Tips on cutting aluminum sheeting.

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cudaspaz

cudaspaz

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what are your best tools-other than a plasma cutter to cut intricate cuts in 1/4" aluminum sheeting?

I have used a roto zip tool successfully in the past but would like something that would cut better and I have some rounded cuts to make also.
 
Wood working tools work good for aluminum. My dad uses a skillsaw a lot. If he wants a rounded edge he uses the table belt sander. A nibbler works well too or even just hand snips. They have snips for cutting straight and left and right cutting ones.
 
I find a waterjet or a laser cutter hard to beat. But yeah.. I don't have one either.
 
1/4" sounds like plate instead of "sheet"....we use a router on 1/8" but never tried 1/4". We'd use a jig saw or band saw on 1/4"...
 
I've used a jig saw on aluminum up to 3/16", which is only a C-hair thinner than 1/4". I've also tried a roto-zip, but prefer the saw.
 
We keep a bar of Ivory soap by the chop saw when cutting aluminum. We cut stacks of extruded molding, not plate, but a little Ivory on the blade every half-hour or so keeps it from gumming up. I don't see why that wouldn't work on a band saw or jig saw just as well.
 
4flats said:
We keep a bar of Ivory soap by the chop saw when cutting aluminum. We cut stacks of extruded molding, not plate, but a little Ivory on the blade every half-hour or so keeps it from gumming up. I don't see why that wouldn't work on a band saw or jig saw just as well.
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i used to work in a fab shop and we cut all stock with a cold saw otherwords it had a solution feed on the metal but i see no reason why you could not use soap on plate but for a clean cut nothing beats a cnc machine
 
Yeah, I was thinking jig saw with a metal cutting blade, or "blades" since I usually end up snapping a few.
I like the idea of the soap bar, makes sense to me.

I appreciate the input fella's.
 
Just watch your fingers. If you are not wearing gloves the bar gets slippery (duh).

Nobody asked, but don't use soap on a cold saw. We had a guy here do that once, I think he is still looking for another job.
 
4flats said:
Just watch your fingers. If you are not wearing gloves the bar gets slippery (duh).

Nobody asked, but don't use soap on a cold saw. We had a guy here do that once, I think he is still looking for another job.
Click to expand...

Why, what happens on a cold saw?
 
I have a buddy that got his hand caught in a milling machine while boring holes in aluminum molds he was making.

He swept some bits away with his hand and got too close to the cutter blade and it grabbed his leather glove and sucked his hand right in for a ride, was only in there for an instant but not before it ripped a tendon from between his thumb and pointer finger and mangled what another doctor had already repaired with metal rods and screws from a previous gun shot wound from a .32 hollow point.

I keep him away from my power tools as he has a propensity for pushing the envelope.
 
1/4" and making intricate cuts? Plasma is all I could think off that I could beg, barrow or steal.
 
Depending on the size of the piece you are working with, a jig saw with a good blade works well for larger pieces. For smaller pieces, i.e. 15" square or smaller, it's hard to beat a scroll saw. That is unless you have access to something like a laser or waterjet.
 
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