DON'T use the abrasive blade for aluminum, use a fine tooth carbide
blade. Try and find one with negative hook (blade is tilted back from
the direction of travel) or at least one with a minimum of forward hook.
Wear safety glasses, it throws hot metal chips everwhere! Not the best
for everyday work but a lot of folks cut aluminum this way.

Cutting steel with an abrasive blade has a few more issues: The sparks
are all shot in a line, they can get hot enough to start a small fire in
the back of your machine. The old Sears units were not very well
shielded from the fine abrasive grit, they tend to die a quick death
from toasted bearings. If yours is 30 years old, the grease and seals
are not too good already. And yes, the stink is bad.

For steel, I'd suggest getting a cheap 14" cutoff saw and use it outside
on the driveway. They look like this:
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...emnumber=47003
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...emnumber=91938
If you are patient, you can usually find them on sale for well under
$100, I've seen HF advertise them for $49


wrote:

I own a Sears 10" radial arm saw that I purchased when my son was in
the Cub Scouts. He's now 40 just to give you an age fix on the saw
(which actually still looks like it's new).

Recently I purchased an 8" abrasive metal cutting blade from Home Depot
and used it to cut some thin-wall aluminum tubing to length and it did
a fine job (except for the fact that the hot fiber blade made my shop
smell like a wet dog for about 12-hours). I also chopped some steel
angle stock and, except for all the sparks, that appeared to work fine
too.

Is there a problem with cutting metal on a radial arm saw normally
intended for woodworking?

Why I ask is that I have some 1-1/2" hard aluminum (7075?) bar stock
that I need to cut down to machine on my lathe. Am I in for some
unexpected problems if I try to cut it on this saw using a 10" abrasive
blade?

Thanks in advance.

Harry C.