Cutting aluminum with circular saw

I've tried them all, and they all work, but getting one of these: https://www.milwaukeetool.com/Products/Power-Tools/Woodworking/Circular-Saws/6370-20 has been an excellent investment. It takes care of a lot of the chip issues others have mentioned (but does not eliminate them completely) and is much mroe comfortable to use. AND it cuts steel! I actually have the battery operated version - so you can go corded or cordless depending on your needs.

An interesting note, that I haven't tried, is installing the blade backwards. Some contractors at one of our customer's sites did this and claimed it was the 'right' way to go. They were using a miter saw. I don't know if that's a pertinent detail or not.

GsT
 
If you are talking about a hand held circular saw, not a track saw I would be beyond cautious cutting aluminum. Any misalignment as you cut will translate into instant kickback.
I have experienced kickback cutting aluminum on a table saw and it scared the crap out of me.
With a non-track circular saw I would never attempt to cut aluminum thicker than 1/16"
 
MrCrankyface said:
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.
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I have a broken window to attest to the need for holding the aluminum with clamps.
 
I have used table saw and a Milwaukee circular saw. I have their smaller m18 metal version, I think it’s a 6” blade. The biggest difference vs a wood circular saw is the blade speed is much slower. Cuts great , have cut 1/8 to 1/2” in a single pass. Like others have said, makes sure everything is clamped down and solid when cutting. While not as strong as a corded saw, I like that I can stall the blade instead of it violently kicking back.

One thing that makes a big difference is using lubricants. I have Walter aluminum cut wax stick. Looks like a push up popsicle stick. A little on each teeth really cuts the noise down and better cut
 
Not entirely related, but yesterday, I had to cut a lot of large aluminum extrusion on an Ellis 16" bandsaw. I was finding the aluminum was loading up in the teeth on the blade. After clearing the stuck aluminum by cutting a sacrificial piece of steel, I started using a little blade lube, Irish Spring bar soap, and the problem with the blade loading up went away.
 
+1 on lubricants for cutting aluminum with circular saw blades.
WD40, mineral oil, kerosene, wax stick lube all work excellent

I’m partial to 40T carbide blades but coarser blades work well too
 
I bought an inexpensive 8 inch nonferrous blade on Amazon for my table saw. Have cut up to 0.5 inch aluminum without issue. My method, if it is possible, is to screw or clamp it to a sacrificial scrap of plywood so the cut pieces cant go anywhere. Beyond that what others have said about safety, lube etc.
 
I am not sure what lube should be used. I believe liquid-form lube will be swung away in no time. I cant get any specialized wax lube for cutting aluminum locally. Will bee wax do ?
 
compact8 said:
I am not sure what lube should be used. I believe liquid-form lube will be swung away in no time. I cant get any specialized wax lube for cutting aluminum locally. Will bee wax do ?
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I'd try paraffin wax over bee's wax.
 
A light application of diesel, or kerosene to the cut line, no need for flood cooling it's just to keep the aluminum from sticking to the teeth if you do not find wax.
 
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