an angle grinder, will the heat affect the strength of the remaining bolt? Any clues please.

Thanks and Cheers, RT.

Use one of the very thin cutting wheels (<2mm thick) to make a faster cut, and generate less heat because you are removing less metal. I don't use the ~3-4mm ones any more.

Not an expert (I can ask my materials engineer son), but I suspect the load would be nowhere near the capacity of the bolt, even if it was degraded a bit by heat.

What diameter is the bolt in question?

Bill

Good to see you coming back into the BMW family RT.

Thanks men. Bill it's 6 mil. I may yet be able to buy the correct length, haven't looked in any specialist sights. Local hardware dudes have a minimal selection.
Your next question will be how long is it? Only just trial fitted the boxes yesterday in readiness for a trip to Goulburn (run away), and didn't measure it more than with a thumb and little finger.

Thanks Stan, I still can't believe I was allowed to do this. Now I need cooler weather, stupid full fairing.

RT, I cut stainless bolts to the length I require all the time and have never had any issues. Agree with Bill re using one of the very thin cutting disks in my grinder.

When cutting off the bolt wrap a wet rag around the bolt as close as possible to the cut position which will minimise any heat travelling up the bolt.

Without having looked up the shear strength tables I also think a 6mm bolt will have way more capacity than the load you can put in a pannier and you have two bolts holding it on.

Cheers

Bob cut it with a 1mm cutting disc, clean up the end so a nut screws on and use it. The bit that gets heat affected will fall on the floor. TIP it will be hot, don't pick it up too soon.

Hello Bob
I have a thin cutting wheel in my grinder if you want to use it

Well I may have to carry 24 cans of beer in each at the Snowy run. 
Tks, I'll head off and buy some proper bolts and see what happens. Tks Waz may take you up on that. Then I need to weld the pannier frames back up. Over to Sir Bill for that.

Another tip is to run a nut down the bolt. Cut the bolt to the length required. Dress the cut edge, and then run the nut off. As you do so it will clean the thread up.

Mike

Thanks Mike. I have visions of my police style panniers dropping off on the freeway with my clean undies and socks disappearing under a truck. All info greatly appreciated.
Bob.

RT wrote:Well I may have to carry 24 cans of beer in each at the Snowy run. 
Tks, I'll head off and buy some proper bolts and see what happens. Tks Waz may take you up on that. Then I need to weld the pannier frames back up. Over to Sir Bill for that.

Happy to help. 

Bill