aluminum plates and profiles

[DCMagnuson at aol.com]

In a message dated 12/9/98 9:42:25 AM Eastern Standard Time,
martin.czech at intermetall.de writes:

> 
>  > Just out of curiosity, why do you say cutting aluminum is an awful job?
>  > It has been my experience that, so long as you have a fine-toothed metal
>  > cutting blade 3/8 inches wide (I had one made for a 14 inch bandsaw for
>  > $10), a relatively low-power bandsaw works just fine.  And while it does
>  > create aluminum "sawdust", it does not send it flying like a circular saw
>  > does.  If you buy or make a ripfence, then cutting nice square panels is
>  > quite easy.  The edges need only a minimal amount of smoothing.  Anyway,
>  > just my opinion.
>  > 
>   Well, I didn't try a bandsaw (this is also circular in a way, right?),
>  but a hand pendulum saw (no circular blade). The blade is 2mm thick,
>  but it still goes to the left or right, and there is a lot of 
>  vibration. So the cut is very ugly, 0.5-0.7mm tolerance.
>  

I do metal work for a living, and I have a few comments for do-it-yourselfers.
First, someone mentioned a bench press for cutting... this is a very good
solution, as is a jump shear.  Both are a little too much for the average
hobbiest, though.  For using household saws, you can by fiber reinforced cut
off wheels that fit standard circular saws that cuts aluminum quite well.  It
would be ideal to use this type of blade in either a table saw or radial arm
saw to assure a straight cut.  

If you must use a circular saw (of any type...table, radial, handheld) and
can't find the fiber blades, I've also used plywood cutting blades (very small
teeth) with good success.  In order to cut down on burrs and kick back, put
the blade in BACKWARDS.  I learned this trick freom guys who install aluminum
siding, and it seems to make the cuts a little more controllable

Dave Magnuson
Independent Music Site
http://members.aol.com/dcmagnuson