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Recognize this extrusion?
- Thread starter borges1
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Wood saws are an accepted method for cutting aluminum. There are aluminum cutting blades made specifically for table saws and miter saws. I have probably cut a mile of aluminum on the table saw over the years. Okay, most of that was through cutting but I have done grooves and rabbet cuts as well. Yes that is a little more tricky but can be done with relative safety if one isn’t a Neanderthal abou it.
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yep, I have cut AL with my TS as well, and a circ saw. But this is a buried cut.. I think the mill and stacked up squares would be my goto.
As stated before, make a fixture, make a box the same dimensions as the extrusion, and make it the length of the rip fence and clamp to fence.
The stock then can only move in 2 directions, stand clear, and take SMALL cuts.
We used the same process to make RC helicopter blades from solid stock with a modified joint blade that shaped parts of the blade.
Process is same. Feed the stock into the tunnel and allow the rable saw to cut the material.
Be sure to stand aside and use a push stick when needed.
Sent from my SM-G781V using Tapatalk
The stock then can only move in 2 directions, stand clear, and take SMALL cuts.
We used the same process to make RC helicopter blades from solid stock with a modified joint blade that shaped parts of the blade.
Process is same. Feed the stock into the tunnel and allow the rable saw to cut the material.
Be sure to stand aside and use a push stick when needed.
Sent from my SM-G781V using Tapatalk
Finally made the thing, I ended up just slotting it with an aluminum cutting blade in my table saw. The first full depth pass was tough, but then it got easier. I can't say I'd recommend this method to anyone not very confident with a table saw. I did wax the blade, but it made no difference waxed or unwaxed. I wierdly also got the AL to fall up and completely fill one tooth gullet multiple times. It was obvious when it happened - milling became awful. Why only one gullet? Happened five times I think.
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I wonder if your new blade has a tooth higher than the others and therefore keeps loading one gullet over the others.
A slight chip makes less than perfect chips that weld themselves to that tooth.
First cut was reduced from full depth, then increased to full depth. After that i just widened the slot with successive full depth passes.
I didnt figure out why it was always one gullet, but i do think it was always the same location. It did seem chip welded, but why that sarted is a mystery to me. For a single part it was tolerable. I think had it been a through cut it may not have been as bad. The part itself got very hot from the number of passes required; i had to stop a couple time so the piece could cool enough to handle.
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