Cutting Aluminum
 

I bought a 10" metal cutting wheel for a miter saw to cut aluminum, but
it really doesn't work too well. It cuts it, but it's not a straight
cut, presumably because the cutting wheel is flexible, and the motor
isn't fast enough.

I ordered this blade "http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00006407O" but I
may return it unopened if it's not going to work well.

Is a 14" chop saw necessary for cutting aluminum (3/16" flat bar)?

Are most of the chop saws 14" because this effectively lowers the speed
of wheel across the metal?

I saw a 6" chop saw that runs at 9000 rpm, which is close to the speed
of a 14" chop saw running at 3900 rpm.

Cutting Aluminum
 

On Apr 3, 7:41 pm, SMS wrote:
I bought a 10" metal cutting wheel for a miter saw to cut aluminum, but
it really doesn't work too well. It cuts it, but it's not a straight
cut, presumably because the cutting wheel is flexible, and the motor
isn't fast enough.

I ordered this blade "http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00006407O" but I
may return it unopened if it's not going to work well.

Is a 14" chop saw necessary for cutting aluminum (3/16" flat bar)?

Are most of the chop saws 14" because this effectively lowers the speed
of wheel across the metal?

I saw a 6" chop saw that runs at 9000 rpm, which is close to the speed
of a 14" chop saw running at 3900 rpm.

I cut aluminum all the time on my Makita 10"

A good blade is a triple chip(?) grind which is what your blade
appears to be.

If I'm only making a few cuts I just use my regular carbide blade.

Slow & steady feed and it should work fine. I'm surprised you're
having trouble.


cheers
Bob

Cutting Aluminum
 

SMS wrote in :

I bought a 10" metal cutting wheel for a miter saw to cut aluminum, but
it really doesn't work too well. It cuts it, but it's not a straight
cut, presumably because the cutting wheel is flexible, and the motor
isn't fast enough.

I ordered this blade "http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00006407O" but I
may return it unopened if it's not going to work well.

Is a 14" chop saw necessary for cutting aluminum (3/16" flat bar)?

Are most of the chop saws 14" because this effectively lowers the speed
of wheel across the metal?

I saw a 6" chop saw that runs at 9000 rpm, which is close to the speed
of a 14" chop saw running at 3900 rpm.


Is this what you tried? These are pretty rigid...and fairly cheap $10 depending on size.

http://www.nortonconsumer.com/Data/E...0000000026 02

Cutting Aluminum
 

SMS wrote in
:

I bought a 10" metal cutting wheel for a miter saw to cut aluminum, but
it really doesn't work too well. It cuts it, but it's not a straight
cut, presumably because the cutting wheel is flexible, and the motor
isn't fast enough.

I ordered this blade "http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00006407O" but I
may return it unopened if it's not going to work well.

Is a 14" chop saw necessary for cutting aluminum (3/16" flat bar)?

Are most of the chop saws 14" because this effectively lowers the speed
of wheel across the metal?

I saw a 6" chop saw that runs at 9000 rpm, which is close to the speed
of a 14" chop saw running at 3900 rpm.


if you think about it,the larger diameter the cutting blade,the FASTER the
teeth go(linear rate),for the same RPM.

and a 14" blade has a lot more teeth than a 6" blade.

--
Jim Yanik
jyanik
at
kua.net

Cutting Aluminum
 

On 4 Apr 2008 12:58:52 GMT, Jim Yanik wrote:

SMS wrote in
:

I bought a 10" metal cutting wheel for a miter saw to cut aluminum, but
it really doesn't work too well. It cuts it, but it's not a straight
cut, presumably because the cutting wheel is flexible, and the motor
isn't fast enough.

I ordered this blade "http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00006407O" but I
may return it unopened if it's not going to work well.

Is a 14" chop saw necessary for cutting aluminum (3/16" flat bar)?

Are most of the chop saws 14" because this effectively lowers the speed
of wheel across the metal?

I saw a 6" chop saw that runs at 9000 rpm, which is close to the speed
of a 14" chop saw running at 3900 rpm.


if you think about it,the larger diameter the cutting blade,the FASTER the
teeth go(linear rate),for the same RPM.

and a 14" blade has a lot more teeth than a 6" blade.


You don't need a fast blade to cut aluminum. For most applications
the harder the material, the slower the cutting blade. For example,
to cut pine, use a fast blade. To cut iron, use a slow blade. You
can buy blade stiffeners/stabilizer, which look like a large washer
that are fastened to the arbor against the blade. Make sure you buy
one with the correct arbor size of your saw.

See:

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_gw...ade+stabilizer

Cutting Aluminum
 

Jim Yanik wrote:

I saw a 6" chop saw that runs at 9000 rpm, which is close to the speed
of a 14" chop saw running at 3900 rpm.


if you think about it,the larger diameter the cutting blade,the FASTER the
teeth go(linear rate),for the same RPM.

Yes, I meant to say faster!

Cutting Aluminum
 

Red Green wrote:
SMS wrote in :

I bought a 10" metal cutting wheel for a miter saw to cut aluminum, but
it really doesn't work too well. It cuts it, but it's not a straight
cut, presumably because the cutting wheel is flexible, and the motor
isn't fast enough.

I ordered this blade "http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00006407O" but I
may return it unopened if it's not going to work well.

Is a 14" chop saw necessary for cutting aluminum (3/16" flat bar)?

Are most of the chop saws 14" because this effectively lowers the speed
of wheel across the metal?

I saw a 6" chop saw that runs at 9000 rpm, which is close to the speed
of a 14" chop saw running at 3900 rpm.


Is this what you tried? These are pretty rigid...and fairly cheap $10 depending on size.

http://www.nortonconsumer.com/Data/E...0000000026 02

Yes, that's what I'm using, a cutting wheel. I think maybe it's too
flexible. The cuts don't come out straight, and they're not too clean.

Cutting Aluminum
 

SMS wrote:
I bought a 10" metal cutting wheel for a miter saw to cut aluminum, but
it really doesn't work too well. It cuts it, but it's not a straight
cut, presumably because the cutting wheel is flexible, and the motor
isn't fast enough.
....

What Al alloy?

Sounds to me more like trying to cut too fast.

What kind of a cut are you trying to make?

--

Cutting Aluminum
 

On Apr 4, 7:29*am, SMS wrote:
Red Green wrote:
SMS wrote :

I bought a 10" metal cutting wheel for a miter saw to cut aluminum, but
it really doesn't work too well. It cuts it, but it's not a straight
cut, presumably because the cutting wheel is flexible, and the motor
isn't fast enough.

I ordered this blade "http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00006407O" but I
may return it unopened if it's not going to work well.

Is a 14" chop saw necessary for cutting aluminum (3/16" flat bar)?

Are most of the chop saws 14" because this effectively lowers the speed
of wheel across the metal?

I saw a 6" chop saw that runs at 9000 rpm, which is close to the speed
of a 14" chop saw running at 3900 rpm.

Is this what you tried? These are pretty rigid...and fairly cheap $10 depending on size.

http://www.nortonconsumer.com/Data/E...Line/product_L...

Yes, that's what I'm using, a cutting wheel. I think maybe it's too
flexible. The cuts don't come out straight, and they're not too clean.

SMS-

The Norton abrasive blade you're using is better suited to ferrous
materials not so good with aluminum.

Unless you've got dozens of cuts to make, you will get very good
results with just about any sharp carbide wood cutting blade.
Just go easy & don't blog the saw. Steady, light to medium tool
pressure.

That Freud blade is perfect, you'll be happy with it.

cheers
Bob

Cutting Aluminum
 

dpb wrote:

What Al alloy?

Aluminum 6061-T6 Extruded Rectangle 0.1875" x 1.25"

Sounds to me more like trying to cut too fast.

I'm not sure. The chop saws for metal using 14" cutting wheels all run
at a much faster effective speed than I'm running. The smaller chop saw
I saw ran at a much higher rpm to compensate for the smaller blade.

What kind of a cut are you trying to make?

Just a straight cut.

I think one mistake I may be making is to not move the aluminum further
back so I can come down directly in the center of the piece. The blade
hits first on the outer edge of the piece then the blade comes down
through the piece into the slot below.

Cutting Aluminum
 

On 4/4/2008 7:57 AM BobK207 spake thus:

On Apr 4, 7:29 am, SMS wrote:

Red Green wrote:

SMS wrote :

I bought a 10" metal cutting wheel for a miter saw to cut aluminum, but
it really doesn't work too well. It cuts it, but it's not a straight
cut, presumably because the cutting wheel is flexible, and the motor
isn't fast enough.

Is this what you tried? These are pretty rigid...and fairly cheap $10 depending on size.

http://www.nortonconsumer.com/Data/E...Line/product_L...

Yes, that's what I'm using, a cutting wheel. I think maybe it's too
flexible. The cuts don't come out straight, and they're not too clean.

The Norton abrasive blade you're using is better suited to ferrous
materials not so good with aluminum.

Unless you've got dozens of cuts to make, you will get very good
results with just about any sharp carbide wood cutting blade.
Just go easy & don't blog the saw. Steady, light to medium tool
pressure.

I just finished milling aluminum on my table saw (9") with a sharp
60-tooth carbide blade. No problems, and very smooth cuts.


--
The best argument against democracy is a five-minute
conversation with the average voter.

- Attributed to Winston Churchill

Cutting Aluminum
 

On Apr 3, 11:41 pm, SMS wrote:
I bought a 10" metal cutting wheel for a miter saw to cut aluminum, but
it really doesn't work too well. It cuts it, but it's not a straight
cut, presumably because the cutting wheel is flexible, and the motor
isn't fast enough.

I ordered this blade "http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00006407O" but I
may return it unopened if it's not going to work well.

Is a 14" chop saw necessary for cutting aluminum (3/16" flat bar)?

Are most of the chop saws 14" because this effectively lowers the speed
of wheel across the metal?

I saw a 6" chop saw that runs at 9000 rpm, which is close to the speed
of a 14" chop saw running at 3900 rpm.

ounds good

Cutting Aluminum
 

SMS wrote:
dpb wrote:

What Al alloy?

Aluminum 6061-T6 Extruded Rectangle 0.1875" x 1.25"

That's a fairly hard alloy; iirc about Brinnel 75-80? If so, that's
almost 3/4's of a moderately soft ductile cast iron which would be about
100. It's gonna' need some time to cut it cleanly (see comment
following...)

Sounds to me more like trying to cut too fast.

I'm not sure. The chop saws for metal using 14" cutting wheels all run
at a much faster effective speed than I'm running. The smaller chop saw
I saw ran at a much higher rpm to compensate for the smaller blade.

I mean trying to push the saw thru the material faster than the blade
can handle, not the blade speed...

What kind of a cut are you trying to make?

Just a straight cut.

I think one mistake I may be making is to not move the aluminum further
back so I can come down directly in the center of the piece. The blade
hits first on the outer edge of the piece then the blade comes down
through the piece into the slot below.

Don't wanna' do that -- if a tooth catches w/o a hard stop behind it,
you're really asking for trouble. If not against the solid fence, at
least be sure to use something solid behind that can't collapse.

--

Cutting Aluminum
 

A regular carbide tipped wood working blade works just fine on
aluminum. A wax stick or some WD 40 will help to keep the
aluminum from galling the teeth - I strongly prefer the wax
stick - a wax bowl ring would probably work just fine. There will
probably be some burr on the cut, but nothing like using a fiber
blade. Cuts will be as straight and square as your chop saw is
capable of delivering as long as you have a good grip or clamp on
the stock that you are cutting.

I purchased a non ferrous and I actually get a better cleaner cut
from a wood working ATB blade. I have a good triple chip blade
that I am tempted to try, but it is an expensive blade and have
not done so.

--
______________________________
Keep the whole world singing . . . .
DanG (remove the sevens)




"SMS" wrote in message
...
I bought a 10" metal cutting wheel for a miter saw to cut
aluminum, but it really doesn't work too well. It cuts it, but
it's not a straight cut, presumably because the cutting wheel is
flexible, and the motor isn't fast enough.

I ordered this blade
"http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00006407O" but I may return
it unopened if it's not going to work well.

Is a 14" chop saw necessary for cutting aluminum (3/16" flat
bar)?

Are most of the chop saws 14" because this effectively lowers
the speed of wheel across the metal?

I saw a 6" chop saw that runs at 9000 rpm, which is close to the
speed of a 14" chop saw running at 3900 rpm.

Cutting Aluminum
 

"SMS" wrote in message news:47f5a2a5$0$36344

I ordered this blade "http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00006407O" but I
may return it unopened if it's not going to work well.



That blade should work well. I use a 60 tooth