Cutting aluminum with circular saw

[compact8]

Hand sawing is just too tiring so I am planning to get a 7 inch 1500 Watt circular saw and wonder if it's good for cutting 6061 and 7075 aluminum , the most often used materials for my work. If it's feasible, what kind of saw blades ( teeth type, diameter, no. of teeth ,etc ) will be suitable ?

 

[Aukai]

I have used a 60 tooth 71/4" circular saw for 1/4" aluminum plate that worked very well.

 

[ozzie46]

Make sure teeth are carbide and definitely wear hearing protection, it gets screaming loud..
Ron

 

[Makintrax73]

I recently used a piece of .250 AL plate to make a table for my portaband. I used one of the Hercules "non-ferrous" blades (10") on my miter saw and it cut incredibly smooth and straight. I see they also make those blades in 7 1/4" with 56 instead of 80 teeth, and if you have a Harbor Freight near you they are usually in stock - Yeah I know Harbor Freight - YUCK - but these really seem like decent blades. I assume if your saw is up to the task it would work fine.

Hopefully the saw you are looking at is a bench mount chop saw, rather than a hand saw. Any time you are cutting metal workholding becomes a LOT more important that it is when cutting wood. I drilled a hole in the table of my miter saw so I could mount a drill press clamp hold down for my AL cutting. If the work moves relative to the blade things can get bad really fast. I've seen the Evolution brand metal cutting chop saws on Amazon and considered giving that a try, but I just don't cut a lot of non-ferrous.

 

[imagineer]

Make sure teeth are carbide and definitely wear hearing protection, it gets screaming loud..
Ron

And think through how to keep the chips from getting into your clothing. I cut aluminum most every weekend with a chop saw, table saw, and although my least favorite, a handheld circular saw. The common problem for all of these methods are the hot and sharp chips that fly everywhere.

In addition to a full face shield, when sawing aluminum, I've gotten into the habit of wearing welding gloves (with extended cuffs) and my welding jacket with the top button secured.

It may be overkill, but that last thing you want to do is react abruptly to a hot metal chip imbedding into your hand, or one that finds it's way down your shirt, while managing a spinning saw blade.

 

[kcoffield]

We resize sheets of MIC6 1/2" aluminum (cast 7000 series) tooling plate with a hand held circular saw. Also do same on smaller pieces on the table saw. Strictly speaking the wood working tool speed is way too high for aluminum and finer blades only aggravate that. I've found coarser carbide tipped combo andeven rip blades clear chips and work better. I also apply a little grinders grease across the saw tips before I start and between cuts, which serves as lube, helps cutting, reduces heat, and reduces aluminum adhesion to teeth which you should check and remove as necessary.

Heat generation can be a problem particularly if you are underpowered. The circular saw was nothing special and handled full depth of cut but it's tough duty for the saw. A few cuts is no problem but definitely shorter life indedicated service. Thegear reduction drives are always the weak point. The table saw is 10"/3HP and no problem there. Cuts 1/4" like it's not even there. You can get into trouble if you stall the cut or wedge the blade as it can/will very quickly over heat and distort the blade. You can always take several passes, especially if ripping with a fence. It's a tough life for the blade. I use cheap ones. They'll occassionally lose some tips. Wear a face shield. The aluminum chips are hot.

Best,
Kelly

 

[savarin]

The thickest I've done is 3" cast aluminium 6" long on a table saw hand fed.
https://www.hobby-machinist.com/threads/the-giant-binocular.55688/page-14 post 136 shows how large the part was.
It was a carbide tipped metal cutting blade and went through like a hot knife through butter.
As everyone else has stated those chips are very hot and go everywhere.

 

[markba633csi]

At my old company we used a radial arm saw to cut 1/8" aluminum plate- carbide blade and personal protective gear a must

 

[koenbro]

I use a handheld tracked plunge saw with a dedicated alu blade w negative rake to cut 1/8” sheet.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

 

[MrCrankyface]

I've cut aluminium with both table saw and miter saw.
It can get sketchy so you need to be much more careful than with wood.
Extremely important to make sure the part won't move, holding it is not enough and risks your fingers/life.
With that said, a carbide toothed blade on either machine will eat through just about anything.
I've cut >30 car rims into small pieces using the same 80T blade on my miter saw.
Hearing protection and a good visor is a must, it gets extremely loud and the chance of teeth flying off your blade are much higher, the chips aren't very fun to get in your face either.