[PROJECT] Clamp Knurling Tool

[wawoodman]

Table saw? That's how I cut mine.

[TomG]

Table saws and skill saws work great for cutting aluminum plate. The trick is to use a carbide blade and stick wax for lubrication. I've cut 2" thick plate on a table saw with great success.

Tom

[EdK]

You guys are a lot braver than I am. I've seen YouTube videos of guys cutting aluminum with their table saws but I'm too cowardly.

Ed

[Dr Stan]

(10-12-2016, 05:59 PM)EdK Wrote: You guys are a lot braver than I am. I've seen YouTube videos of guys cutting aluminum with their table saws but I'm too cowardly.  

Ed

When I built my aluminum twin axle flat bed trailer I used a metal cutting blade in my compound miter saw.  I clamped the square tubing and angle material in place so I could use both hands.  One for operating the saw and the other for a poly sprayer with water to cool the process.  The water is not a must, but if you don't want to deal with a torrent of hot aluminum chips it sure is handy.

Had the best performance from Bosch metal cutting blades.

BTW, wear a full face shield.

Also used the table saw for cutting the aluminum decking.

[wawoodman]

And, regardless of what the safety Nazis say, long sleeves and (maybe even) gloves. Those chips come at you like a swarm of killer bees.

[Dr Stan]

(10-12-2016, 07:29 PM)wawoodman Wrote: And, regardless of what the safety Nazis say, long sleeves and (maybe even) gloves. Those chips come at you like a swarm of killer bees.

Just call me a Safety Nazi.  The only time one of my students was injured was when he kept his welding gloves on and used a big honking pedestal grinder to knock off some slag.  Thumb was pulled in between the tool rest & the wheel.  Good bye thumb nail.

[TomG]

I've seen that happen as well  Stan.

Glove and machinery accidents seldom have a happy ending. You wouldn't believe how many people condemn me for not wearing gloves in my drill sharpening video on YouTube. I just send them to the Department of Labor website and tell them to do a keyword search for gloves. You'll get close to 500 hits, so be prepared to spend some time.

Fatality and Catastrophe Investigation Summaries

Tom

[Dr Stan]

(10-12-2016, 09:17 PM)TomG Wrote: I've seen that happen as well  Stan.

Glove and machinery accidents seldom have a happy ending. You wouldn't believe how many people condemn me for not wearing gloves in my drill sharpening video on YouTube. I just send them to the Department of Labor website and tell them to do a keyword search for gloves. You'll get close to 500 hits, so be prepared to spend some time.

Fatality and Catastrophe Investigation Summaries

Tom

Thanks for the backup Tom.  When I went to the US Navy's Machinery Repairman School (machinist) there was a 4X8 ft plywood sign painted white with big red letters hanging in the shop.

S

A

S

they were the first letters for Safety, Accuracy, Speed.  That was the priority.  Wearing gloves around any rotating, reciprocating, sliding, oscillating, etc machinery would get you reamed out and quite possibly kicked out of the school and sent to the fleet as a fireman recruit to be used in the nastiest, filthiest, physically demanding job available such as cleaning out the bilges in the engine and/or boiler rooms.  

In reality being a MR in the Navy was one of the best engineering/mechanical related positions you could get. BT (Boiler Tech), MM (Machinist Mate) (mechanic) Hull Tech and many others were back breaking filthy slots. Just ask anyone who has been a BT and cleaned out the fire side of a tube type boiler. Makes a coal miner look like a desk job.

[PixMan]

My dad was a Boiler Tech on a tin can (DD-657.) That afforded him work in boilers until he got through with toolmaker training.

[the penguin]

so that why I've been an industrial boiler service tech for the last 40+ years !!..................