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[Carl Morris]

Since Eric spent all that time getting the forum moved, the least I can do is ask a question to help "test" it!     

I need to make a few hundred cuts in 1/4" aluminum rod.  The ends won't be visible in the finished product, so finish is not critical, but they need to be clean enough to fit into 1/4" holes.  For prototyping I am using a hacksaw and cleaning up the ends with a belt sander, but need something more streamlined for production.  Suggestions?

    -- Carl

[Canuck]

Hi Carl, my thoughts would be to use a sort of 'tray' to hold the aluminum dowel, and that can be made by drilling a 1/4" hole in a larger piece of wood then slit the piece in half so that you'll have the dowel backed up all around...make sense?

[Kerry Verne]

Eric had tons of fun cutting aluminum on his table saw. Be warned though, my dad melted his phenolic saw insert cutting metals.

They do make bandsaw blades for cutting metals too. After cut to length, it may be easiest to chuck up in a drill and deburr with some sandpaper or a disposable file.

[Carl Morris]

John: good suggestion on stabilizing the rod for cutting, I'll give it a try.

Kerry: I'm definitely thinking table saw, and thanks for pointing out the collateral heat-damage potential, I wouldn't have thought of that until I smelled smoke!   

[Kerry Verne]

Is your saw motor inside the cabinet? I'd avoid getting metal shavings in that.

Depending on the size, a v-groove and a hold-down clamp or two on a sled will probably work well enough, until the conflagration. Send pics/vids.

[Carl Morris]

Hmmm, good point about where the shavings go.  See, that's the value of a forum discussion: we eliminate a bunch of potential disasters so that the one that eventually occurs is totally unexpected, and thus more entertaining...   

I've been off pricing aluminum blades and they're a couple hundred dollars!  I was just getting used to hundred dollar blades for wood.  Blade suggestions anyone?

    -- Carl

[Kerry Verne]

What size is your saw? Bimetallic blades look to run between $8 to $40 for generics.

One other thing to think about is rigging a jig for a Sawzall. Those blades are cheap, available, and everyone needs a Sawzall. I used to knock Ryobi until my inlaws gave me one for xmas.

[Scott Peterson]

I bought a non-ferrous metal blade from Amazon for around $50 if I remember correctly - and it was a Freud blade.  A blade for Al shouldn't cost you $200 - especially if aren't that picky about the cut quality.  Check Amazon - they have good deals and free shipping...

[Eric Fuller]

Any blade will cut aluminum...I wouldn't invest in a dedicated blade unless you're cutting it day in and day out.  Do you still have the crappy blade your saw came with?  Cause that would do the trick.  Or any other old blade you have laying around...I have several "crapper' blades I use for cutting stuff like metal, acrylic and MDF.  OTOH, if all your blades are quality, I'd take a trip down to the hardware store and pick up a junker $20 40t blade for the job.  No sense subjecting your expensive steel to the stresses of cutting metal.

BTW, 1/4" aluminum rod is nothing and won't cause your saw to even break a sweat.  I've cut 3/8 solid plate before and that was a bit more of an adventure, but sill doable.

[Carl Morris]

Thanks for the input guys!  Eric's "the crappy blade you already have" suggestion has the right price-point for experimentation.  This weekend I'll try making smaller pieces of aluminum out of bigger pieces of aluminum and let you know how it goes.

    -- Carl

[Carl Morris]

I tried two things in the shop this morning.  First I used a chop saw metal cutting wheel, kind of like a large Dremel cut-off disc.  That worked, but it was slow, generated a lot of heat, and the aluminum turned sort of "sticky", leaving a cut that would require a lot of cleanup before use.  Second I used a 200 tooth plywood blade.  That worked great, easily made the cut, good feed rate, not a lot of heat, and edges just need a little touch up to use (possibly none once there's a proper fixture in place to hold the rod during the cut).  Looks like I've got a solution, thanks for the help guys!

    -- Carl