Cutting Aluminum on TS or MS? I need Help.

[Kev Godwin]

Hey, I know we are all here to share ideas on woodworking techniques, etc. However, I have a project where I need to cut some mild aluminum stock and cylinders for a "craft" project as directed by my cute boss (wife :)).

I need to cut perpendicular to the side of the aluminum stock. Can anyone offer me advice on how to make such a cut in aluminum? What blade should I use on my table saw or miter saw? Would a masonry blade work? Maybe I should use a Dremel side cut blade in my drill press and rotate the cylinder stock against the disc while on the table?

Any advise would be greatly appreciated. Not just for the TS or MS, but for any technique that would work. (To make this more understandable, if you had to cut an aluminum bottle in half, how would you do this?) Thanks in advance Creekers!
Kev

[Cary Falk]

A carbide blade on a table saw or miter saw works just fine. I use a 40 tooth combo blade. An Alunimun bottle would probably be safer to cut on a miter saw.

[Todd Carpenter]

Hi Kev,

Cary is right, a good carbide blade will work, but make sure it's rated for non-ferrous metals - which usually means the blade has a negative rake angle on the teeth - IIRC, it's usually around -6 degrees.

If you're cutting the bottle in half through the diameter, I would prefer the miter saw, but if you're doing the length, the table saw is the way to go, I'd want to build a fixture to hold it, and then feed it through...

HTH
Todd

[Jason White]

A regular wood-cutting blade is fine. Aluminum is pretty soft and cuts cleanly.

Jason


Hey, I know we are all here to share ideas on woodworking techniques, etc. However, I have a project where I need to cut some mild aluminum stock and cylinders for a "craft" project as directed by my cute boss (wife :)).

I need to cut perpendicular to the side of the aluminum stock. Can anyone offer me advice on how to make such a cut in aluminum? What blade should I use on my table saw or miter saw? Would a masonry blade work? Maybe I should use a Dremel side cut blade in my drill press and rotate the cylinder stock against the disc while on the table?

Any advise would be greatly appreciated. Not just for the TS or MS, but for any technique that would work. (To make this more understandable, if you had to cut an aluminum bottle in half, how would you do this?) Thanks in advance Creekers!
Kev

[dan petroski]

use a little kerosene to lube it small paint brush on the cut line

[Kent A Bathurst]

I needed to cut strips of pewter for inlay. Woulda been more than my heart could handle to run it across the Forrest blades, so I got a 7-1/4" Lenox 60t blade intended for aluminum. Works perfect. However, that also means I spent some bucks on a one-trick pony that will spend most of its life in its blade rack slot, not on the TS.

[Ben Martin]

For the robotics team I volunteer with we use a non-ferrous metals blade, and cut AL all day long. You can pick one up at Home Depot, IIRC Lowe's in my area didn't carry them...

[Wade Lippman]

I have done it with both saws. On the MS it broke a brand new blade. (duh, why was I using a brand new blade... Amazon refunded my money) On the TS it makes a horrible mess.
When ever possible I use a hack saw.

[Kirk Simmons]

I cut a bunch of stair tread edgers on my TS. The trick for me is I bought a non-ferrous metals 7.25" blade like you'd use in a hand held circular saw and then mounted it in my TS. The big advantage is that the correct blade for the job only cost $10. This works well if you only have thinner metals to cut as your max above the table is reduced down to approximately 2".

[Darnell Hagen]

The mitre saw will work fine.

You're gonna want hearing and eye protection. Seriously, like plugs and muffs and glasses and a shield.

Blade lube.

If you're cutting a bottle, you'll need to clamp it. The blade will want to grab and spin round stock.

[glenn bradley]

I have used both saws. Carbide tipped 40T non-ferrous blade did fine. I prefer the tablesaw as my dust collection there is quite good and as others have stated, cutting metal makes a mess. No more mess than cutting wood but, I am acclimated to saw dust, not metal shavings ;-)

[Doug Shepard]

Forrest WWII works for me:D
http://www.sawmillcreek.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=74215&d=1193513455

[Jerome Hanby]

How bad was the price at HD? I've priced a few times, and the price was high enough to send me back to the bandsaw...


For the robotics team I volunteer with we use a non-ferrous metals blade, and cut AL all day long. You can pick one up at Home Depot, IIRC Lowe's in my area didn't carry them...

[Jim German]

+1 on clamping round stock.

Any good carbide blade will cut aluminum without a problem, don't use a masonary blade though.

And certainly wear safety glasses... obviously you should always be wearing them.

[Ben Martin]

How bad was the price at HD? I've priced a few times, and the price was high enough to send me back to the bandsaw...

Haha, not sure I paid much attention, Uncle Sam/school district was paying the bill. I want to say about $50-60.

We recently just replaced it, about 6 teeth had came off. But I would blame this on the kids using it to cut who knows what and not the blade...

[Harry Hagan]

Someone advised me years ago to install the blade so it rotates backwards when cutting flimsy material so it won’t grab as easily. I tried that on some window screen channel and had no problems using a fine toothed blade for aluminum.

[Kev Godwin]

Thanks for the comments everyone!

I'll give it a whirl tonight on the MS. It is already set up with a negative hook blade.
Kev

[Kev Godwin]

Thanks for the recommendations everyone. I tried a few different blades on the aluminum last night on the MS and TS. The cutting sure worked a lot better with blades with a more negative hook angle.

Blades that have ATB teeth also worked much better than those with a raker tooth when cutting the thinner aluminum bottles. When the aluminum was a little thicker, the tooth type didn't appear to make any difference.

Thanks again.
Kev

[Jason White]

OUCH!!!

I just hate when that happens! :D





Forrest WWII works for me:D
http://www.sawmillcreek.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=74215&d=1193513455