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40" x 30" 1/2" 6061 plate $300 - Victoria

Take a Skilsaw! A Milwaukee metal cutting saw 'might' be better, but a friend of mine, who built about a thousand Herring skiffs, swore by his basic Skilsaw and whatever saw blades were cheapest at the counter of the Hardware store! And, he was a big fan of hearing protection! Just sayin'!

FWIW, if you chuck it in the truck bed and run, a wood cutting band saw works a treat on Aluminum. Bugger the whole 'two or three teeth always in contact! Run the wood saw as fast as it can go, and simply enough, don't act like you are simple, feeding the aluminum in to the blade! Ie: be gentIe! I have cut up to 4 inch thick plate on my crappy salvaged wood band saw! Feed according to how much it slows down, and it will all be a happy solution! Remarkably little heat generated!
 
trevj said:
Take a Skilsaw! A Milwaukee metal cutting saw 'might' be better, but a friend of mine, who built about a thousand Herring skiffs, swore by his basic Skilsaw and whatever saw blades were cheapest at the counter of the Hardware store! And, he was a big fan of hearing protection! Just sayin'!

FWIW, if you chuck it in the truck bed and run, a wood cutting band saw works a treat on Aluminum. Bugger the whole 'two or three teeth always in contact! Run the wood saw as fast as it can go, and simply enough, don't act like you are simple, feeding the aluminum in to the blade! Ie: be gentIe! I have cut up to 4 inch thick plate on my crappy salvaged wood band saw! Feed according to how much it slows down, and it will all be a happy solution! Remarkably little heat generated!
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Actually, I have ripped 1" x 2" Aluminum rectangular bar on a tablesaw with a high tooth count carbide blade. I also cut a lot of 1/2" aluminum plate with a router with a 3/8" up spiral carbide bit. The router needs multiple passes and lubricant (A9 Fluid) but with the appropriate guide it is very accurate.

Chris
 
cjmac said:
Actually, I have ripped 1" x 2" Aluminum rectangular bar on a tablesaw with a high tooth count carbide blade. I also cut a lot of 1/2" aluminum plate with a router with a 3/8" up spiral carbide bit. The router needs multiple passes and lubricant (A9 Fluid) but with the appropriate guide it is very accurate.

Chris
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That, I do not doubt!

But my friend that made the Herring skiffs, seldom spent more than a couple bucks per, for the blades he used!

My 'biggest rip' was 2 1/4 inch 7075 plate, that I cut down to 24 inch wide strips, from a 5x12 foot plate!
 
I used the Blue Tornado ferrous metal blade (7.25" Model CBT102) in my skill saw. Worked a charm.

canadianhobbymetalworkers.com

Any tips on cutting 1" thick aluminum plate?

Good evening gentlemen. I was lucky enough to get a 8 foot by 2 foot by 1" think chunk of aluminum. All 225+ pounds of it. I need to cut this down into pieces a little easier for me to handle. My plan? Busy Bee has a Blue Tornado metal cutting blade on sale right now. As usual they...
canadianhobbymetalworkers.com canadianhobbymetalworkers.com
 
cjmac said:
Actually, I have ripped 1" x 2" Aluminum rectangular bar on a tablesaw with a high tooth count carbide blade. I also cut a lot of 1/2" aluminum plate with a router with a 3/8" up spiral carbide bit. The router needs multiple passes and lubricant (A9 Fluid) but with the appropriate guide it is very accurate.

Chris
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I’ll second the tablesaw (though rather hard to bring along in a car!)

We cut mostly brass and aluminum on our 1960’s unisaw at work. 60-90 tooth, triple chip carbide blade. Plenty of mitering of bent sheet (16-18 gauge) sections, to make things like hexagonal lanterns.
 
If there's any spare, I would be interested in 2 pieces 6" x 18" if possible.
 
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Stuart Samuel said:
I’ll second the tablesaw (though rather hard to bring along in a car!)

We cut mostly brass and aluminum on our 1960’s unisaw at work. 60-90 tooth, triple chip carbide blade. Plenty of mitering of bent sheet (16-18 gauge) sections, to make things like hexagonal lanterns.
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That's a key point!

Skilsaw fits in a pretty small corner of the car trunk!
 
I've probably cut a KM or two of Al tooling plate in varying thicknesses with a plain old skilsaw with a diablo blade. Some wax stick lubricant helps, and is recommended, but it can be done dry.
 
Tom O said:
I remember once cutting 3/8 Aluminum sheets with the table saw the boss was quite well covered in chips, don’t forget eye protection.
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I convinced my boss (one of the better ones we had, too!) that making a plywood template, and buying a router and some bits for the shop, was worth the investment. It certainly was! We were tasked with making aluminum panels which were to fit in the back wall of the Bell 412's we had. Each was about 3 by 4 1/2 feet, .080" aluminum plate, and each helo required two. We were tasked to make 30 helo's worth, with an 8-10 man-hours estimate each, for 60 pieces. 4 people got them completed in under a week. Once the template was finalized, routing the parts two at a time was childs play, ie: easy, but messy! :D

Back end of the shop looked like it had been hit by a LARGE silver blizzard, and took a few days to get almost all the chips cleared up, but it sure beat hells outta making them one at a time!
Deburring each sheet, probably took the longest, at around 20-30 minutes per, but it was productive sit-down work, so it went fast!
 
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