Cutting 1/4" aluminum plate

[2savage]

I need to beef up my swim platform for the dinghy davit mounts and have a 12" BY 24" plate of aluminum I want to turn into two 6" by 24" pieces. I want a nice clean edge. I have a sawzall and a jigsaw. What is the best way to use either for a decent cut?

 

[BB marine]

You could use the Jig saw with a blade designed to cut Aluminum. Set up a guide to help keep your cut straight. I use a hand circular saw with an Aluminum blade. Cut slow and use a guide. This will give you close to a machined looking cut.

 

[knotflying]

You can then clean the edges with a fine file.

 

[CruisingElvinRay]

Get a cheap angle grinder and cutoff wheel.


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[BB marine]

Get a cheap angle grinder and cutoff wheel.


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Be careful with the angle grinder. I have a metabo and have used it to make cuts when working with aluminum. Small cuts. Aluminum melts at a much lower temperature and will load up the cutoff wheel. It works fine to make a 1 or two inch cut but to cut 24" 1/4 inch aluminum plate could be a PIA and if you are not careful dangerous. It makes a messy cut, the wheel gets hot and starts to melt the Aluminum on long cuts. It will work but.....

 

[CaptainNorm]

use a fine tooth carbide tip blade in a table saw and feed slowly

 

[Chimo]

I was a machinist at one point in my life. If it were me today I would take it down to my local machine shop and ask them to run a saw through it or, better still, a sheet metal shop and ask them to pop it in their guillotine. The result will be accurate and finished. It's a backing plate not a sculpture. 😉 Shouldn't cost much for a stress free solution.

 

[skultuggery]

I definitely would use the jigsaw with a fine tooth metal blade. You only need to do one cut 24" long through 1/4 inch aluminum. It will be a breeze. Aluminum really does a job on jigsaw blades so you'll likely need two if not three blades, but they come in five packs at Home Depot and Lowes. Go 8 inches, then change blade. Don't wait for the blade to deform before replacing it with a freshie. In a perfect world you'd clamp it down in such a fashion that both sides of the metal piece are firmly clamped and you could just run the blade right down the center line with the metal raised off the table two or three inches. A couple two by fours underneath would likely accomplish this, depending on blade length. This opposed to allowing the piece to hang 7" off table edge as you cut. The vibration can get pretty crazy if it's not firmly clamped. Afterwards like that other bloke above said, just take a straight file to the edge followed by sand paper. I work metal like this all the time.

 

[marksandyham]

I agree with Chimo. Shear or band saw. Clean easy accurate.

 

[nzfisher]

If you have a good reference edge ,straight and true, on the long edge, a good carbide blade on a table saw will give a good cut. If you want to minimize blow back towards you of AL chips, you could make the cut in two passes, more than half the way through on the first pass. Apply wax to the blade prior to each cut, acts as a lubricant. Make sure to hold the workpiece firmly. Al offers more resistance than most woods so firm grip is important. I have used this technique to cut 1/2”Al sheets with good results. Commonly, the industry uses radial arm saws to cut Al sheet stock with specially designed blades.

 

[KKRCRACE]

To answer the original question a jigsaw will work fine. Proper blade, wider the blade the better the cut and use lots of lubricant. If you have a belt sander you can touch up the cut edges with it. File the corners first because the sharp corner can easily catch and rip the belt. If not clamp it in a vise and hand file. Hope this helps.
KKRCRACE