Cutting Aluminium sheet with track saw

[Inspector]

Maybe daft, but would a hard point handsaw handle this? If so you could cut outside and avoid the swarf problem.

I wouldn't cut outside if you can avoid it, or you cover the ground with a big tarp. The reason being is the aluminium doesn't corrode away, meaning you have it there to walk through and see sparkling along the edges of the grass forever. Iron based stuff rusts away so at worst stains the pavement. The aerospace plant I worked in had chips and swarf all over the property from the aluminium they machined blowing out of the scrap bins since the doors opened in the late 80s.

Pete

 

[paulrbarnard]

I wouldn't cut outside if you can avoid it, or you cover the ground with a big tarp. The reason being is the aluminium doesn't corrode away, meaning you have it there to walk through and see sparkling along the edges of the grass forever. Iron based stuff rusts away so at worst stains the pavement. The aerospace plant I worked in had chips and swarf all over the property from the aluminium they machined blowing out of the scrap bins since the doors opened in the late 80s.

Pete

That’s a good point. I’m sure my dog would get them in his paws. Indoors with extraction it will be. I ordered a blade so getting closer to cutting.

 

[baldkev]

Nice option but not workable in my house. A saw blade I can get away with. Another saw would be challenging to say the least

Ahhh, see youve got it all wrong! You just don't tell her if you are really worried, put some paint splodges on it, wipe some oil on it and crudely carve 'bob' on the handle..... then if you get found out, its an old second hand saw mind you, how many shoes / handbags / pairs of jeans does your boss have?

 

[TomTheToolMan]

For the price of a festool blade you can buy the evolution saw (about £60) and you are certain you won't ruin your festool saw. I bought one for ripping up pallets. Cuts through nails like butter so imagine 3mm aluminium would be easy. I wouldn't dream of putting my festool near metal cutting

 

[BillK]

A bandsaw chops ally easily, I got an M42 blade but also a standard blade worked fine - it was wearing out anyway so didn't worry about damage or ally smearing on it's teeth. Only thing was it wasn't so good tracking straight through the thicker bar parts (15, 25, 30mm) - just going slow and a bit of lube sorted that. Tried blade maybe? The M42 was no problem.
I spent far more time clearing up the accursed dust & chips than cutting this -

 

[Sideways]

I would (and) have just chopped those to length on the mitre saw.
Excellent finish, perfectly square clean ends, no drama, no finishing required unlike a hacksaw, bandsaw or jigsaw cut.
I took 3" off the aluminium seat post tube of my daughter's new bike on the mitre saw last week, that's about 4mm wall thickness.
Aluminium is soft.

Interesting rig !

 

[dennisk]

re cutting backwards
We use a lot of aluminum soffit and use a jig with a Freud blade designed for metal and drag the saw backwards .
Works great . We are also using steel horizontal siding and cut that backwards as well.
Much cleaner cut .

 

[BillK]

@Sideways I did chop the beams on an Evo sliding mitre saw, which has since died. It was very handy for years but beyond me to figure out what was wrong with it. The cuts were never that clean in ally though but was a pretty cheap saw I guess, some deflection or slop in it. Bandsaw on the blocks & bars was less to clean up actually.

It's a jig for guitar neck work, under string tension you sometimes get slight waves & flats instead of a perfect curve, it reproduces that shape when you take the strings off.

 

[RupertV]

Maybe daft, but would a hard point handsaw handle this? If so you could cut outside and avoid the swarf problem.

metal cutting jigsaw blade in 3mm ally shouldn't be a problem for small pieces