Aluminum covers

admin

We got a shipment of 13 4' x 10' and 4 4' x 8' weighing in at about 1160 lbs of .120 aluminum plate.  I have to chop them up into smaller pieces to be broke at another place must better suited for the task. They are various covers for equipment for a local company. I opted to do the cutting rather than the vendor since I can stack the plates and cut many parts at the same time with a skill saw for a lot cheaper.  Here are some photos of the cuts.  The first one is 6 sheets stacked with a guide bar still in place to the right. I slid them apart to show how nice of a cut you can do with just a regular carbide stud blade. And you can kinda see the tape on the bottom of the saw so I didn't scratch the metal so bad. The other photo is the metal at different stages.  It's kinda hard to tell how much material there is in the background. Attached ImagesCommon sense in an uncommon degree is what the world calls wisdom.
Reply:IMHO a skilsaw does a lot better job than a set of shears, that is if you're after looks. It doesn't mangle the edge of the plate and you end up with a nice square edge.For gang cutting as in you application it's the cheapest way to go, mark once and you're cutting a bunch rather than one. Only downfall is if you mark wrong, then you're screwing up multiple pieces but we don't screw up.....do weI've cut up to 1" plate with a cheap ole Makita saw using a carbide blade, a plunge cut no less and the end result is a nice looking job.....MikeLast edited by mrmikey; 10-18-2008 at 06:44 AM.
Reply:Trust me; I've been triple checking my marks and even looking back at the original prints to find out how I came up with those measurements.I think the trickiest cut that I have had to do with the saw was run some 8" radius corners in 1/2" plate.  I could only nibble 1/8" deep out of each pass and the saw was at a funky angle.  After I was done, it came out pretty nice.  Once I weighed out the amount of time it took to saw it rather than plasma and clean it, it worked out to about the same time.Common sense in an uncommon degree is what the world calls wisdom.
Reply:If you want to get some nice edges use a router, any bit that'll work on wood will work on aluminum. Mind you carbide is better if you're doing a lot but for the small jobs hss works fine just watch your depth of cut.....Mike
Reply:Yeah, I use my dremmel quite a bit.  I like to use the drywall bits for thing aluminum for freehand work.  I usually tell my customers that aluminum is like working a hard wood.  You just have to watch your heat because it sticks to the bits or blades.Another reason I like working with the saw vs a sheer is the drop issue.  Here is a 10' piece that I can still pull full length out of: Attached ImagesCommon sense in an uncommon degree is what the world calls wisdom.
Reply:aluminum, its beautiful stuff to work with,.Nothing Ever Got Done By Quitting, Never Give Up.