Thread: Have you ever cut alumium on your table saw?

we cut alu sections on table saw upto 5mm thick we use a spray to lube the blade up while cutting, we use a fine tooth blade.

screen doors are very light gague so you will have no trouble at all.

I made a zero clearance insert for my table saw out of some 10mm electrical bus bar and used an 80 tooth blade with no problems.

I have also cut some aluminium extrusion with no problem - unfortunately it was the fence on my jet sliding table - but thats another story

woodcutta

Thanks for the reply guys.

I've got some toggle clamps, so clamping the extrusion to the table is no problem.
I wouldn't want to be using my crosscut blade for this if doing often but I don't want to buy a blade just for this, when I'm only doing a couple of cuts.

So you reckon if I just use my 80 tooth crosscut blade, and spray with WD40 whilst cutting slowly it should be a piece of cake?

Make sure you wear safety goggles. Little bits of super sharp ali fly everywhere.

Yeh can be done with care.... lots of care... kick back in aluminium is savage and the cit bits are razor sharp

The best bet is a 100 pluss tooth negative rake blade made for aluminium, but I have used a fine cross cut blade too.

If it is a positive rake blade you have to be realy carefull and controll the feed speed AND have the work piece well controlled.

You realy have to watch the PLING, this is where the blade catches a narrow part of the extrusion at the end of the cut.....so be extra carefull arround narrow sections or insert a timber infill to support the narrow section while cutting.....sligtly bent extrusion is realy prone to PLING.
A good solid PLING will bend 10 to 20mm of extrusion, and even bend your blade and fence.

Oh and you realy need to have the back of the extrusion supported...if you dont have a zero clearance insert or even if you do...backing the extrusion with timber both on the bottom and the back the exit points particularly on thinner extrusions.

Oh yes and lube is important....if using wax/fat bassed lubes (all lubes realy)apply them to the blade... you should get 3 or 4 cuts out of the good ones......At a push you can use all sorts of stuff for lube......candle wax works ok... but is does not stick as well as the commercial stuff.

you are trying to lube the front face of the tooth because that is where the build up occurs

I have cut both sheet and extrusion on a couple of different table saws, but a drop saw is a better poposition

Oh definitely full face protection, button up the top button of your shirt and tape up the collar with masking tape.....the swarf gets in everywhere....and I mean everywhere........dust off the front of your shirt and trousers before you unzip your fly to go for a & such.
Those little bits of swarf are sharp and they stick to stuff especilay moist skin.

Don't forget the hering protection.

cheers

Originally Posted by soundman

Don't forget the hering protection.

cheers

You spelled herring wrong but I get the point. I'll be careful with all my fish.

In all honesty, Soundman's post is probably the most informative single post I've seen on this subject...

I even learned something; it's called PLING. I've always just called it ^%#@*$!!

Yep, cut a bit of 5mm aluminium, I even cut into my Incra gauge the other day . When I'd last used the gauge prior to cutting it I had extended the fence on it, and instead of setting it back to where I normally have it I pushed it back all the way home.

End result was a 5mm or so cut into the Incra gauge, when my brain worked out what that sudden change in noise was I pulled it back out of the blade. I was using an 80 tooth combination blade.

In truth aluninium cuts very well with woodworking powertools, but in general you need to use fine toothed blades and some form of lubricant.....and the absolute best techniques......because the consequences of poor methods are many times worse than in wood.

If your methods are perfect you will get exceptionaly clean and accurate cuts but maintaining that perfection takes a great deal of care and attention to every aspect.

Oh if you are going to rout aluminium.. router bits under 1/2" don't work well the clog very rapidly.........I used to rout aluminiun sheet and extrusion when building equipment cases......some form of template or guide is esential.. and it needs to be very securely fixed....because the thrust forces routing even thin aluminium sheet are very high.........again considerable care is required and a powerfull router.

cheers

Don't use WD40 as it will contaminate future wood cuts and cause problems with finishes etc.

Soundman,

Its the power of the mbs 300 thats the trick! heheheh


Steve

Originally Posted by mat

Don't use WD40 as it will contaminate future wood cuts and cause problems with finishes etc.

I donot believe that WD40 would contaminate timber worse than any other oil bassed lubricant or solvent.

If you are concerned about dirting you timber you need to clean both your table surface and your blade...as far as cleaning your blade...ripping a meter or so of chip or mdf will strip any lubricant off your blade.


as for the power of the MBS300...that goes without saying AGH AGH AGH. If it comes to a mine is bigger than yours in motor stakes I don't think that there is a hobbyist machine that can touch the MBS's husge lump of iron and copper

cheers

where i work when we need to cut aluminium we just cut it dry on the panel saw. TCT is, of course, a must and our 72T crosscut blade powers straight through. get good earmuffs - the noise is NASTY

that being said we dont do it often and 2 mm is about as thick as we go

Like most 'machining' jobs try to keep the cut as long as possible, ie the tooth of the blade just passing through the material, not chomping like a chainsaw. This will also avoid the blade crushing your profile and jamming the blade and also reduces the noise and 'chatter'. Don't forget you can put the cutting fluid on the job and not just the blade. Good for long cuts.