Cutting aluminum bars with saw designed for wood

What bad things will happen if I use this Stanley hand miter saw:

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to cut aluminum angle stock of the kind sold at Home Depot? Will it ruin the blade immediately, work fairly well, or what?

Is it possible to get a similar miter box for cutting metal?

Reply to
mc
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You don't need a new box, you need a hacksaw blade for the box.

Reply to
Eigenvector

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Thought of that. The blade size for this box does not match standard hacksaw blades. Is a bigger (longer and wider) hacksaw blade made?

Reply to
mc

Many wood working tools work really well on aluminum. Though any razor edge (which is doubtful on a saw anyway) will be lost which may or may not make any difference to you.

Reply to
Polymer Man

You won't hurt the blade. Some wax applied to the blade may improve the surface finish.

Not that I'm aware of. See the recent thread on rec.crafts.metalworking "Blades for cutting aluminum?" for a discussion of using a chop saw and carbide blade for cutting aluminum.

Reply to
Ned Simmons

Thanks!

Thanks again. I've been using a carbide blade on my table saw for aluminum for a long time. The Stanley miter saw is for an electronics lab where students will use it -- I wanted a hand-powered saw. I'll mark it prominently "For wood, plastic, and aluminum only -- not hard metal" and prepare to get some spare blades.

Reply to
mc

If the blade has hardened points - many Stanley's do say that - It might work ok for some time.

They make it like that for imported 'rose' wood - that is full of silicon that eats normal blades alive.

Martin

Mart>>> What bad things will happen if I use this Stanley hand miter saw: >>>

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>>

Reply to
Martin H. Eastburn

It does. Thanks.

Reply to
mc

snip

And just what kind of penalty do you think it will take to get students to READ any kind of notice??? Permanant (full 4 years) banishment from the labs didn't slow down the students in our labs!!!

Reply to
RoyJ

Answering my own question, apparently the Stanley miter box saw will take Jorgensen 550-mm blades, which are slightly shorter (about 1 cm). If necessary I will modify the saw just a bit. Jorgensen has a full line of blades from 14 tpi (soft wood) to 32 tpi (steel).

Found them at

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Reply to
mc

These are graduate students. They pay attention.

Reply to
mc

| These are graduate students. They pay attention.

Eh?

-- Morris Dovey DeSoto Solar DeSoto, Iowa USA

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Reply to
Morris Dovey

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Nothing bad at all will happen. Just don't try to use that blade to cut steel. Aluminum can be cut all day long with a wood blade. Just take your time. I do it quite often on my wood band saw.

Jim Chandler

Reply to
Jim Chandler

Look for a handsaw with about 12pts and file it straight across like a ripsaw as there are no fibers to sever. Wax it up so the gullets don't load. If you can find a cheap handsaw with black teeth (meaning they were hardened and can't be filed) that is fine enough try that.

Or use the miterbox to scripe the layout line and finish with a hacksaw and a file.

Reply to
beecrofter

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