Joe Strout wrote:

I need to cut 1/16"-inch aluminum angle stock. And, to be clear up
front, I'm a total newbie to metalworking (and not too experienced with
tools in general).



Welcome to our little group on the Internet.

So, I bought a 6-inch cutoff saw from Harbor Freight with aluminum oxide
grinding discs. Turns out that this is not safe to use with aluminum
stock; the disc make shatter.

Hope you did not learn it the hard way.

It's been suggested that I put a saw blade on the same machine (any
6-inch blade with a 5/8" or 7/8" arbor should fit). I found this one, a
diamond segmented blade:

http://www.toolbarn.com/product/makita/A-94708/

But now I'm suspicious of making assumptions about what a given tool can
cut. Would this be good for cutting aluminum? Or should I keep
searching for a carbide blade?

That is an interesting question. Diamond is used to machine aluminum in the
manufacturing world but I am not sure how the blade you describe would work.
I'd just buy a carbide blade since it works great. Go to Home Depot or the
other home improvement stores and look for a carbide tipped blade for
cordless circular saws. By the way how many rpm does this saw turn?

If the answer is carbide, can anyone recommend a good source for these?
I'd need one the right size, and (as I understand it) a large number of
small teeth, since the stock I'm cutting is so thin.

As long as you are careful feeding the saw blade into the cut, a coarse
blade will be fine in this application.


Wes