During the school holidays last year, I spent time working at my family's manufacturing plant. They have a lot of industrial equipment, and I spent most of my time shadowing the maintenance manager. It was fascinating to see the amount of care and cleaning which goes into making sure all the machines run smoothly. I began this blog as a way to document the different types of maintenance I learned for two reasons. Firstly, because I aim to take over the family business one day, and also to share my knowledge with others who are interested in running their own manufacturing plant.
If you need to cut aluminium to a certain size and shape, there are a few unexpected tidbits of advice that you might find to be helpful. If you are someone who doesn't know much about aluminium cutting, then you will probably find all of the advice listed below to be pretty helpful.
Use a Wood-Cutting Saw
When looking for cutting equipment to use for cutting your aluminium, you might assume that you need to look for a saw or other piece of cutting equipment that is designed for cutting metal. However, when cutting aluminium in particular, you will probably want to choose a wood-cutting saw. You will probably want to use a different type of blade than what you use when cutting wood, but the wood-cutting saw itself might prove to be most effective for cutting aluminium. You should find that it will be powerful enough to cut through the metal without any issues, and you'll be able to use the wood-cutting saw for a variety of other purposes.
Make Use of Carbide-Tipped Blades
There are various types of blades that you can use for cutting non-ferrous metals like aluminium. One type of blade that you might want to try is a carbide-tipped blade that works with your wood-cutting saw. Good-quality carbide-tipped blades don't wear out quickly and aren't easily damaged when cutting materials like aluminium. They're also very effective at cutting through metal. You should be able to get nice, clean cuts on your aluminium by using carbide-tipped blades, and you should be able to count on your blades to last for a long time, too.
Avoid Using Metal Snips
You might assume that using metal snips is one of the best ways to cut aluminium. However, when you use metal snips for cutting through thin aluminium sheets, you have to worry about the aluminium becoming warped or damaged. Therefore, you should keep your metal snips for other jobs.
Hire Someone to Cut the Aluminium for You
You might have always tried to cut your materials yourself and do things on your own rather than hiring someone to do things for you. If you have a shop full of tools, then you might not really see any need to hire someone to cut your aluminium for you. However, since aluminium can sometimes be easily damaged during the cutting process, and because not all cutting tools are effective for cutting through aluminium, you may find it's ideal to hire an aluminium cutting service to help you get these projects done.