my real question is if he doesn`t have the right tool to cut aluminum, hows he gonna join it back together? yikes!!!!
A lotta guys own a welder but don't own a machine shop. There is no correct tool to cut aluminum. You cut it with the tool that you have that will do the job. I'm not real big on using a wood saw to saw aluminum but I do know that it works. In the machine shop I prefer to use carbide over high speed steel for aluminum but its just a personal preference, high speed steel works also. I think it is a very good post for the fellas that don't know what is possible. Note: this is not to slight you so don't take it personal. Just an observation.
"put it in backwards." NO DO NOT. Use it normal. Aluminum cuts on a wood blade exactly like wood does. It doesnt gum up. I use a Carbide blade. BTW a spin saw is like a dremal only bigger and has an unusal bit that will cut straight lines. Many drywall guys use them . I drill a hundred holes first but the sides were too thin to put in my mill safely. A jig saw is too violent and i always seem to get cut with it (Not good for a fiddler. ) The spin saw took awhile to connect the holes but i had no trouble with it and it was for me safer. BTW I used a 1/8 spin saw bit in my dremal for this. A real spin saw is a lot more HD. As to your woodworking prowess. Doesnt really matter how much wood you have cut. It matters how much aluminum you have cut. It cuts on the same blade exactly the same . I make fiddles for a hobby so while I am not Donld K carpenter i do use my table saw quite a bit. My friend Herr Schwienbacher from Bruchkobel Germany was making some 2x2 (approx) aluminum bracing for a project. He was using a regular Skill saw to cut it. I asked what blade. He said same as for wood. We do not change the blade. I tried it. It worked perfect and the saw BTW still cuts wood fine afterwards. The spin saw thing came to me yesterday for this project and i tried it. It worked for me. Maybe not perfect, maybe you all have a better way but I am able to do what I want with these pieces with only minor clean up. I doubt it would be so had I used the jig saw. The tunnel ram? It is for the car to the left. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zWTkmVfqfsU AKA The Senior Dragster. Here are the pieces. I cut one today in about ten to 15 minutes, Will do the other tomorrow. No scars and no cuts in me. I like that. Don
Hey, Don! Decided to drop in on us southerners for a spell? Some of you guys who don't know Don might click on the link to his web site and see the creative things he's done.
My fear here is that a guy is going to go out to his garage, set up his 200 dollar table saw with it's 3 dollar blade, wear shop glasses or not, free hand feed metal into his saw and have it catch, kick back and damage him. Gentlemen, can we please be good mentors towards safety?
I've cut barn tin with a reversed el-cheapo plain steel framing Skil-Saw blade fine. 21 tooth, $2.00 blade???? BUT please wear eye and ear protection because the chip's fly and it get's LOUD as it burn's through the thin steel. pdq67
WEll you gotta wear Eye protection of course. You have to use your head. A woodpecker does. I cut all the pieces for the tunnel ram on the table saw. Some is 1/8 some is 3/8s some 1/4 as are these last pieces. The two chunks before i drilled holes in them were part of a piece 5 inches wide and 31 inches long. I cut them like I would cut spruce or cedar. It felt no different. No binding, no pulling , no jumping around just run them through like they were wood. if you are worried paint them brown first so they look like wood. I dont know about thin sheet. I guess i would just cut it with the hand shears. The worst thing i ever had on my saw was some tiger maple. Compared to cutting it this was like cheese. I respect the concern for safety. As anyone knows you can get hurt in an instant of mild disregard for what you are doing but i also know if you have not if done this you really dont know what you are talking about. If I hadnt seen Mike doing it I would never have tried it. I was astounded how well it worked. However. This thread wasnt about using a table saw it was about using a spin saw or rotozip or whatever you want to call it. You can see the rest of the pieces if you want on my "Six Cylinder Tunnel Ram" thread. Don
skillsaw blades are tough. I've never broken one. They temper nicely. I've made several extracters and disconnectors for firearms from used ones without a failure one. Sometimes you can be too careful. Just watch yer eyes.
I guess you could. I think you are overplaying the safety issue though. Some of you who dont know me obviuosly think I mean it "sort of cuts like wood." It cuts exactly like wood on the table saw. Anyway while we are on this subject i was rebuilding a totally whipped steering box for a buddys farm tractor. I got it down to the final deal but needed some round shims. It turned out to be double the thicknes of a coke can. The dimension was a standrd size. 2 inch diameter with 1 5/8 hole. He came up with this solution, not me. His name is Gilles Sabourin and he is a gifted wood worker , a trait he may have inherited from several generations back. He sandwiched a sheet of pop can material between two pieces of 3/4 inch plywood Screwing and gluing the edges so it was all one piece. He then took his wood hole saws and cut through into the second sheet of plywood right through the aluminum pop can stuff. Because he ddnt cut the holes right through he had a pilot hole for both cuts. He popped the top plugs out as the aluminum was not glued and voila two perfectly made shims with no burrs and no trouble. I was impressed. Don
A wood router cuts aluminum like butter. I made exhaust manifold adapters from 3/8" aluminum and a friend in a machine shop told me about the router
I've seen a guy put the blade on a circular saw on backwards to cut aluminum diamond plate. I wouldn't do it, but I watched him do it.
I have not said much more on this because I jumbed in to soon in the beginning. I did not fully read the opening of the thread and backed up a few people because I asumed this was a first attempt at it. We can say all we can about safety and what blades to use but in the end we can't help stupid. Meaning those of us that understand all that is involved with this will be fine (yes something can still go wrong, thats the nature of it). But theres going to be that person that thinks I seen it done and thinks its just that simple.
I don't suggest that anyone do it but I have a Piranna blade in my skill saw. I cut the corner off my steel saw horse with it (not intentionally) about 6 years ago. I'm still useing the same blade and it still cuts wood like it was intended to do. There are a lot of ways to get it done, some of them more backyard than others. But they still get the job done. A good rule of thumb is to always cool aluminum when you're working with it. WD40 works real well. Even if I'm cutting aluminum with a sawzall I cool the blade with a little WD40. Nver cut aluminum with an abrazive blade like the one in your chop saw. They will explode on you. Anyway good tech Dolmetsch. I never thought of using the rotary tool for cutting aluminum.
I'm sure the kick back would be a son of a bitch with a circular saw. I used transmission fluid on a sawzall blade to cut aluminum last night, cut right through without gumming up in the fine-tooth blade whatsoever. BTW: I wonder how many injuries have been due to filming instead of having both hands on a power tool. I was waiting for it to kick out of your hand and start knawing on a finger.
<HR style="COLOR: #e5e5e5; BACKGROUND-COLOR: #e5e5e5" SIZE=1> <!-- / icon and title --><!-- message --> "I'm sure the kick back would be a son of a bitch with a circular saw" You dont know. Talk is cheap guys either try it or be quiet. If i say it cuts like ordinary wood, it does. That is how I am. Folks who know me will tell you so. If you dont want to try dont but please dont start with the I dont think and I would think etc etc. If you have not done it you dont know. period. I have so I know what I am talking about. Was I scared the first time. Certainly. I had on the leather gloves and saftey glasses and was standing to the side just waiting for the Kerbang and the flying pieces. It never came. It cuts just like wood. Sawdust and all. I am also not advocating any try it. This was supposed to be about using a spin saw. Not about using a circular saw. I am now sorry I ever mentioned that I did that. A hundred naysayers are now jockying for position on something they dont know anything about. In my heart I keep thinking about Smoky Yunicks comment. "One good experiment beats 1000 expert opinions. " Anyway I am not advcating anyone try that. I was talking about spin saws. Don
Don, don't worry about the thread hi jackers. I am glad you posted this, I would not have thought of it but it will come in handy.
Carbide blades are the key - aluminum tends to gum up on straight steel blades. We cut LOTS of aluminum everyday with standard wood working blades. The blades made for it have a 0 or negative rake, but we haven't been able to tell the difference in performance - only in price. Wear lots of gear as mentioned - long sleeves, face shield, glasses/goggles and a hat. Keep that crap out of your hair or you'll dig it out for days.
So thats a spin saw. Man was I barking up the wrong tree . Should have called it a hand held mill and see what we had to say then .
Not trying to discredit anyone, Just don't like the thought of free hand feeding anything into a circular saw, anything at all. Circular saw, great, it won't throw metal at you, saw might jump back at you but won't send a projectile. Would have a rough time talking me into running one of my German router bits onto a piece of aluminum stock on my shaper, would not want to use it on Rock Maple burl after that. I might try running a piece of aluminum into a circular saw if it had a remote roll feeder and I could stand off of it out of the kill zone. These little zip saws will usually snap a blade before they will throw the tool at you, especially if you keep the base on the work. I wouldn't use a router, sux having to chase for the cord with one of those eating your boots. Remember in shop class that one dumb son of a gun who could not figure out how a drill bit worked so he put his hand against it? Remember how much smarter he was than the ding dong who watched it but still did it the next week? Just trying to keep those guys thinking that's all. Did you ever watch Jack Ass, Nitro Circus, Scarred? I think I seen that kid from shop class.
If I worried like some of you guys I would also still be drawing pictures of my first hot rod. I am sorry but I do not understand how anyone can question something that has already been or being done. Anyway i am putting this to bed for me. Schon genug Don
I just use my plasma torch. I built a sheet-metal intake for a supercharged Buick 350 that way. We used to cut 1/4" aluminum plate on a table saw all the time, then wen right back to cutting MDF with the same blade.
I'm in the "its just fine camp" The last mold shop I worked in went through thousands of pounds of mic6 and 6061 backplates every year. They were all cut with a carbide toothed table saw/panel saw. The thickest I have ever cut personally on a table saw is 3/4" thick. No problems. Heres a tip for anyone using abrasives to polish aluminum. A little bit of wax on your abrasive will increase the life of the abrasive by about ten fold. Renew the wax every so often and keep on grinding with the same pad.
thanks for your concern but if your "worried" about kick back on the table saw then try not standing right behind the fuckin blade.
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