Cutting Extrusion

[mikegrundvig]

What are you all doing to get precise cuts on the extrusion? I've got a metal-cutting chop saw and it does OK but no where near as precise as I'd like. Also, the cuts from the supplier are not guaranteed to be super accurate so that seems a problem. Are you guys just ordering from Mitsumi and hoping it's consistent enough?

-Mike

[twehr]

What are you all doing to get precise cuts on the extrusion? I've got a metal-cutting chop saw and it does OK but no where near as precise as I'd like. Also, the cuts from the supplier are not guaranteed to be super accurate so that seems a problem. Are you guys just ordering from Mitsumi and hoping it's consistent enough?

-Mike

Generally, Misumi has been great. Most of us ordered from them and used as shipped.

[bdring]

Misumi is very good and the T-slots are quite adjustable.

[iGull]

Mike

While I got all my extrusion cut to size from KJN in the UK, I do regularly cut extrusions up to 45x90mm. I've always used a standard Delta brand 254mm (10") sliding chopsaw with an aluminium cutting blade - the type they use for aluminium window and door frames. It is set up accurately for timber and I just swap out the blades (if I can be bothered, it works with an ordinary 80T woodworking blade !) - it makes for a very clean cut - especially if you spray paraffin (or water even) from a spray bottle. I make sure that the extrusion is always mechanically clamped at both sides of the cut and take it at a slow even speed for a nice quality cut. You CAN hold it by hand, but if it bites, you end up with a bad cut (and perhaps four fingers )

A colleague has a 'metal cutting' chopsaw, but it has an abrasive disc in it and just makes a mess of aluminium - not too bad for steel. He also has a steel bandsaw/hacksaw, but it is nowhere near as good as my chopsaw.

Cheers

Neil

[mikegrundvig]

Scary! They charge a lot extra to even get down into the 1mm accuracy range and even then it's a big range.

-Mike

[bdring]

I think you pay extra for the Misumi 1mm guarantee, but in general, me experience has shown, they are in that range anyway. 1000's pieces of the stuff has been ordered by the buildlog.net crown and I have yet to hear a complaint.

I have use an extensive cold saw and a dry cut chop saw for cutting extrusion. They both work quite well. I prefer the dry cut for it's speed and no lub clean up. The Evolution Rage II seems to get the best reviews.

[mikegrundvig]

Thanks - that's quite close to my Rigid saw but I've been using an abrasive blade and I'll have to give it a shot with a good aluminum cutting blade.

-Mike

[bdring]

The dry cut saw is geared down so it spins about half the speed of your standard chop saw. It also has an interesting tooth profile that appears to prevent feeding too fast. The back of one tooth prevents it from going too deep on the next tooth.

[mikegrundvig]

Ah, interesting. I've used my abrasive blade even for aluminum and it's worked fine though makes a mess with burs. This is my abrasive saw:
http://www.ridgid.com/Tools/R4141/EN/index.htm

I've used it on a LOT of steel and a fair bit of aluminum but with an abrasive disk, it doesn't cut really precise. The disk "walks" a bit when cutting. It's no big deal when welding but it's not precise like I want for this. I think I'll try a nice aluminum cutting blade and see how that works. Thanks!

-Mike

[bdring]

My abrasive cutoff saw just makes aluminum mud. Some of it gets stuck in the blade too. It is an unusable cut.