Best Way to Cut Aluminum

[fritz eng]

I'm replacing the face of my table saw fence and purchased an aluminum extrusion: 80/20 Inc, 1030, 10 Series, 1" x 3" Extrusion x 48". This is a pretty hefty piece of metal. What blade do I use to cut it on a miter saw? Will a masonry blade mounted on a circular saw do? Do it by hand with a hacksaw blade? thanks

[Richard Coers]

Any carbide blade in the table saw will cut it. A spritz of kerosene or wd40 on the cut line will help. Absolutely wear eye protection and a face shield as aluminum chips will be hot and go everywhere.

[Zachary Hoyt]

I mostly cut aluminum on the bandsaw with a regular blade, or with a carbide tipped blade on the miter saw.

[Lee Schierer]

We used to cut tons of 80/20 where I worked a few years back. You are going to want a blade with a negative hook angle, 80/20 is pretty tough cutting. Here is a Freud blade that should work for you. A regular woodworking blade is going to grab the metal and probably be damaged.
447787

[Mel Fulks]

I like denatured alcohol for aluminum .Gets rid of its gummy quality . Read somewhere years ago ,and was surprised at
well it worked

[Jack Frederick]

Dynamic saw make metal cutting blades. I use my Evolution chop saw or the Portaband. I cut the rails on my SS with a Milwaukee M12 Sawzall with a metal blade with very good results.

[Mike Kees]

I have cut Unisaw rails on my miter saw at least 3-4 times. Just used whichever carbide blade was in them at the time. Most of my miter saw blades are negative hook.

[Bruce King]

I keep an old blade for aluminum on the miter saw.

[Andrew Seemann]

I like denatured alcohol for aluminum .Gets rid of its gummy quality . Read somewhere years ago ,and was surprised at
well it worked

In the shops I worked at in college we used alcohol for aluminum. It seemed to work well. I was never sure if it actually lubricated or just sucked the heat out by evaporating. We would use mineral spirits in a pinch if the DNA wasn't handy.

[Ole Anderson]

Any carbide blade would work. Or even an old fine tooth steel blade for that matter. Best is a triple chip style with a low to negative rake angle. WD40 is a good lube as is wax. I've cut literally tons of aluminum in my shop when I manufactured over 2500 barefoot ski booms. You do not want to use an abrasive blade. If you are going to cut heavy extrusions, stay away from small saw blade gullets, they will fill with aluminum.

BTW 80/20 Inc. is the company, 1030 series is a shape not an aluminum alloy. Most extrusion these days are 6061-T6511 alloy.

[Mel Fulks]

Since posting I remembered I got the denatured alcohol tip from the German owner of a pattern making shop I worked in.
Some of the patterns were sent out to be used to make aluminum "match plates". They are patterns made for high
production. The casting of the match plates was done in a way that left them remarkably close to the wood patterns.
Still ,sometimes the foundry would bring the match plate back because they decided ,after trying them out, that there was
more metal in one or two places than needed. Too much metal means more spent on machining the castings.I have had to remove
as much as 3/32 " over 20 square inches. Tedious work that was made easier and faster by using the DA.

[Andy D Jones]

Whatever blade you use, when cutting aluminum on a chop or table saw, hearing protection is NOT optional!

-- Andy - Arlington TX

[Alex Zeller]

Any sharp carbide toothed blade will work. A non ferrous blade would be best but after working 10 plus years doing commercial glass work I've had to make do with what was on hand. We would use beeswax to cool the blade. Denatured alcohol is flammable so it should be used with caution. We used it to melt the plastic between safety glass. Cut both sides, put some DA on top of the cut, and set it on fire. It's loud so hearing protection is required and a full face shield is better than safety glasses as hot shavings can fly around.

[Ken Combs]

Whatever blade you use, when cutting aluminum on a chop or table saw, hearing protection is NOT optional!

-- Andy - Arlington TX


Let me add: eye protection also. Those little chips are sharp!

I use a blade made for solid surface cabinet top material. I think it's an 80T, triple chip grind. But, have used others on occasion. You know the deal, one cut to do and a 40 tooth on the saw, just do it. I lube it by touching a paraffin block to it just prior to the cut. One lube will last through several cuts, depending on the thickness and length of the cut.

[Mel Fulks]

Those little chips are sharp!

Ken, I bet you watched TV ...WILD KINGDOM
" watch out there,Jim. Those teeth are sharp!!

[jamil mehdi]

You are going to want a blade with a negative hook angle, 80/20 is pretty tough cutting

This!

The danger of a wood blade is that it can catch the aluminum and send it flying. Most wood blades have a rake angle between 10 and 20 degrees. Blades for cutting aluminum are usually around -3 degrees.

[Dan Gaylin]

An easy safe way to cut thick aluminum that doesn’t require an expensive blade is to use a jigsaw with an aluminum or thick metal blade. Bosch and Lenox make some. Lenox might be the better choice. Needs to be a good, powerful jigsaw. The cut won’t be be super clean but you can easily smooth it out with a file or a sander. I have cut thick aluminum on my bandsaw but it does take a toll on the blade. The jigsaw blades are cheap. As others have mentioned, cutting fluid is important. I prefer using a dedicated product like tap magic, which costs about $4.00 a bottle.

[John Ziebron]

I have cut a fair amount of aluminum on my miter saw over the years. Never used any lubricant. I just use the carbide tipped blade I have installed at the time and I always have a high tooth count blade (like 90) installed. If you have a means of clamping the stock in place that would be safer although I generally don't. I think the real trick is the speed at which you plunge into the stock. Something like that chunk of 80/20 is more dense than say a small piece of angle. For your cut I would recommend a plunge speed at least twice as slow as if you were cutting the same dimension piece of hard maple.