TimeWarp
Registered Member
Someone wanted to know about cutting aluminum on another forom. I am not a member yet(yes it's a great site but I can only afford necessities untill bussiness is more steady).
Anyhow I have a fair amount of experience with aluminum so I thought I'd try to help. A jisaw works quite well even for thiker material, however don't use a metal cutting blade. A bi-metal wood blade works much better. Something like a milwaukee 0540 or a porter cable 12318 most respected brands seem to be equall in quality. Just make sure it says Swiss Made on it. It should say clean wood cutting or something similar. I don't care for the downstroke blades because they will make your saw jump if you don't put presure on it.also your better saws have a pitch adjustment sometimes the lowest setting will ease cutting on aluminum. It wont help at all if you're using a downstroke blade. I keep an air nozzle in my other hand to keep debris off the surface ' it saves a lot of time removing scratches later. if your cutting 1/8" or thinner a trick I use is tolay it on top of 1/8" paneling or any thin scrap & cut through both of them. It keeps down vibration & chatter.
Circular saws work well with a good 40 tooth carbide blade assuming youre saw is 7 1/4 dia. wear eye protection, I have been cutting wood on an almost daily basis for over 20 years & don't use eye protection as often as I should but if cutting aluminum I always wear it. long sleeves isn't a bad idea either. go slow on the thiker stuff. A table saw with a min 60 toth preferably 80 tooth carbide blade kicks @ss on aluminum. (dont wear long sleeves running a table saw, bad idea) just make sure your material is flat at the blade & tight against the fence. You may need to put a stip of 1/8" next to your fence 7 set youre peice on top of it if there's a big enough gap under it that youre piece could slide under. Go slow be carefull & don't panic if it makes a loud pop because your piece wasn't flat on the table at the blade. Just correct it & continue. If your new at this you might wan't to have a friend close by so if you get in trouble he or she can shut off the saw for you.
there's my forty chapters. hope it's usefull
Timewarp
Anyhow I have a fair amount of experience with aluminum so I thought I'd try to help. A jisaw works quite well even for thiker material, however don't use a metal cutting blade. A bi-metal wood blade works much better. Something like a milwaukee 0540 or a porter cable 12318 most respected brands seem to be equall in quality. Just make sure it says Swiss Made on it. It should say clean wood cutting or something similar. I don't care for the downstroke blades because they will make your saw jump if you don't put presure on it.also your better saws have a pitch adjustment sometimes the lowest setting will ease cutting on aluminum. It wont help at all if you're using a downstroke blade. I keep an air nozzle in my other hand to keep debris off the surface ' it saves a lot of time removing scratches later. if your cutting 1/8" or thinner a trick I use is tolay it on top of 1/8" paneling or any thin scrap & cut through both of them. It keeps down vibration & chatter.
Circular saws work well with a good 40 tooth carbide blade assuming youre saw is 7 1/4 dia. wear eye protection, I have been cutting wood on an almost daily basis for over 20 years & don't use eye protection as often as I should but if cutting aluminum I always wear it. long sleeves isn't a bad idea either. go slow on the thiker stuff. A table saw with a min 60 toth preferably 80 tooth carbide blade kicks @ss on aluminum. (dont wear long sleeves running a table saw, bad idea) just make sure your material is flat at the blade & tight against the fence. You may need to put a stip of 1/8" next to your fence 7 set youre peice on top of it if there's a big enough gap under it that youre piece could slide under. Go slow be carefull & don't panic if it makes a loud pop because your piece wasn't flat on the table at the blade. Just correct it & continue. If your new at this you might wan't to have a friend close by so if you get in trouble he or she can shut off the saw for you.
there's my forty chapters. hope it's usefull
Timewarp
