Cutting Aluminum Square Tubing: Asking for suggestions

Hello All!
For a project at home, I will be making several dozen cuts in factory powder coated 6065-T5 square aluminum tubing. I'm quite nervous about making good cuts on the first try. Some of the components are quite expensive and there are no inexpensive "do overs" for mis-cuts.

Some of the tubing is 5/8" O.D. and some is 2" O.D. A few cuts will be on extruded profile shape tubing. The tubing wall thicknesses range from 0.050" wall for the 5/8" to 0.062" for the extruded and 0.100" for the 2" square.

All of the cuts have to be very square.
With a freehand hacksaw, I won't be able to cut that squarely. My old horizontal band saw never slices very square. The 2" will most certainly be angled by the saw. I have a wood working miter saw, but don't know if that is appropriate. I also don't know what blade profile and TPI to choose.


Do any of you have suggestions for how to make these cuts square and not tear the thinner wall stock?

Thanks for sharing your techniques and suggestions. I appreciate your help very much.
Paul

A fine pitch blade on your chop saw should work well. Clamp if possible, slow cut, safety glasses, ear plugs, and a face shield...
We cut 1/16" wall 1x1 and 1x2 all the time on a metal cutting chop saw for FIRST Robotics

Sent from my SM-S911U using Tapatalk

Can you cut a little over size and finish on a mill? Miter saw with a fine tooth carbide blade should do a good job.

Another recommendation for using a miter saw or table saw. The blade doesn’t need to be particularly fine toothed. A 12” 80 tooth or 10” 60 tooth blade is pretty fine for cutting aluminum. If you set a stop for the miter saw or have/make a sled for a table saw you can make very accurate and repeatable cuts.

3rd vote for a wood chop saw.
They sell blades specifically for cutting aluminum in a standard chop saw.
I've done it a bunch. Don't rush the cut and they come out beautiful.

A carbide blade isn't needed. A mist of WD 40 will prevent chip welding. Clamp the work if possible.

I use regular carbide wood blades in my table saw and miter saw. Used to use a handheld circular saw too. Wear ear plugs, and safety glasses/ shield. The hot chips fly everywhere. Can use WD-40 to help lubricant the blade a bit. Take it slow, and if you can clamp the pieces to the fence In miter saw, even better.

Would be best to start with a new sharp blade, but I go back and forth between wood and aluminum all the time.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Do you have other tools like a mill or a lathe and what size are they?
How many pieces do you need to cut?
Do you have a 5c collet ?
How close does the length need to be?

Home Depot sells 10" non-ferrous metal cutting blades for table saws, radial arm saws, and 7 1/4" circular saws. I used a circular saw and a radial arm saw to cut the aluminum extrusions for our 12' x 18' screen porch. All the cuts turned out square and mated with the corresponding parts perfectly. I used an 80-tooth blade for the radial arm saw, and a 96 tooth one for the circular saw.

I used the fence to locate the material on the radial arm saw and a stop guide to be sure the cuts were square and the same length. I squared and clamped a piece of scrap wood to the parts that were cut with the circular saw to get square cuts and proper length.


Most of the extrusions were 2" square with some being 2" x 4", some C shaped, and others L shaped. I don't remember the metal thickness the project was done over 35 years ago. Most of the extrusions we cut were like those in the top 2 rows in the link below. Ours didn't come from Home Depot, but rather a local glass company.


As mentioned, be sure to wear hearing and eye protection. This stuff is so thin I'm not sure WD40 would be necessary.

Harbor Freight Hercules Non-Ferrous circular blade in a miter saw works fine as long as you aren't too worried about metal chips in the saw. Personally my miter saw is old and cheap so I didn't worry about it and it worked quite well. Cuts were excellent quality. I've used it for cutting 3/16" plate with zero problems, and it slices through 1/8"x 1 1/2" AL angle like butter.