[R-390] Cutting aluminum sheet

[Bill Guyger]

As I mentioned earlier I use a saber saw but I do use a fairly course blade IIRC 14 teeth/inch. Fine toothed Blades gaul quickly because aluminum is so soft (this is of course ignoring the hard alloys that are intended for milling). In other words fine tooth blades get clogged rapidly and cease cutting.

Bill AD5OL

Sent from my iPhone

> On Oct 28, 2016, at 12:40 PM, Tisha Hayes <tisha.hayes at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> Right out of college I was working for a company that also fabricated their
> own custom control cabinets out of aluminum. They used a table saw with a
> pretty coarse blade. No guards, no shields, they were dragging these big 4'
> x 4' sheets of 1/4" aluminum and one guy would wrestle this through the saw.
> 
> The entire process horrified me; I was picturing just about every way it
> could go bad. Sometimes the metal sheet would ride up and the blade would
> cut a nasty gouge on the bottom the sheet as it tried to launch this big
> piece of aluminum back in to the belly of the guy who was feeding the
> monster. My imagination for how bad it could get would be perfect for movie
> making or nightmares.
> 
> When I was making prototypes or test jigs out of a bed of nails with POGO
> contacts I had to be in the same room. I made every effort to not be there
> on aluminum cutting day.
> 
> From what I recall, the blade had to be riding pretty high off of the deck
> to minimize the bucking.
> 
> It also did make a horrendous noise. Even a half-a-building away I could
> hear it when they were cutting aluminum.
> 
> *Ms. Tisha Hayes, AA4HA*
> *"*There are many who live in the mountains and behave as if they were in **the
> town; they are wasting their time.*
> * It is possible to be a solitary in one's mind while living in a crowd;
> and it is possible for those who are **solitary to live in the crowd of
> their own thoughts.*"*
> **-Amma Syncletica of Alexandria**
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