Cutting Aluminum Sheet Straight and Long

[perryg114]

A fine tooth metal blade will load up cutting aluminum. A finish cut carbide blade works well.

Perry

Originally Posted by J. Morgan

A circular or table saw with a metal blade would probably work pretty well.

[Mixter]

I also have a need for cutting my 4x8 sheet of .032 Alclad 2024 T3 for various projects.... I do alot of woodworking and have a nice table saw and thought of cutting everything as if it were wood- for nice clean & straight cuts.

That said, I'm a little scared to try... I have been warned about binding and kickback of aluminum will slice you up pretty good. I've never done it, or seen it done. Because of this, I have not yet tackled these projects.

Are you guys saying you've all successfully ripped long, straight cuts on sheet aluminum on your table saw just as if it were wood with no particular safety issues that scared the #$%* out of you?

This would be great news to know that I could do this with no problem.

[HiHoAgRV]

Originally Posted by Mixter

I also have a need for cutting my 4x8 sheet of .032 Alclad 2024 T3 for various projects.... I do alot of woodworking and have a nice table saw and thought of cutting everything as if it were wood- for nice clean & straight cuts.

That said, I'm a little scared to try... I have been warned about binding and kickback of aluminum will slice you up pretty good. I've never done it, or seen it done. Because of this, I have not yet tackled these projects.

Are you guys saying you've all successfully ripped long, straight cuts on sheet aluminum on your table saw just as if it were wood with no particular safety issues that scared the #$%* out of you?

This would be great news to know that I could do this with no problem.

I've used a table saw (and destroyed one) for cutting aluminum. The intrupted cut is rough on a gear'd saw - I had one fail. Also, the edge is really not a finish cut, although it's straight (depending on the operators skill ) it is a jagged cut and will slice the crap out of unprotected skin. I've never had a saw cut come anywhere close to creating an edge that I would like as a visible item.

[Mixter]

HiHo- how would you cut one that needs a good visible seam?

[Belegedhel]

The cuts I have made with a table saw resulted in a pretty clean edge, with a slight burr. I run a file across the edge to take the burr off, and it is just fine. The biggest safety hazard I see is if the sheet gets under your fence and allows you to get crooked and in a bind, you are going to have trouble. If you exercise good table saw safety practices, then cutting aluminum sheet on it is very much like cutting wood. I would count cutting .032" sheet a lot easier than 2" rock maple. If you are getting a ragged edge, then you either have a dull blade, too large of teeth, or need to be using a zero clearance throat plate--or some combination of the three.

[MtnCamper07]

I am a contractor and have a 'woody' background as well... I have read your posts and find them very interesting. I too have seen that you can use carbide-tipped blades to cut aluminum (soft metal). I would make sure to use a feather board to hold down my work piece to make sure it doesn't snag on the blade and then get launched right back at me! As for bass-o-matics's suggestion that he overlap pieces, I can only wonder if the overlap would not create some sort of fit or clearance issues once everything is reassembled. I would prefer to have these pieces welded, even that meant finding someone to do the work. Welding will always be stronger than riveting pieces together. I would love to hear back and see how these suggestions worked for you.

[HiHoAgRV]

Originally Posted by Mixter

HiHo- how would you cut one that needs a good visible seam?

The best bit of learned expertise...how to plan and use the sheets original edges as visible! Reskinning the belly, interior and even outer skins I only have a couple of visible cut edges.

On those, I use a hand held pneumatic shear with lots of WD40 on the cutting edges and I make a pass +-1/4" away from my finish dimension. The I use smooth toothed tin snips to make the final trim. The final step is a coarse file for a final pass. Making a smooth cut with tin snips does take a bit of practice and the first mistake some folks make is to cut all of the way to the end of the snip. This will make a divit every time. By using 1/2 to 3/4 of the snips cutting length you avoid the divot.

If I need a BUNCH of small strips, all the same size that will have visible edges (think window frames), I haul my aluminum over to a sheet metal shop that has a nice new 12' shear. For $1.00 a cut I can get it chopped in no time flat and it has perfect edges.

[J. Morgan]

A metal cutting blade can be used in any circular saw,

There are a few varieties, a diamond impregnated blade will work well, as will a fibre (cut off style ) blade.

These kind of blades don't really have teeth, so long as you keep it straight and don't push too fast, it won't bind.

[barts]

I do these cuts w/ a circular saw; I just cut on scrap plywood, and sit on the sheet .

If you take about a 1/4" deep cut it works just fine.... I cut sheet (.050 or so) this way, as well, and diamond plate and 1/8" 6061 for a battery box.


- Bart

[Dingo Girl]

Not sure that this applies to aluminum, but any time we cut any sheet steel at work the blade in the skil saw or table saw is always turned around 18o degrees from the direction the teeth run to cut wood.

[Joe Palmieri]

You can get away with the table saw method but It is very dangerous. I have seen people get ripped up pretty badly when the blade grabs the sheet and kicks it back. The method I use is the worm drive portable saw with a medium fine tooth carbide blade. First you want to make a base for the saw to ride on out of half inch plywood. screw a piece of 3/4" plywood to the half inch base for a saw edge guide. Leave the base wide enough to go from the guide edge past the blade an inch or so. Run the saw down along the edge guide (3/4" ply) and cut off the extra inch you left on. Now you have a nice saw guide for the saw to travel on that also holds the aluminum sheet down against the table while you are cutting. This method prevents the metal saw base from scratching the surface of the aluminum. Make the whole assembly wide enough that you can put your clamps on the double thick part and not hit them with any part of the saw when you run it down the guide. You need to cut on a nice flat table with the saw blade hanging over the edge of the table by 1/2" or so. The edge of the base by the blade can also be used to line everything up at the marks on the sheet where you want the cut to be. Any saw cut aluminum sheet needs to be touched up with a mill file to remove sharp edges.

[Kevin245]

Originally Posted by Dingo Girl

Not sure that this applies to aluminum, but any time we cut any sheet steel at work the blade in the skil saw or table saw is always turned around 18o degrees from the direction the teeth run to cut wood.

Exactly.

The same suggestion made in post #14. This especially good when cutting thin material and there is little risk to kickback because the blade in not biting in to the material.

[perryg114]

It is hard to cut plywood on a table saw. I prefer the skill saw method with a fence to guide it.

Perry

[rodsterinfl]

I had a piece of AS late model "bright aluminum" (don't know the alloy #) that I cut using a Dremel Sawmax and metal blade for my stove vent project- a fix/upgrade done to deal with the heavy corrosion that was around the vent when I bought my AS. It is a one-handed tool so guiding is not too difficult. There is also a straightedge attachment but for my job I did not need it.

[bass-o-matic]

Metal Brake on Amazon.

I'm guessing this is too light duty for .040 at 4 feet wide?

What if i went down to .036?

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