Cutting Aluminum Question

JPigg55 said:
I was cutting off a piece of stock aluminum with my Harbor Freight bandsaw/hacksaw.
It seemed to take forever to cut through, granted it was a piece of 4x4 stock 6061, but got me wondering if there are issues with aluminum loading up metal cutting blades.
My blade is the higher end (price wise) Harbor freight general purpose one.
Any thoughts/suggestions ???
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I use the 10 tpi on the fastest speed on my 4x6 bandsaw for cutting casting ingots, I also use wd40, it cuts about 3 or 4 times faster then the high end?????? harbor freight blade does and doesn't load up.

I also have an 18" vertical saw that has a 6 tpi blade, we use the wax stick on it, I use it for cutting sprues etc off of the larger castings that i have made

When I first started i used a wood carbide toothed skill saw and found out that there is a structural difference between blades designed to cut wood and those designed to cut metal. the metal blades have a deeper tooth and the teeth don't bend. I destroyed my chop saw when a tooth bent and ripped out the next 3 teeth

Art B
 
I cut any serious aluminum stock with a circular table saw and combo rip/crosscut carbide tip blade. No problem and usually surprisingly quick.
 
same here except I use a metal cutting blade with negative rake. Its like a hot knife through butter.
The only part I dislike is all the ultra fine flakes floating through the air.
 
Non-ferrous blade, go slow but steady, Wax stick, WD-40, or water, and above all, do not lift the saw blade back up until the blade has stopped spinning completely. Sometimes I will clamp 0.5" x 3" strip of MDF to the fence, and drop the blade so I have a zero tolerance fence if I'm cutting really short pieces, this will also help with the ricocheting cut-off factor.

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I just make sure I have the coarses blade in the saw that still has a few teeth in the part at all times. For Lube (before I set up a liquid coolant pump) I used to use either WD40 or if I was out of it just plain bar soap. If using the bar soap just be careful not to take a finger off!
 
The biggest problem I had with my HF saw was getting the down feed right with the spring setup they use. I recommend changing the spring to a hydraulic setup. It can be done fairly cheap by buying all the parts off ebay. I did mine for less than $20 and now the saw cuts better. It even helped with it cutting much squarer. Too much down pressure can cause a blade to flex to the side. And too less pressure just dulls the blade faster.
 
I cut aluminum stock either with a wood cutting chop saw or on my table saw. Use a 60+ tooth carbide tip blade and feed slowly.
I get nice cuts this way. Way better than with a bandsaw.
 
paulinlapine said:
I cut aluminum stock either with a wood cutting chop saw or on my table saw. Use a 60+ tooth carbide tip blade and feed slowly.
I get nice cuts this way. Way better than with a bandsaw.
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If you're going to do this often it is highly advisable to pick up a dedicated non-ferrous metal cutting blade. I love my Freud Diablo version. The woodworking blades can do it but nearly everyone has positive hook (comparable to rake angle) teeth on their woodworking crosscut blades, and those can really grab and throw a part. Negative hook is actually correct even for woodworking with any radial arm saw miter saw, but it makes an even bigger difference for aluminum. (DO NOT use a negative hook blade on a table saw!)


At one point I decided to just go ahead and use the (excellent, 100 tooth Makita ATAB) blade that was on there instead of taking the extra 60 seconds or so to change the blade "because it's just one cut". Even with holding the large part very carefully it still caught and threw it HARD against the wall behind the saw, but not before severely warping my nice aluminum fence. Now I can only trust the fence on the right side of the blade if the part (any material) is less than about 24" long.

The correct blade also leaves a better finish with much less burr.
 
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juiceclone said:
I cut any serious aluminum stock with a circular table saw and combo rip/crosscut carbide tip blade. No problem and usually surprisingly quick.
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should also mention in most cases, blade is set all the way up, so that the cut is more in a downward direction than towards you (but at least 2 teeth in contact at all times), never do any really thin stock either, and never use a fence which might cause a bind.. and, yeah, those flakes of aluminum get everywhere..
 
Last time I took my blades in for sharpening, the shop owner recommended a Freud aluminum blade. I just about went for it, but I couldn't justify the $120. What I do is clamp the stock to the square on the table saw with C clamps, raise the blade quite high and feed very slowly. And yes, aluminum flakes go everywhere, even with a shop vac attached to the saw.
 
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