Hi All, I'm trying to make a carb adapter from 1/4 inch 6061 aluminum plate. I do not have a metal cutting bandsaw. The scroll saw is not of much use. The jigsaw (sabre saw) seems slow too. Recommended tpi for a blade? Don't think the Sawzall will be accurate enough. Can I use a metal cutting blade on the bandsaw ( Ryobi Bs9000) and slow it down with a Variac? Has anybody tried this? I know the fps for metal cutting is much slower than for wood. Trying to do it myself. I could buy a proper commercial adapter from FordSix but where is the adventure in that? Thanks, Clueless in Kalifornia
You can put a metal cutting blade in your band saw just don't crowd it too much and keep plenty of coolant on it. When I am cutting aluminum plact with a saw be it band saw or saw zall or jig saw I give it a squirt of WD-40 every so often, it actually works better if you have someone to squirt it for you while you cut.
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Don't use too fine a blade on the bandsaw! Something around 12 tpi will work well, and lubed as Beaner mentioned to keep from building up metal on the teeth.
I converted mine from wood to metal cutting with a series of jack shafts. It works really good. You need to slow it down considerably. Tman above references the threads I used to do mine.
and use a very high quality blade from starrett or lennox cheap blades will not last long also watch your blade guides keep them tight for straight cuts and give more space for for curves
As flatford39 said, slowing the blade down is needed if you plan to cut a lot of metal with the band saw. I keep watching for a regular stand up band saw On Craigslist that I can buy and modify. I finally picked up a used horizontal metal cutting saw and got it tuned up to cut pretty straight.
I've had better luck cutting thick aluminum with a really coarse tooth blade. 6 or 8 tpi might work well. I have an old Sears King Seely saw that I slowed down using a bigger pulley and slower motor, I use it for cutting aluminum all the time.
Hi, I am toolmaker and we cut 6061 all the time. You can get away with running the blade a lot faster cutting 6061 than when cutting steel and use a pretty corse blade. One thing that helps (especially with a used blade) is the lubrication. We use a wax stick on the blade. Usually saws that were intended for wood or meat don't have roller guides so controlling the blade will be more difficult but this is also affected greatly when the blade becomes dull.
I think the rule of thumb is that 3 teeth should be in your work, however I've been using good bi-metal blades w/ 4 tpi in everything from .100 up to 2" Al lowering blocks. Blade temp usually stays below 120*F. I have a second band saw for ferrous cutting, but leave the Delta set w/ the 4 tpi
My Delta band saw is for both wood and metal. But, for 2 yrs the transmission was broke, and I cut LOTS of steel/aluminum with the trans stuck in the faster wood speed with no problems. Now that I fixed the trans the blades last a little longer but the cutting now takes a lot longer
I have a friend up here in northern Mi.,... He took his wood cutting band-saw, turned the motor 180, and mounted a lawn tractor transmission with pulleys, In between the motor and the band-saw drive pulley,... (no,... I'm not kidding). He now has a Band-saw that can cut just about any material,. with the change of the blade,.. and a shift of the gears,.... And it even has reverse !
I have an old sears vertical bandsaw and have also had luck with it on aluminium. I use a smaller tooth(14 tpi, sold at sears as a metal blade) on thinner stuff (1/4" or lower), and the bigger tooth(8 tpi?) blade on thick pieces. I keep the guides as close to the piece as possible to minimize flex. wd-40 the blade every cut, and the blade has lasted through a couple projects. I can't get too intricate with the curves since the blades are wide and bind, so I design accordingly. It cuts pretty fast though, like a really hard wood. I used it to make these throttle arms and linkage with 6061 plate (pic attached) I tried to cut steel once with the 14 tpi, and burned the $15 blade half an inch into the cut. I would definitely need to slow the blade down. As to the router for aluminum, I know this goes beyond the scope of this thread, but this guy cast some parts and used a router and jigging for all the machining: http://forums.vwvortex.com/showthread.php?4662626-The-complete-guide-on-casting-parts
a normal hook tooth wood cutting blade works well, and surprisingly a coarse blade 6 or 8 tpi will be fine on aluminium as they have less tendency to clog, lubrication, WD 40 , kerosine good but very very messy, or a simple wax candle held against the saw blade teeth is very effective and not very messy compared to liquid lube but cooling is reduced. Clean up is very important if you use the saw for other materials, as mentioned previously buy a fairly good blade to start with as they will last longer.
Sort of like this? I have set it up with two sets of pulleys so it has 10 speeds, from about 100fpm to 1400 fpm. It also has two speeds reverse and neutral. Neutral is cool when changing blades. Its not an old wood cutter. Home made. Bill
here my bandsaw, picked it up for free, i cut lots of 3/16" aluminum and the other day i cut 1-1/2" by 2 " aluminum, no lube. this is not my bandsaw but i have the exact same one.
I've got a stand up Craftsman , the blade & speed has alot to do with everything. Keep oiled like everyone has said.(don't cut yer fingers off either) "AND THE BOWTIE ROLLS ON"
1/4 x 14 tooth skip, been cutting 6061 T6, 2024 T3, 7075 T6, 3003, 5052, for years on a Delta bandsaw without a problem beeswax works great too as a lube, doesnt work for mild steel, too fast. And yes my Ex boss just about lost his thumb 2 weeks ago on the same saw after doing it for 40 yrs it does happen, we now call it a hand saw
Yup! keep it cool and lubed and cut outside of your scribed line,then grind to the line and then look at the nice job that you just pulled off!
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