"Mark & Juanita" wrote in message
news
On Mon, 27 Feb 2006 22:18:42 -0500, "mc"
wrote:

I have a tablesaw with a sliding cutoff box that I often use to cut small
pieces of wood and plastic.

Today I needed to cut some aluminum (about 3/32" thick).

I put in a steel blade that was marked "for aluminum and plastic" and had
a
difficult time. The cutting went slowly and the aluminum got very hot.
By
the end, the blade was bent.

I then put in a 40-tooth (8-inch dia.) Piranha carbide-tipped
wood-cutting
blade that was several years old. It cut the aluminum very happily, with
very little heat.

I know this is putting more wear on the blade than wood would, but how
much
more? Am I doing anything harmful to the tools? Seems to me the
original
"aluminum and plastic" blade was much worse.


April 2006 Workbench has some information on cutting aluminum on a
tablesaw. They recommend using a regular carbide blade with a zero
clearance insert and also mounting the aluminum with double-sided tape to
a
sacrificial piece of hardboard, then usig a pushblock with a heal to push
the aluminum through the blade. Workbench April 2006, pp 34 ff.


Any idea what the purpose of the sacrificial chunk of hardboard is? Perhaps
for cutting small pieces? I can't imagine any need for one if there isn't
an issue of getting one's fingers too close to the blade.

--

-Mike-