Fabricating 80/20

[blumpie]

What is the best way to fabricate these parts? i.e. cutting, etc.

I have used aluminum in the past with a chop saw blade for my miter saw. It does a better job on steel. I think it heats the aluminum too much because I get allot of burs that require grinding and filing. I'm looking to make a clean cut.

I heard you can cut them with standard table saw/ miter saw blades. Just looking for the collective thought on this.

[Baketech]

Yeah, an abrasive "chop-saw" blade is no good for this...you need a carbide tipped blade...preferably one designed specifically for cutting aluminum extrusions, as the pitch, set and rake are optimized for the job. (here come the leghumpers... )

A standard miter saw will work reasonably well for low volume work, but if you need more capacity a purpose built cut-off saw will serve you better.

A decent middle of the road solution is the DeWalt DW872... :twocents:

Ymmv...

[blumpie]

Perhaps ill look for a new blade.

I have never worked with 80/20 before, but for cutting small parts like angle, u/t channel, the regular carbide blade felt like it was going to bind unless I went real slow.

[Baketech]

A cutting wax stick can help too, but it won't completely make up for the wrong blade...

[L2A3]

I am finishing an enclosure made with QuickFrame components (by 80/20). The framing cut easily and clean using a horizontal band saw. To trim & remove channel flanges from the 1"x1: tubes, I ran them in a vertical band saw set with a run-of-the-mill wood blade. Both worked excellent. Hope to post pictures soon.

[Kingfish]

Miter Saw and a good carbide blade (the more teeth the better) and
add a shot of WD-40 to the blade after every few cuts.

[Stepper Monkey]

An 80-tooth carbide-tipped blade with zero tooth offset, or "pitch", works like magic. Normal carbide blades for wood and the like have a staggered offset to the teeth which will cause problems cutting Aluminum. Proper commercial-duty aluminum cutting blades cost a couple of hundred bucks, but Home Despot has a Diablo blade for about $55 bucks that works just as well and will still last far longer than we will ever need it to. I have a 10" chop saw outfitted with one just for my 80/20 cutting.

[David]

Originally Posted by blumpie What is the best way to fabricate these parts? i.e. cutting, etc. I have used aluminum in the past with a chop saw blade for my miter saw. It does a better job on steel. I think it heats the aluminum too much because I get allot of burs that require grinding and filing. I'm looking to make a clean cut. I heard you can cut them with standard table saw/ miter saw blades. Just looking for the collective thought on this.

We saw tons of this stuff. Use a regular, high quality miter saw, but please use a non-ferrous metal cutting carbide tipped blade. You want a 60 tooth for this application. 80 tooth will clog, and fewer than 60 will grab.

There is a different grade of carbide, and a different grind on non-ferrous metal cutting blades vs wood blades.