I have some thick stock of aluminum that I recieved from a friend in a small CNC Mfg company. Its basically 4"x4"x4" and 4"x4"x2" blocks. Today I tried to slice a 1"X1"x4" piece off one of the blocks with my jet 4x6 band saw. I have had wonderful cuts and performance with this little band saw with steel. I assumed it would cut equally well on aluminum. I started without changing the blade speed and even used some WD40 for lub, but it seemed to take forever to progress into the metal. I then changed the speed to the fastest setting and found the cutting was somewhat faster only by adding down pressure to the saw. After I progressed about 3/4 way thru the cut it was apparant that the cut was creeping out and making a terrable belly in the cut to the extent that I had to readjust the clamp on the parent block. I did cut this material in the horizontal position of the block assuming that the most teeth in the cut was best, but maybe I should have cut it vertically and been more patient!!!!!. I made the poor asumption that the saw would cut aluminum faster that steel..... What do I know.
Is there a methodology for cutting thick aluminum, and can it be done accurately with this tool? I am also using a high quality, fairly new Bimetal variable pitch blade(Lenox). I also did not notice any material buildup on the teeth of the blade that would reduce its effectiveness.
Skipd1
Is there a methodology for cutting thick aluminum, and can it be done accurately with this tool? I am also using a high quality, fairly new Bimetal variable pitch blade(Lenox). I also did not notice any material buildup on the teeth of the blade that would reduce its effectiveness.
Skipd1
