Cutting Aluminium Sheeting

Thanks again folks for all the suggestions and usefull hints, 🙂

If you can fit it in the shed…….

Can,t go past waterjet cutting:D
No heat effected zones,doesn,t distort and very accurate,down to .25mm.
http://spitfireprojecta58-27.blogspot.com/
Check the video down near the bottom..:p
Honestly best bet is either a fine jigsaw blade or high speed routing bit.

Stop farting about & just use a carbide tipped blade in a circular saw. Won’t take but a moment & will slice thru it with ease. Done it loads of times.

I have done this task many ways!! It all depends on what you have available.

For thin material to cut and no shears available it is really hard to beat using a router with a carbide cutter. The secret to working with the router is to lay the large sheet on a wood table – or put some wood/chipboard/medite or whatever you want to call it under the sheet. Clamp a significant solid wood length with the correct offset for you router to use as a guide. If possible sandbag or place heavy weights on the guide to help keep it straight.

Practice with some junk metal before using the process on something good. I found that about .060″ of penetration through the metal and into the wood support was sufficient to stabilize the cutter and prevent chatter. Like the previous poster mentioned you need a high speed to keep it all clean. Wear gloves and face protection and long sleeves – the stuff that comes off the router is HOT!!!:dev2:

Once you get the feel of it you will be able to produce long straight cuts without any problems. Also you can produce some interesting reverse curves that would be impossible with anything else. Secret with those is to ensure good clamping so the metal doesn’t vibrate. I have cut 24 feet of spar material – complete with all lightning holes using this method. It takes some time – but in some cases that is a bonus as it forces you to be accurate.

If you ever need to cut 1/8 – 1/4 inch diamond plate – used for flooring in many aircraft the best way is to use a circular saw and cut through wood pieces placed on the top and bottom – Sandwich style!!

One last bit of warning – wear serious ear protection as well – these methods are noisy.:cool:

Sorry about the “English” measuring system – I grew up with it and Metric is my second language.:rolleyes:

Good luck and stay safe.

Truc

OOPS – Missed a very important thing – you need a helper with a compressed air gun to blow off the metal chips or you will scratch the aluminium when moving the router.

I’d have said the simplest option for home use without having to buy extra tooling would , as has been suggested, the jigsaw.
I do aircraft sheet metal for a living and have found a good quality jigsaw to be very simple to use, with good results being possible if you take your time and follow your line. I’ve never used (to my knowledge!) a special alloy blade, just a fine metal blade.
This gives minimal distortion to the sheet, and you don’t have to do so much cleaning up of the cut edge.

What about a plain boring band-saw, so long as you have the right setting and blade…..

That depends on the size of the cut, You cant cut large things on a standard size band saw as you will hit the return side

Cheers
668

What about a plain boring band-saw, so long as you have the right setting and blade…..

You’re not sure? :confused:

ummm!… well the only name stiched into my knickers is Debenhams so who knows 😮

I normally use a power jigsaw with metal blade for rough cutting with a length of extrusion to provide the guide for striaght lines. A router works fine too. Also it’s worth marking the sheet out and then use gaffer tape along the marking line to protect the surface from scratches that could be created by the swarf that gets kicked up on to the foot plate of the jigsaw. This seems to work fine up to .125 2024-T3 or 6061-T6 with out the need for cutting oil. You’ll then need to finish the edges with a file and paper to get them smooth and remove the potential stress risers.

I may be a girly

You’re not sure? :confused:

It was the first link I found……

I didnt look at the other stuff they sold!

Bruce

Try one of these

http://www.hswalsh.com/Guillotine_.aspx?i=TS1902&c=402

There are cheaper ones available!

Bruce

A jewellery catalogue…? 😮

I’m starting to worry about you, Brucie :p

The best thing to cut that thickness of aluminum with is a hand router with a straight highspeed bit. Turn the router rpm up fairly high and clamp a wooden guide offset to the line you want to cut and then just move it smoothly along the guide until your piece is cut. I did this at first before we got our cnc router table and it makes for a very nice cut. The main difference between the cnc and this is that you are the one controlling the router. All the other methods mentioned short of using a metal shear will produce a rougher cut and require a lot more finishing to get a good clean cut line. Note: you will need at least a 2hp router.

Just thought this might help as we have done a fair amount of this building our spit.

we use one of these

they are brill

http://grizzly.com/products/G8121

I could suggest a straight edge and a skin-knife……… :diablo:

Seems to all come down to what you feel happy using.

All this talk of metalwork is once again tempting me to start a cockpit recreation….!!! Though I could never decide what to do lol

Jon

….a nibbler (the latter is air powered)

Hmmmm … I’ve got one of these… got fed up with all the little bits of aluminium ‘chad’ they generate going everywhere. Fast but not very accurate (well, in my hands anyway).

best DIY way is using a stainless steel cutting disc in a grinder. Clamp a length of STEEL angle along the line offset to the waist side the thickness of the disc (stainless is >2mm). Dont use wood or ally as this is as easy to cut as your sheet and your edge will get distorted!…. lay the sheet and guide on a length of ply/mdf on the floor and then lay a brick or two wrapped in a bin bag to kill any vibration…. 😀 I may be a girly but I have also spent a lot of time rebuilding rally cars in the middle of nowhere.

these days we plasma too, its the only way for decent curved edges but if your doing straight cuts then i’d spend the money and have it chopped on a press brake/guillotined as that thin will roll up easy. have a look in yellow pages for a local air conditioning ductwork fabricators they will do it for cash in seconds!

We use three techniques for cutting aluminium sheet :

For production panels – I use laser cutting.

For prototypes and specialist panels –

I used to use a jigsaw with special aluminium blades – but then had to spend a couple of hours with a deburring tool on each panel.

I now use a small plasma cutter – Hypertherm – beautiful cut – flexible and versatile.

I dont know if you can get from Edinburgh to Cumbria where I can assist…

i use a mix of guillotine, tin snips and a nibbler (the latter is air powered)