How to cut aluminium plates

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hacklordsniper

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As im working mostly with round stock hacksaw is my good friend. However as recently the mill sees more action im having trouble preparing blanks.

I have aluminium plates 30x50 cm, 10 mm or close to it. What is the best way to cut out blanks of 15x15 cm? Milling them out seems too long procedure
 
hacklordsniper said:
As im working mostly with round stock hacksaw is my good friend. However as recently the mill sees more action im having trouble preparing blanks.

I have aluminium plates 30x50 cm, 10 mm or close to it. What is the best way to cut out blanks of 15x15 cm? Milling them out seems too long procedure
Click to expand...
I would get a 15mm flat bar and cut it with a mini grinder using a ZIP cut
othwer wise you'll end out with more wais then material
 
hacklordsniper a vertical bandsaw would be the best bet or a plasma cutter. Some of the horizontal bandsaws can be used in a vertical manner but you don't get much of a working envelope with them. You might be able to do it if you made up a dedicated guide though.

You could use a power saw (wood) but that can be quite dangerous so make sure you have everything held down firmly before trying it.
 
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A normal, good quality, woodworker's band saw like a 14" Delta with a 12 or 14TPI blade running at normal speed ( 3000FPM) will do well. You might need to use some stick wax on the blade if tooth clogging is a problem, but this will depend on the alloy and it's heat treat condition. 6061-T6 will cut cleanly.

RWO
 
This may seem crazy, but we do it all the time at work.

We use either a worm drive circular saw or a 10 inch chop saw with normal carbide tipped wood blades.

It can get pretty loud so wear ear protection and dont forget the saftey glasses, but it will make a nice cut.

we have cut a 3" thick material with out any problems.

You wont believe it till you try it.

Kel
 
Just use a carpenters drop saw. You can get special aluminium blades for them. If you use the standard blade which usually has a pretty coarse tooth, just make sure you run it up to speed before starting cuts and be careful!

Umm, not sure whether I should confess to this. I once bought a cheap drop saw on special for $35 (Ozito from Bunnings for the Aussies). It lasted an hour cutting aluminium before a guide or something broke, so after I blew all the chips out which took another hour, I returned it before the end of the day and bought a Ryobi for $100 which never missed a beat! The next project saw me splurge $40 on the Aluminium blade! I am sure my Ryobi has cut more ally than timber! Mostly tube and 1" SHS but cutting thicker stuff also works with this saw.
 
RWO - You say you can use a standard 14" Delta wood working band saw wit a 12 or 14 TPI blade !! I thought you had to signifcantly slow down a woodworking band saw to cut metals? Is it just because its Aluminum?
Regards
Tony
 
I have a negative rake blade for my table saw (wood) cuts al like butter perfect but free cuts.
Gary
 
You can cut your material on a standard table saw with a cross cut blade NOT a rip blade. You will not get 2 15X15cm pieces out of you material because you will have a 3.5mm saw kerf to deal with.
Set you rip fence to 15cm and if you have them set up a feather board to keep the material tight against the fence. Use good pushers and a little WD40.

Wear a face shield and ear plugs, don't feed to fast.

Dave
 
I have a DeWalt carpenter's drop-saw with a 10" aluminium cutting blade. It cuts 1" thick aluminium plate beautifully. I always clamp the plate to the saw fence or the bench where I can.
 
The best way I've cut flat stock is with a carbide tipped circular saw blade. I have used Lennox models from "Lowe's"and Freud Diablo from "Home Depot" and recently got a 6.5" Tenyru for my Rigid cordless circular saw and LOVE it. The speed and virtulay burr free cuts make the jobs so much easier. I got the non ferrous model from Diablo and it works great also, just don't force them to much. This is the metal one - Brian
QUICK VIEW


$39.97WAS $39.97
Diablo 7-1/4 in. x 48 Tooth Carbide Circular Saw Blade
 
Sometimes people mistake a wood blade in a power saw which is really an aluminum blade. A aluminum cutting blade has negative rake teeth on it unlike the wood one that has positive teeth rake.
Just watch the material doesn't heat up or it will jamb.

Dave
 
For material 10mm thick a wood carbide tipped fine cut, like a moulding blade work great, reverse the blade if material is thinner than 6mm 1/4". Earmuffs face shield tight neck shirts, gloves. HOT chips
 
---Read the blade guys --- it says STEEL DEMON -these are made for cutting steel and non-ferrous materials, I agree there are way to many accidents from using wood blades on this type of work and thats why I copied a picture of the real thing. Brian
 
Thanks to new technology on carbide and adhesion there are blades for almost anything you want to cut and it seems like steel and aluminum are on there main lists. I have used Milwaukee and Morse models with great success also, but it seems like having the smaller blades make you more mobile. I just saw the new 8" Evolution saw in the shop yesterday. Will keep you all posted when I get to use it. Be safe and WEAR SAFETY GLASSES when using these as always!!!!! Brian
 
As some of the others have mentioned, drop saws will cut alu bar of almost any thickness (within reason) no probs, but I can't stress enough how dangerous it can be if it grabs. It can kick it out or rip it off-side faster than you can move. You need to really exercise good control and slow cutting to be safe.

cheers, Ian
 
avbates said:
RWO - You say you can use a standard 14" Delta wood working band saw wit a 12 or 14 TPI blade !! I thought you had to signifcantly slow down a woodworking band saw to cut metals? Is it just because its Aluminum?
Regards
Tony
Click to expand...
Yes. Most non-ferrous metals can be cut at full speed with a blade with HSS teeth. Delta makes a wood/metal version of the same saw with a gear box and cone pulleys that allows reducing the blade speed to about 100 FPM to cut steel.

RWO
 
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