Cutting Aluminum

[herm]

I ran out of excuses for my lousy woodworking, so I decided
to try metal fabrication. This way I can make a bunch of mistakes
and blame it on lack of experience!

Here is my first attempt at cutting aluminum.

Before we even get started, must I remind you:



I don't mean to shock you, but this is what will happen to you
if you don't wear your protective gear!

All kidding aside, you will need Eye, Ear, and Respiratory protection.
I recommend the full goggle, rather than just glasses. As you will see
later, the aluminum bits fly everywhere.

[herm]

Clamps!

Make sure to clamp the hell out of everything. I clamped on both
sides of the cut.

[herm]

There will be aluminum flakes flying around, and you need to protect
you saw, too. Look closely at the air intake - I would hate to see the
result if you didn't use a nylon sock to keep chips out.

The cashier at the drug store had a strange look on her face when
I bought the nylons, though...

[herm]

The blade was a 10 inch, 80 tooth Freud carbide from Home Depot.

It specifically calls out "Non-ferrous metal" onthe blade. $55 or so.

[herm]

Of course, you have to use some form of cutting fluid. Here is what
I used...

[herm]

Here is a picture of the whole setup with a finished cut.

[Aengus]

I've always had decent success with a regular cross-cut blade on the table saw, and no cutting fluid. Not that a non-ferrous blade isn't somewhere on the desired-tools list - but it's not a necessity.

Those chips do fly.

[herm]

Here is a pic of the finished product. I am making a case for my power
supply, and this u-shaped aluminum seemed like a good way to go...

[herm]

Here's a link to a video.

http://www.ericherman.com/images/MOV01437.MPG

It's a pretty big file, so please be patient.

Any questions? Are you all brave enough to try it now?

The truth is, I have been researching this forever. Every one I talked
to said I needed a bandsaw. Finally I just tried it. You can see from the
video it cuts like butter. However, I did hide behind a large piece of
plywood the first time!

[poobah]

You can cut 2" plate on a good tablesaw... just go slow.

Everybody keep in mind... you CANNOT do this with just any aluminum. You must use "free-cutting" grades. Purer alloys of aluminum are gummy and will not cut like this.