Ok, so is it alright to just put any old carbide-tipped , solid metal blade
into my chop saw, as long as the arbor fits ?. Not that I'm exactly rarin' to go
that route ......

DS


turnitdown wrote in message nk.net...
For cutting aluminum sheets I use a regular worm drive saw with the blade
reversed and WD 40 to lube the blade- cuts just like wood- you need someone
to continuously spray the WD 40 and its a bit messy, but results are great.
"Dar Shelton" wrote in message
...
Past : I used to go to a place and use their chop saw for slicing off
small pieces of Al and brass bar stock. I never
remembered (and don't now) having trouble with aluminum, and the parts
from way back then appear to have cut
as well as the brass ones from the same batches.

Present: I just got my own chop saw, and read that it's not meant for
aluminum (but is meant for 'iron metal' g).
I tried to slice a small piece off of a small diameter bar stock and the
cut was really sloppy and it seemed to have gotten
so hot that the Al got .... well, slushy. Maybe the loading of the blade
(a Norton metal-cutting blade) left a messy kerf
(right word?) , maybe the spanking-new blade needs to wear in a little
(?) . It worked fine on a similar brass piece.

Future (?)