Cutting Aluminum

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H

herm

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Joined 2002
#1
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:

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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.
 
#3
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...

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#7
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.
 
#10
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.
 
#11
Been cutting metal (especially aluminum) for a while now. I was in metal shop class in Jr. High School (1973-1975) - and woodshop too for that matter. Do schools even have those kind of classes anymore?

It is a bit intimidating to cut metal if you've never done it before.

This is the blade for my 10" sears tablesaw. Freud makes excellent blades - I have wood/laminate blades also. Highly recommended!

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Works like a champ. I use WD-40 as lube. I've even cut AL up to 3/8" with no problems.

Not really any extensive cutting, but here is a recent case design for my T-Amp which I modified some 80/20 extrusion.

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-Ken
 
#14
Aengus,

I agree with you 100%. The blade looks virtually identical
to my Freud (wood) finish blade. Now that I have some
experience, I would use it for this thin aluminum. I am
not promising the same blade life, and your future
finish cuts in wood may suffer a small amount, but it would
definately work!

Also, the lubricant is probably just helping the life of
the blade. I'm fairly sure the cut is identical with or
without it.

Kec,

I love that little 80/20 box! Great creativity...

Geek,

My cuts with a scroll saw looked so bad that I gave up!
Now I can get a end product worth having.

rdf,

Manual cuts? Are you sick? You canadians scare me 🙂

Poobah / Kec,

I am too chicken to try this on a table saw! The chop saw
rotation has the blade contact PULLING the piece into the
fence. On a table saw, the contact is (somewhat) PUSHING
the piece back at you. Do you wear cast iron boxer shorts
when you cut?
 
#15

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#19
Charged,

I have never bought something from Dewalt that I wasn't
satisfied with. Go yellow!

The case(s) will be for power supplies for my myriad of Aleph
variations. I have Zen V4s up, Aleph 2s soldered, and several
Mini boards waiting to be populated. Pics to follow soon.

Peter,

You're probably best suited to answer Jasons question, and
I wouldn't mind hearing how you would smooth it out.
 
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