Would a router work?

[Greg Wieskamp]

Yesterday I was attempting to cut a 1/4" slot into 1/8" aluminum angle, with my sawzall. I got it done, but thought there has to be a better way. That's when I thought of my router table. Has anyone ever tried this, or does this sound like a completely terrible idea?

Thanks Greg

[Maurice Mcmurry]

Routers will cut metals as can be observed by hitting a nail or staple. I have not done that in years. Trying to use one on aluminum angle will be tricky and dangerous because the aluminum will flex, chatter, and likely snag. If the aluminum were sandwiched in between stiff wood I can imagine it working with relative safety.

[Richard Coers]

I would only use a spiral bit, at a slower speed. Add some thin lubricant like kerosene. Be careful, those chips from the cut are hot as the dickens and will burn skin. Hearing protection and super eye protection is mandatory!

[Michael Schuch]

Yes, routers work quite well on aluminum. AR15 lower receivers are made out of aluminum. Thousands of 80% AR15 lower receivers have been finished with nothing more than a router, drill and jig which includes removing a lot of material with a router. Usually an up cut spiral bit is used because the pockets are cut leaving material underneath the pocket. I have not done one personally but I have watched several videos showing how it is done.

[Tom M King]

I would use a carbide burr made for cutting aluminum with a die grinder. The ones for steel will load up with aluminum, but the aluminum cutting ones clear the chips. They are available with a 1/4" shank. You can get them off ebay or Amazon. They come in a bunch of different sizes and shapes, as well as different shank sizes, including 1/8" to work in a Dremel.

[Greg Wieskamp]

I got to thinking about this later. In started to think about all those aluminum shavings possibly falling into my router, and decided this was a really bad idea.

[Tom M King]

I use an aluminum cutting blade on a cheap miter saw for cutting aluminum, and it makes a pretty cut. The aluminum needs to be clamped down though for me to feel safe cutting it.

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[Mel Fulks]

Denatured alcohol makes the aluminum cut easier. I spray it from cheap spray bottle.

[Jamie Buxton]

I got to thinking about this later. In started to think about all those aluminum shavings possibly falling into my router, and decided this was a really bad idea.

Many routers are intended to be used upright, with the bit below the router body. They usually have a fan which blows air down through the motor, and on to the workpiece. That airflow keeps sawdust out of the motor, and blows it off the workpiece. Mount that same router in a table, and your aluminum chips are more likely to blow up into your eyes than to fall down into the motor.

[Walter Plummer]

The bits we used at work for aluminum are single "O" flute up cut. Pretty much the same bits for plastics.

[Jim Becker]

Cutting the non-ferrous metal isn't a problem for a router. But you can't approach it the same way you do wood. Every pass has to be small and incremental...best results come when pretty much shaving it away. On CNCs, we use different tooling designs for this, typically an O-Flute and balance the RPM carefully with feed speed so that the chip load properly takes away the heat. Stopped cuts are going to be difficult on a router table, however, because of the need to repeat the process many, many times, to finish a slot, for example, unlike with wood.

[Zachary Hoyt]

I have cut aluminum angle on a power miter saw and a bandsaw with good results, using regular wood cutting blades. I have also routed it, and it seems to work fine but as has been said above, small cuts are needed. I do a lot more with brass, and it also works okay with woodworking tools. A sawzall with a suitable blade should cut through aluminum angle very easily. Maybe the blade you were using was dull, or had too big teeth for the job?

Even on steel a sawzall will do well with a good blade. In the abandoned house I bought last fall there was an old 275 gallon oil tank which had floated loose from its base when the basement filled with water after the pipes froze, and it also had a fiberglass patch on what had been the bottom. I decided it wasn't worth saving as I didn't need a tank anyway and it had no value, so I cut it in half to make it easier to lift up to the first floor by myself. With a new metal cutting blade I was able to cut the tank in half in well under 5 minutes, including the time needed to roll it over to get to the other side.