It is critical to remove surface contaminates prior to welding, including grease, oil, dirt, or paint, and only use high quality, contaminate-free abrasives for surface preparation and inter-pass grinding.
Oxide inclusions occur when the aluminum oxide layer is not removed properly. Prior to welding, it is necessary to remove the thin, transparent film of aluminum oxide from the surface to ensure the overall weld strength and fatigue resistance.
A stainless steel brush dedicated for the job works well. Finish is a challenge when working aluminum because the material can be easily damaged with overly aggressive practices. Each of these, however, also have disadvantages in terms of cost, quality, productivity and safety: Jig saws, reciprocating saws, shears. The downside is that they create a lot of noise and vibration, and form large burrs.
The downside is that they can be flammable and contaminate the work surface, requiring careful clean-up prior to welding. Wax and grease. The downside is that they can be dangerous, especially when applied while discs are running. They also require careful clean up prior to welding. Excessive pressure. A common reaction when a wheel is not performing as desired is to push harder. But pushing harder exasperates the problem by creating even more heat and friction, melting the aluminum even more rapidly as the wheel loads faster and faster.
The downside is that this generates additional heat, can damage the work piece and can even cause the wheel to fail. Rick Hopkins. Make sure that it's tightened firmly in place. Align the chisel with your vice's screw and hammer the aluminum. Hold the chisel tip against the metal—perpendicular to it—with your non-dominant hand. Use a ball-peen hammer to strike the chisel's handle and always cut perpendicular to the jaws of the vice.
Continue striking the metal until there is a notch in it. At this point, you should easily be able to snap it into 2 pieces with your hands. You should be able to cut your aluminum metal piece within 30 seconds. Anything longer and you're probably using the wrong sized chisel, or you need to use a saw. This makes it easier for your chisel to get into your aluminum's hardened grains of metal.
Never use a claw hammer—the heads are not designed for hitting hard metal and are prone to chipping. If you're cutting a line in a sheet of aluminum, you can skip the vice and cut your way down the sheet on a flat surface. Use wood as a backing piece to help push the chisel through the metal and prevent the chisel's tip from wearing.
Method 3. Cut circles in aluminum using curve-cutting snips. Draw a circle in permanent marker on the aluminum piece. Afterwards, create a starter hole within the circle by hammering the back of a straight-blade screwdriver into the metal. Then, place your tin snips into the opening. If you're cutting counterclockwise, use red-handed offset compound snips; if you're cutting clockwise, use green-handled snips.
Use both green and red snips for tough cuts. When 1 pair stops working, swap snips. Air conditioning and heating work will most likely require you to alternate between the two because they require a combination of straight and curved cuts. Purchase large tin snips to make straight cuts in aluminum sheets.
Always open your snips as wide as possible before making a straight cut. Straight cuts are best accomplished using smooth, long strokes. As you cut, pull the cut strip upwards, and then to the side—this prevents it from sticking to the handle of your snips or blocking your handle during the cutting motion.
Compound snips are designed for situations that require maneuvering as opposed to straight cuts. If you have no other option, be sure to fully open and close the snips for each stroke that you make—this will ensure maximum cut length.
Use straight-cutting compound snips opened wide for thick metal. Be sure that the thick aluminum is straight and deep within the wide-open jaws before you make the cut.
Although they aren't ideal for cutting curves, these snips are perfect for thick metals as they provide a great deal of leverage compared to other snips. They can typically handle a maximum of gauge mild steel, which is equivalent to 0. How do I need to change my cutting methods compared to steel? Is aluminum more toxic, and does it work with a Dremel?
Aluminum is pretty soft, and no more toxic than steel. It cuts like wood but is a metal. It melts lower than steel. Don't use torches or plasma cutters with aluminum. Not Helpful 12 Helpful 7. Use the thermal lancing technique, it is an oxygen cutting process that is used to cut aluminum and any ferrous as well as non ferrous materials known to man.
The oxygen used to cut the material is supplied to the cutting point through a consumable tube called a lance tube. Not Helpful 13 Helpful 5.
You can, but it is messy. I use a Sawzall with a metal cutting blade. Too fine a tooth will plug and melt instead of cut and too coarse will grab and chatter, so use a medium tooth and vary the speed to fit the thickness of the aluminum.
The aluminum will clog the abrasive blade, so once you use it for aluminum, do not use it for metal. Not Helpful 1 Helpful 4.
This makes it a common choice for custom sheet metal shops. Plasma : A CNC controlled plasma bed is basically the cheapest form of industrial cutting available. Cutting speeds for aluminum are going to be different than those of steel.
The faster you cut aluminum the cleaner the edge will be. Probably the preferred method for cutting intricate or thick aluminum the water jet focus a very thin stream of water mixed with abrasives at extraordinary pressures and very high speed into the sheet metal. This jet of water eats away at the metal and leaving a clean smooth edge.
Water jets are surprisingly capable of cutting very thick sheet metal, up to a few inches thick with very high accuracy. Their main advantages are the finished edges, variety of materials and accuracy. Punch presses use shaped tools to knock out geometry in sheet metal. Larger presses can be loaded with dozens of different types of tools for special cutting and forming.
They are not typically as quick as lasers but they offer the ability to stamp, roll and form the metal while cutting. This allows for the formation of louvers, jogs,beads, and impressions which lasers cannot form. They are also typically cheaper on the front end when compared to lasers however there are maintenance costs associated with the tooling. Modern lasers will be effective on cutting light to medium gauges of aluminum. Because aluminum is able to more readily absorb heat compared to steel an industrial laser will require a large amount of power to melt the aluminum to allow the gas to blow through.
The challenge is as always the heat dissipation. See our post on laser cutting for more information. Skip to content Aluminum sheet metal can be cut with a variety of methods ranging from manual tools to highly advanced industrial systems.
Snips Tin snips, also known as aviation snips are basically highly leveraged and rugged scissors which can be used for cutting through aluminum. Featured Categories. Los Angeles. Sitemap Contact Us. Email Sign Up. Our website uses cookies. For more information on our cookie use, see our Privacy Policy. By continuing to use this website you agree to our use of these cookies.
0コメント