Cutting Aluminum

[svyolo]

I did buy a Track Saw, or a "plunge saw" and track. I bought a Makita as the HF one didn't review that well. I does a great job as a portable panel saw. I also bought a fine tooth (56T) blade. It zipped through .032 and .025 aluminum super quick. Very tiny burr removed with 320 grit very quickly. It cut through .050 mild steel almost as quickly. I didn't try 4130 yet.

There is no reason a regular circular saw wouldn't do just as well. You would just have to put a thin wood sheet over the AL. Set the blade very deep. If you set it to barely cut through you get a huge burr.

I cut several strips to bend as window channels. Extremely quick, easy, and dead straight cuts.

[way_up_north]

I’ve tried several different methods of cutting aluminum during our build but never found any that I really liked.

Snips leave a rough edge that takes a ton of clean up and make long cuts difficult.

Power shears waste a bunch of material and still leave an edge that has to be cleaned up. Get too aggressive with them and they warp the piece your trying to make.

An A&P recommended an air grinder. It took forever and I hate all the noise air tools make, especially my compressor. But the cut edge take very little cleaning so this was my preferred method.

Tonight I was working at home but most of the tools have been moved to the airport. I scrounged around and put a 4” cut-off wheel on a HF 4.5” angle grinder. It was awesome! Made sort work of all the cutting and the edges need very little finishing. This will be my go to method from now on. Too bad I’m almost done😏

I could not find my old grinder so I went out and bought one on sale ... do you use the thin cuting wheel or the thicker ones...what have you the best results...

[whee]

I like the 1/16” thick disks.

[Mark Moyle]

My preference is to mark my line using ultra fine sharpie or a scribe. Rough cut with a Milwaukee shear +1/16 -1/8” of my line. Then use snips and files specifically for aluminum to sneak up to my scribbled line. The files and snips I purchased from TM Technologies...Kent White. The snips leave a very clean edge, no serrations. The files I use look like super aggressive wood rasp files... https://www.tinmantech.com/products/...ar-body-files/
Looked on Kent’s site for the last set of snips Kent sent. Don’t see them..call and ask...

[rv8bldr]

I could not find my old grinder so I went out and bought one on sale ... do you use the thin cuting wheel or the thicker ones...what have you the best results...

I use the 3/64 wheels from Canadian Tire. They go on sale in the bulk packs fairly often.

[way_up_north]

I use the 3/64 wheels from Canadian Tire. They go on sale in the bulk packs fairly often.

I was wondering about the wheels themselves, any worry about imparting iron(or other) into the aluminum...don't mean to be the party pooper...if one type of wheel should be used over another...

this is does sound like a great idea...plan on trying it out this week when my aluminum sheets arrive

I've not used the Canadian tire scotchbrite knock off burgundy pads cause I was not sure what was in them as the abrasive.....

picked up the grinder at princess auto(Canadian version of harbour freight) for 29.99 cnd....btw......if anyone is looking for a good deal on one

[S Lathrop]

I have never found that cutting aluminum with an abrasive wheel to be very satisfactory. I have used a circular saw with a very fine panel blade and power shears (air). With the circular saw, I set the saw for a very shallow cut. I cut all my ribs to to the finished shape with a hand held router. To do the rough cuts I used saws and shears.

With thin material, I have clamped the material between pieces of plywood above, below and either side of the cut to stabilize and protect the aluminum as I cut.

As you cut with an abrasive wheel, where does all the worn abrasive material go. And the abrasive wheels tend to pick up bits of aluminum, so why would the aluminum not pick up bits of the abrasive material.

Just my opinion.

[nborer]

Hello all, newbie here getting my shop set up and this question has been on my mind. Is it possible to use a bandsaw with a fine-tooth blade to cut thin aluminum sheet, or is that asking for trouble? I have a standing vertical bandsaw (currently with a wood blade) and would like to save a little shop space if I can end up doing some of the more substantial cuts on the bandsaw. I found the helpful link below, but the sheet sizes quoted are still substantially thicker than most of the sheet used for the Bearhawk.

http://www.americanmachinetools.com/band_saw_blades.htm

Thanks, and I’m looking forward to being part of the group!

[jaredyates]

I use a wood cutting bandsaw for any aluminum thicker than .032, though I haven't had need to cut anything thicker than 1/4 inch yet. It works great!

[Ray Strickland]

Jared is right. I used tin snips or band saw to cut almost all of my aluminum, no matter how thick. I even used my band saw to cut my spar blanks out of full size sheets. Of course edges need some clean-up to remove tooth marks.

[Chewie]

I use a bandsaw at wood-cutting RPM for aluminum without much trouble, using a multi-purpose variable tooth blade.
For steel, I use the same bandsaw but slowing it down with pulleys and belts, and I ordered a dedicated steel-cutting blade with a pretty high tooth count.
In both cases it has worked out really well.
I think I recall in one of the Bearhawk kit videos one of the guys there was using a bandsaw to notch steel tubing. Seemed pretty clever.

[Bcone1381]

.....I have used a circular saw with a very fine panel blade and power shears (air). With the circular saw, I set the saw for a very shallow cut. I cut all my ribs to to the finished shape with a hand held router. To do the rough cuts I used saws and shears.

With thin material, I have clamped the material between pieces of plywood above, below and either side of the cut to stabilize and protect the aluminum as I cut.
.

Try turning that inexpensive fine tooth panel blade blade around backwards....learned that trick from a missionary kid.

[robcaldwell]

This is the most used tool in my shop. Can't cut large sheets with it, but it cuts everything else. 1 Harbor Freight portable hand band saw & 1 Swag Offroad Portaband Saw Table. Love it!

http://www.swagoffroad.com/SWAG-V40-Portaband-Table_p_63.html

[nborer]

Thanks all! Rob, that looks like a pretty fine blade. 18+ TPI? Raker/wavy cut? What blade width? I have an 89.5” Craftsman standup, and I’m pretty sure I’ll need a new blade other than the stock woodcutter I have now. I’m not home, so I don’t know the TPI, but it can’t be more than 8 or so from memory.

Thanks again everyone!

[robcaldwell]

The blade is a Milwaukee 24TPI. Small wave in the blade, about 1/32.

[robcaldwell]

The blade is a Milwaukee 24TPI. Small wave in the blade, about 1/32.

[S Lathrop]

Try turning that inexpensive fine tooth panel blade blade around backwards....learned that trick from a missionary kid.

That should give an even finer cut. Great suggestion.