Bandsaw blade for 6061 Al alloy? What's a good blade size to buy?
 

Hello,
I have a small Delta 4x6 horizontal band saw a Delta 14" wood band saw that
I can slow down with DC or 3ph VFD.
I have some Al 6061 bar stock that's 3 x 6 x 36 that I need to cut up. I
checked out a great band saw book from the library last fall that gave me
lots of great info on setting up, speed, feed, blades, etc., but I can't
recall the blade info I need now.
What's a good blade tooth and size for this 6061 T6 Al alloy?
Would this same blade be as useful for other Al alloys?
I have some harder Al 2025 plate, etc that I will be cutting soon.
I would guess that I would get by fine with one blade size for almost any Al
alloy but I'm not sure.
If anyone could share their knowledge with me regarding a good blade choice
I would appreciate the courtesy.

Thank You,
Eddie

Eddie

4 tooth "skip" as wide as the machine can take for a horizontal would work
good. You might want to think about mist coolant where the blade enters the
stock.


Mark


"Eddie" wrote in message
. net...
Hello,
I have a small Delta 4x6 horizontal band saw a Delta 14" wood band saw
that
I can slow down with DC or 3ph VFD.
I have some Al 6061 bar stock that's 3 x 6 x 36 that I need to cut up. I
checked out a great band saw book from the library last fall that gave me
lots of great info on setting up, speed, feed, blades, etc., but I can't
recall the blade info I need now.
What's a good blade tooth and size for this 6061 T6 Al alloy?
Would this same blade be as useful for other Al alloys?
I have some harder Al 2025 plate, etc that I will be cutting soon.
I would guess that I would get by fine with one blade size for almost any
Al
alloy but I'm not sure.
If anyone could share their knowledge with me regarding a good blade
choice
I would appreciate the courtesy.

Thank You,
Eddie

"Mark Mossberg" wrote in message
. ..
Eddie

4 tooth "skip" as wide as the machine can take for a horizontal would work
good. You might want to think about mist coolant where the blade enters
the
stock.


Mark

Yeah, what Mark said. Aluminum, regardless of the grade, saws quite easily.
As long as you can keep three teeth or more in the cut, you can get away
with a large tooth configuration. It's really a good idea to use a skip
tooth blade instead of a conventional 4 tooth blade because the tooth depth
is much more shallow, yet still provides proper chip clearance. On small
saws such as yours, that means greater blade stability because the skip
tooth is much shallower. Do try to keep the cut lubricated, aluminum,
especially in soft condition, likes to stick to the teeth somewhat. If
you don't mind the mess (and smell), kerosene works very well. Even brush
applied occasionally makes a huge difference.

Don't worry about blade speed, just throw your top speed at it. You'll be
woefully under speed for aluminum. You may not have enough power to run it
that fast if you have a very small fractional HP motor, however. The skip
tooth blades cut very fast.

Good luck!

Harold