cutting aluminum, what am I doing wrong
I have a little white water cataraft, (metal frame strapped to two inflated tubes) and I discovered this summer that I was either too long or the frame too short… so I had a local welder tack together some peices of square aluminum to make the frame longer.
I want to cut the corners off the pieces, so I dont have sharp corners sticking out….
Grabbed my new festool jigsaw, some long metal blades, and had at it. about 11/4 inch through the cut everything started to vibrate and I was holding on to the jigsaw with way too much force. Stop the saw and look at the blade.
It looks like all the teeth have been filled in with aluminum, and can no longer cut.
am I using too high of a cutting speed? should I be using a different tool? or should I just mow through a whole stack of metal blades? (I need to make about 5 more cuts.)
Jeff
Replies
Wax the blade before ya cut..soap will do too.
You are going way to fast. A jig saw will work fine at a slow speed.
Use some cutting oil and it'll be like night and day. Smooth as butter.
JT
The roads are starting to ice up around here, and everyone is driving like dimwits... well in fact if you combined all of them (on the road) together, you would get a quarter wit....
can I use WD-40 or 3in 1 oil to cut with instead?
not sure, I've often wondered that myself... I guess you'll know if by using it it's a lot easier. If it's not, than maybe cutting oil would help.I was cutting a bunch of Diamond Plate aluminum a while back 1/8", 3/32", etc., and I found that the cutting oil made it so much easier.JT
maybe, but there is cutting oil specifically for Au.
Bud
Au? Isn't that gold?Al is aluminum. Ag is silver. Cu is copper.Rebeccah
>Al is aluminum. Ag is silver. Cu is copper.Someplaces it is, someplaces Al is aluminium
Jeff,
Aluminum actually cuts much easier with a coarse tooth blade. Most "metal" blades are too fine and get clogged as you found out. Put a coarse wood blade on and it will cut like butter.
Bill Koustenis
Advanced Automotive Machine
Waldorf Md
Dont tell the folks at Knots, but sometimes the best solution is a bigger hammer...
I used my rotozip with the metal cutting disc, to cut guide slots and then pulled out the sawzall with a long metal cutting blade to finish the cuts.
Did try some WD-40 on the jigsaw blades and it helped lots, but I just lost patience.
now I just have to round off the corners before march and I am golden.
Machine shop SOP for aluminum is to use bee's wax as a cutting lubricant. Either that, or dry. Structural and mechanical alloys cut very nicely. They're so easy to cut that I usually used to hand hacksaw them. Try cutting by hand a little, it'll give you a better feel for what you're doing. There are electrical alloys that are more pure, and they tend to be more gummy. It's very difficult to get a nice surface on that stuff.
-- J.S.
Candle wax also works well. :-)
He makes a good point. Aluminum, particularly the softer alloys, can be too soft and gummy for a fine tooth blade. Larger teeth and making sure the blade is sharp will make it go faster.
While wax, silicone, and any number of various oils can help I surprised none recommended plain old water. A spray bottle with tap water can be used to wet he area of the cut and be squirted at the blade regularly. Some times helps to add a few drops of dish soap so it skins on the metal.
Even without the soap plain water goes a long way to both cooling and lubricating the blade.
Alum cuts more like wood than steel, as in, to fine a blade loads up quickly and builds up heat, Use less teeth per inch, higher cutting speed and slower feed and use a cutting wax if available, if not use a heavy oil.
Most of the alum. boat builders aruond here use a circular blade that looks like a corse wood blade. Everybody use to use a specific Oldham blade made for wood until they quit making them.
If ya got just a little bit of alum to cut, just use any old wood blade
Jeff - my 2 cents - storefront installers who deal with aluminum all day, every day, will use a fine tooth carbide blade in a miter saw or circular saw. If you had alot to do I'd say wax the blade, but for a few cuts you don't need to. If you try this WEAR eye protection, preferably a full face shield, this spits particles like a machine gun...Buic
......naptha..
......mineral spirits.
......thinner.....
......lighter fluid
the metal supplier i buy from has a "special" spray for Al, nothing special at all it is rubbing alcohol. So I just buy rubbing alcohol it evaporates and cools.
.Joel
If you ever find that you have aluminum tubing, bars or smaller items, use a hacksaw with the blade installed backward. Cuts great and will not clog.
You can but zip cut blades for a minigrinder which are formulated for cutting aluminum.
On a hill by the harbour