Cutting Aluminum

timster68 · Post by **timster68** » Tue Aug 18, 2009 2:22 pm

I have a bunch of Rocker's T-Tracks that I need to cut to various lengths. Some will be fairly long so I'm think either a hacksaw or perhaps a dremel. Any other suggestions?

-Tim

tom_k/mo · Post by **tom_k/mo** » Tue Aug 18, 2009 2:29 pm

You CAN cut non-ferrous metals (brass, aluminum) with the band saw... I believe Nick showed cutting some brass in the SawDust video that he made the finger plane in.

timster68 · Post by **timster68** » Tue Aug 18, 2009 3:30 pm

That's what I would lean to to make a nice clean square cut, but a lot of the cuts will be cutting a 48" bar in half so the throat on the bandsaw kind of eliminates that.

beeg · Post by **beeg** » Tue Aug 18, 2009 3:36 pm

You can turn/twist the blade. It should give ya the needed cut off width.

dwevans · Post by **dwevans** » Tue Aug 18, 2009 4:23 pm

You can cut non-ferrous metals on the table saw as well. I just made a couple of jigs that needed aluminum parts from 1/4" aluminum plate which I cut on the table saw. Then I put a round edge on the with a router. Just make sure you are wearing all your safety gear, mask, ear protection, and eye protection.

Good luck!

mckenziedt · Post by **mckenziedt** » Tue Aug 18, 2009 4:48 pm

Poster dwevans is right on. This will give you the neatest and most accurate cuts. A couple of tips--use a 40 to 80 tooth blade, pref carbide, a slow!! feed rate, and a firm grip on the material against the miter guage for control. I've always gotten good results this way.
Don

JPG · Post by **JPG** » Tue Aug 18, 2009 4:50 pm

Mount a small cutoff wheel(rotozip <1/16" width) on a ss arbor(or whatever you have) and cut them using the mitergauge.

a1gutterman · Post by **a1gutterman** » Wed Aug 19, 2009 1:18 am

timster68 wrote:I have a bunch of Rocker's T-Tracks that I need to cut to various lengths. Some will be fairly long so I'm think either a hacksaw or perhaps a dremel. Any other suggestions?

-Tim

Hi Tim,

I can tell you that I cut aluminum all day long with a chop saw. Using the table saw mode of the SS wood do the trick too. I ONLY use a carbide tipped blade (the more teeth the better) and feed slowly. Make sure to hold the aluminum securely (even clamp it or use the SS miter guage hold down), as the blade will "grab" it a lot easier then it will wood.

kalynzoo · Post by **kalynzoo** » Wed Aug 19, 2009 2:23 am

I usually cut aluminum with the scroll saw. I've cut pipe and flat bars probably up to an inch. I do have metal cutting blades for the saw, but I have cut small pieces with a #2 blade at medium speed. I've watched an artisan cut silhouettes in coins with a scroll saw and fine metal blade at slow speed. The results were beautiful.

kalynzoo · Post by **kalynzoo** » Wed Aug 19, 2009 2:26 am

I should have mentioned, when cutting metal on the scroll saw, I use a zero tolerance wooden plate on top of the table to prevent scratching the table. Probably a good idea with any table.