Best tool for cutting Aluminum

[doddmoore]

I am looking at doing the drop trunk as well as a mod on the aluminum behind the seats. What would be the best tool to get for that? Knowing that the cut on the aluminum behind the seats will need to be pretty clean and straight.

[BadAsp427]

I have used a Jig/Sabre saw for all of my cuts. I set up a table with two stacked 2x4s next to each other with just about 3/8"-1/2" between them... Then just be sure to tape the line on both sides of your cut and use a good metal blade. If you don't use tape, you will most likely scratch the metal under the saw as you slide over your clippings from the cut. Take your time, follow your line and then use a bit of sandpaper to clean up and radius the edge of the metal and you should be good.... For smaller cuts, I used tin snips... I also used a wood bit to cut all of my circle cuts. And for in the corners of the square cuts. If you drill a 1/8" pilot hole and then place your metal over a piece of 2x wood, drill just as you would into the wood and you will end up with a very clean cut. This is what I did for all of my cuts... Hope this helps.

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[Scott Zackowski]

I have used a Jig/Sabre saw for all of my cuts. I set up a table with two stacked 2x4s next to each other with just about 3/8"-1/2" between them... Then just be sure to tape the line on both sides of your cut and use a good metal blade. If you don't use tape, you will most likely scratch the metal under the saw as you slide over your clippings from the cut. Take your time, follow your line and then use a bit of sandpaper to clean up and radius the edge of the metal and you should be good.... For smaller cuts, I used tin snips... I also used a wood bit to cut all of my circle cuts. And for in the corners of the square cuts. If you drill a 1/8" pilot hole and then place your metal over a piece of 2x wood, drill just as you would into the wood and you will end up with a very clean cut. This is what I did for all of my cuts... Hope this helps.

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Dittos

Jig saw gives very smooth cuts.

Thin Metal Blade.

Painters tape very important.

I did my cuts on a foldable clamp type work table. Just spread the clamping/adjustable halves just enough and make the cuts in the gap. Important to clamp the AL piece being cut to the the table.

I cut most of my holes with STEP BITs and hole saws for the bigger holes.


Scott

[Papa]

I used a Dremel compact circular saw like this to cut the opening for my under trunk battery box install.

https://www.tools-plus.com/dremel-sm20-dr-rt.html

https://thefactoryfiveforum.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=84528&d=1524420009

[Big Blocker]

If your panels are out of the car and easily accessible, the cheap [electric] sheet metal cutter from Harbor Freight worked perfect for me for all my mods - trunk, extended foot box (PS), relocation of battery, rear bulkhead, etc. Just set it up to use a cut guide or straight edge tool.

If your panels are installed already, the finest tooth count metal cutting blade in a good jig saw works well, using "painters tape" as your straight guide line.

For holes, I have a complete set of electricians hole punches - 1/2" to 2-1/2". A good set of step drills work for most "adjustments".

Doc

[Fixit]

Ditto on all of the above for reasonably inexpensive methods using common tools most people should have.

Adds:
- A set of "Aviation" tin snips (https://www.homedepot.com/p/Milwaukee-Aviation-Snip-Set-3-Piece-48-22-4533/302716414?cm_mmc=Shopping%7CG%7CBase%7CD29A%7CMult i%7CNA%7CPLA%7CMajor-Appliances%7CSpecial-Buys%7c71700000032418849%7c58700003842365800%7c927 00030987191770&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIwPDn6pTM3gIVWYGzCh1WxgjXEAQYAyAB EgIWPvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds) - Straight, Left, and Right cut. (yes, there's a Left and Right... the way the blades are assembled dictates which side the waste peels off.)
- A good sized Mill, B*stard cut, and Round/Rat-Tail file (10 or 12 inch) - by using the "draw filing" technique (https://www.google.com/search?ei=mwjoW4qHJsPEjgTo55zQCw&q=draw+filing&oq=draw+filing&gs_l=psy-ab.3..0l7.71559.73710..73839...0.0..0.69.662.11... ...0....1..gws-wiz.......0i71j0i67j0i131j0i131i67.xdnBCHdPKZw) you can clean up and straighten any irregularities in your saw or snip cuts.

For a few dollars more:
- Air Nibbler (https://www.eastwood.com/eastwood-air-nibbler.html?SRCCODE=PLA00020&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIrdXozpbM3gIV14uzCh2-WABTEAQYAiABEgJfFPD_BwE) These work great, but there's a downside - they eject these little 1/2-moon cuttings at the rate of 487,564 per second that get EVERYWHERE.
- Like Big Blocker, I have a set of punches which make perfect holes quickly, but these are expensive and you're locked to the sizes of electrical fittings (which happen to never seem to be the size hole you need).

[jrcuz]

Any tips for cutting 1/4"-1/2" aluminum?
JR

[CraigS]

For already installed panels this works great
https://www.sears.com/dewalt-20-v-max-xr-lithium-ion-oscillating/p-00936071000P?sid=IDx01192011x000001x1577015425&utm_campaign=9008695&utm_group=65245217891-296280942935&utm_term=pla-525736048510&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI05XKga3M3gIVyISzCh34Kw5iEAQYAyAB EgJ2BfD_BwE
I got one maybe 10 yrs ago for cutting wood trim and it is one of the greatest, most universal, tools I own

[Fixit]

Any tips for cutting 1/4"-1/2" aluminum?

Depending on the size of the material/pieces, you might get away with a "Porta-Band" (https://www.homedepot.com/p/Milwaukee-11-Amp-Deep-Cut-AC-DC-Band-Saw-6238-20/203261038?cm_mmc=Shopping%7CG%7CBase%7CD29A%7CMult i%7CNA%7CPLA%7CMajor-Appliances%7CSpecial-Buys%7c71700000032418849%7c58700003842365800%7c927 00030987191770&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIzefKq67M3gIVxkCGCh1MVA1EEAQYBCAB EgIJKPD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds) - they're limited as there's not much throat - but most tool rental outfits have them.
The other option would be a metal cutting bandsaw (https://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/NTESearch?storeId=6970&ipp=48&Ntt=bandsaw) - These aren't usually rentable.

[CraigS]

Any tips for cutting 1/4"-1/2" aluminum?
JR

Unless you want to buy a bandsaw, a hand held jig saw will work even if it's a little slow. That is the nice thing about us being old retired dudes, we have the time.

[jdavis500]

Harbor Freight sheet metal sheers do an awesome job and leave the remaining edge unaffected, but not good for the trunk drop-in. I use an angle grinder for thick stuff. Takes a steady hand and patients, but works fine.

[Bob Cowan]

Sawz-All with a fine tooth blade and some cutting oil. It's like butter.

[GFX2043mtu]

Thin aluminum either a jig saw, air nibbles, or shears. If it’s a open cut then a break. For thicker aluminum 1/4” use a band saw or a circular saw with a plywood blade that is new. It will do a perfect cut and will cut as easy as wood. Just make sure to have a wood backer and set the blade depth to just beyond the aluminum thickness as this prevents blade pinching at the end of the cut

[Scott Zackowski]

Thin aluminum either a jig saw, air nibbles, or shears. If it’s a open cut then a break. For thicker aluminum 1/4” use a band saw or a circular saw with a plywood blade that is new. It will do a perfect cut and will cut as easy as wood. Just make sure to have a wood backer and set the blade depth to just beyond the aluminum thickness as this prevents blade pinching at the end of the cut

Most interesting!

I wouldn't have thought one could use a plywood blade to cut Al.

Scott

[John Dol]

http://https://www.harborfreight.com/30-inch-shear-press-brake-and-slip-roll-5907.html

Used this a lot for longer straight cuts (and bends). Very straight and a quick cut.

For smaller and radius cuts I used an air shear.
http://https://www.harborfreight.com/inline-air-shears-98833.html

And also used the multi tool
https://www.harborfreight.com/variable-speed-oscillating-multi-tool-63111.html

Hope that helps

John

[NAZ]

I work with a lot of aluminum and have tried a variety of cutting tools. The key to cutting aluminum, especially the softer materials is to have a slow moving blade. Too fast and the blade gets gummed up with aluminum. For most aluminum sheet under 1/8" I use a high quality jig saw with as course a blade as reasonable for the gauge and set the blade feed to a higher setting. If I have a radius to cut I use a guide form made of plywood and a small router & 1/8" bit with adjustable speed set to the lowest RPM. For long straight cuts I use my sheet metal sheer (I know most people don't have these but I do a lot of aluminum fabrication so a sheer and brake are a must have). For thicker aluminum I use a Milwaukee 8" circular saw made for cutting metal and an aluminum blade: https://www.milwaukeetool.com/Products/Power-Tools/Woodworking/Circular-Saws/6370-20 A circular saw made for wood is way too fast even with the special metal cutting blades. Yes, you can use coolant to help prevent the blade from gumming up but it makes a mess and still does not work as good as the slower saws made for cutting aluminum without the mess of coolant.

[GFX2043mtu]

I have to disagree. We cut thousands of bent aluminum sheets at work with circular saws affixed to a table. We use either carbide tipped blades or plywood style ones depending on the material. We would cut them all in one of the CNC router machines but this is much faster and cheaper with good accuracy for a non mill cut. Also the problem with aluminum sticking is due to either to fast of a feed rate or improper tool geometry. The correct saw blade makes machine type quality cuts and does it quickly. This being said we only cut up to 1/4” this way as the thicker material goes to the cnc as we also machine holes and so forth on them. I’ve use circular saws and chop saws at home for this and it works great. I agree for thinnger flat stuff a brake is the best way to go.

[BigUgly]

A circular saw with a carbide blade

[GFX2043mtu]

Yep. In a 12” blade miter box we run metal blades with 100 tooth counts. 10” blades we use similar tooth sizes.

[Ducky2009]

If your panels are already installed, a 4-1/2" angle grinder works great with a 1/16" cutoff wheel. Need to start straight as it doesn't turn well. Also coat the wheel with grease (or a bar of soap) to keep the wheel from loading up with aluminum. Costs about $40 at Harbor Freight.

[Al_C]

I'm in the Dremel camp. The cutoff wheel works great on aluminum, and if you take it slowly, it's not that hard to keep the cut straight.

[Avalanche325]

When I did mine in the car, I mainly used a HF pneumatic body saw. Basically a pneumatic jig saw, but nice and small. There were a few spots where I had to use a cutting wheel.

I made a slotted table with sawhorses and plywood and used a jigsaw when I did my build.

A tool that a friend of mine has that makes cutting panels a breeze. I didn't even know they existed. Basically a jig saw table. I wish a had one of these for my build.
https://www.amazon.com/WORX-WX572L-BladeRunner-Portable-Tabletop/dp/B071P6GZN5/ref=sr_1_10?ie=UTF8&qid=1542399292&sr=8-10&keywords=jig+saw+table

[JohnK]

I just picked up a relatively inexpensive bandsaw from Amazon. It's the 10" Wen dual speed bandsaw (https://www.amazon.com/WEN-3962-Two-Speed-Stand-Worklight/dp/B016VD8GAA/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1542399802&sr=8-1&keywords=wen+bandsaw):

I put a 1/2" wide 24tpi blade on it and used it to cut the knuckles on the IRS. It went through those easily. I haven't had a chance to cut much sheet aluminum with it yet, but I'm sure it would well for that as well. In the attached photo you can see where I first tried a test cut with a Sawzall and a metal-cutting blade. It made it ~1/4 of the way through before wrecking the blade, plus it jumped all over and made a bunch of scratches before finally digging in. The second test cut was the bandsaw. You can see how clean and straight the end result with the bandsaw was.

97557

[BEAR-AvHistory]

I used a pneumatic nibbler for a lot of my cuts on parts that needed to be shaped around something.

[Gumball]

Lots of good ideas for inside cuts above, but in general, I prefer using this for doing straight cuts.....

http://i845.photobucket.com/albums/ab15/CCRsAC/s-l1600_zpsypqdawnp.jpg (http://s845.photobucket.com/user/CCRsAC/media/s-l1600_zpsypqdawnp.jpg.html)

[dpariso]

Gents,
Where can I pick up small sheets ("24x24") of aluminium panels?

[DadofThree]

McMaster-Carr (https://www.mcmaster.com/standard-aluminum-sheets)

Aircraft Spruce (https://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalog/mepages/alumsheet_short.php)

The material type depends on what you're doing with it. 5052-H32 Aluminum sheets for tight bends. I still included a scrap piece of aluminum in the interior of the bend to get a softer radius so that the sheet wouldn't crack. I used a 30" HF brake

[Avalanche325]

Gents,
Where can I pick up small sheets ("24x24") of aluminium panels?


Your best bet price-wise is to find a metals supplier in your area that doesn't have minimum orders.
Home Depot actually has some thin aluminum.
The problem with On-line metals and McMaster, is the shipping gets ridiculous very quickly. I ordered a 48 x 48 sheet from McMaster and they charged me $70 for shipping. The one thing I don't like about them is that they don't show you what the shipping charges will be. I forgot to order the lube.

[Jeff's First FFR]

Metals supermarket

[GWL]

Any tips for cutting 1/4"-1/2" aluminum?
JR

Band saw or jig saw for thicker like the 1/4 to 1/2" aluminum.

Thinner material like sheet metal use a band saw, jig saw, aviation snips (right and left with 45º angle cut makes it easier to allow metal to go over and under the snips) or an air hacksaw. With the right blade you can cut stainless steel sheet with the air hack saw.

George

[GWL]

Gents,
Where can I pick up small sheets ("24x24") of aluminium panels?

Home Depot, Lowes or Ace has various types and shapes of metal.

George

[edwardb]

Agree shipping can get expensive for sheets. If you have a metals store near you, that's a good option. I have a Alro Metals Outlet about 15 miles away, and they have quite a collection of odds and ends otherwise they have to cut from a full sheet which isn't as economical. Don't know about HD and Lowes. I've seen some sheet metals there, but don't know if it's 6061 or 5052 which is a decent alternative especially since it will bend a little easier without cracking. I use Aircraft Spruce most of the time. Their prices are decent, and the shipping isn't too bad if you don't get huge pieces. For example, two 24 x 24 is much more expensive to ship than one 48 x 24. So check the pieces you need to yield from the sheet and use smaller pieces if possible.

[jiriza84641]

I used a Dremel compact circular saw like this to cut the opening for my under trunk battery box install.

https://www.tools-plus.com/dremel-sm20-dr-rt.html

https://thefactoryfiveforum.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=84528&d=1524420009


What battery mount is that?

[Mark Eaton]

Gents,
Where can I pick up small sheets ("24x24") of aluminium panels?

I go to my local metal supply distributor they are about 1/4 of the cost of Home Depot.

[Nigel Allen]

I used a pneumatic nibbler for all of the thin sheet. As mentioned earlier they make a huge pile of very sharp little crescents. For cutting straight lines they are perfect if you use them with a good straight edge.
For cutting thicker materials I use the jigsaw. However I often found that metal chips got run over by the shoe of the jigsaw resulting in scratches in the material, even with tape applied. I solved this problem by fitting a quarter inch flexible air hose to the jigsaw from my compressed air supply. With the flow rate adjusted nicely it blows the chips out of the path of the jigsaw keeping the work area nice and clean. No more scratches in the aluminium and no more lightheadedness from continually trying to blow the chips out of the way using lung power.

Cheers, Nigel in South Oz

[KenWilkinson]

Cool Tools (nice site to check once in awhile) recommended a very nice little hand operated nibbler. Lookee Here: https://kk.org/cooltools/nickel-plated-nibbling-tool/. Nice video too. could be used for small things, but NOT big jobs.
Ie, like a odd shaped hole for a switch or whatever.

[shark92651]

For cutting out circles in the dash and the trans cover I used Milwaukee bi-metal hole saws for the large holes and some step drill bits for the smaller ones. I highly recommend buying a set of metric and SAE step bits. I used them a LOT. I also used a handheld swivel deburring tool to clean up the cuts in the holes.

I also installed a drop trunk kit and I cut and welded in reinforcements to the frame to have a completely open box. The cutting tools I used on my build were an angle grinder, a Dremel, and a jig saw. I bought cutting discs and a flap disc for the angle grinder. The flap disc was great for smoothing edges on aluminum or steel. None of these tools are that expensive and I bought most of them on Amazon.

https://live.staticflickr.com/1868/44142867491_d0d29707df_c.jpg

https://live.staticflickr.com/1922/43934389815_c2fec120e2_c.jpg

https://live.staticflickr.com/1809/41057002520_0b868cd650_c.jpg

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48059179068_852d10648e_c.jpg