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Cutting thin wall aluminum tubing
Fabing up aileron control tubes on next day off. Wanted to insure I get good clean and square cuts. Has anyone used a TCG non-ferrous blade on a mitre/chop saw for this? Or, should I go buy something special?
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Bandsaw or hacksaw works. Fine toothed is preferred.
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Yep. Looking to make a dead straight cut with minimum hassle. My band saw sucks and a hack-saw would wander without a tube jig. But, my chop saw is sitting there in my garage, ready to go. Just don't want to f- up and have to buy another length of tube stock.
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A tubing cutter works well. You have to be careful to not take too big a bite each time. Many turns around is better then a few. Take a large half round file and clean out the slight burr and you are ready to go with a perfect perpendicular cut.
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Exactly what Tom Martin suggested. Take it slow with progressively tightening the cutting wheel till it pops then dress with a file. Takes a little ( very little) longer time than a hacksaw but you you end up with a nice clean square cut.:)
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A Diablo or tenryu non ferrous blade will work beautifully, use a 100 tooth or possibly more if its a 12" blade, hold tube so it dont spin, no problem. It will also cut thick stock, hold material firmly and let blade stop before bringing up until you get experienced, most the problems are from bringing the blade up and small pieces, some line like we 40 will make the blade last a lot longer, I work with aluminum extrusion everyday and the best saw we could is the real sliding 12" mitre saw, very versatile and precise. Beware of the saws that have the blade farther away from the fence to cut taller material, these like to grab the metal and pull it up.
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+4
Only downside to a tubing cutter is the 'shrunk' ID, which can be removed.
Never tried cutting thin tubing with a table saw, but a regular wood cutting carbide blade works fine on extrusions. Just wear gloves & eye (face) protection. |
Beautiful cuts
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I'm a tool hound and I appreciate the accuracy of the chop saw. Like others said, wear really good safety googles as these blades create a lot of flying aluminum chips. |
Tubing cutter and deburring tool. Or if you really want perfect, chuck it into a lathe....
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I did it and it worked great!
I used a 80 tooth ultra fine carbide blade on my 10 inch miter saw and it makes a very very straight and precise cuts. My cuts only needed to be cleaned up with some fine sand paper to complete the process. I have to confess, it was a little scary, but it worked great.
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I wrap a sheet of paper around the tube and tape it at the proper length in order to have a reference to mark the cut line. Then you can cut it slightly long then file/sand to get exact length.
Robert |
Ditto
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I use a bandsaw and spin it as I cut. That usually makes a nice square end.
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I had occasion to make hundreds of cuts in tubing in the course of building my last two planes. I use a floor-mounted metal cutting bandsaw to make the initial cut which is a little long then bring the tubing to final dimension with a bench-mounted disk sander. A fence is clamped to the disk sander table that is precisely 90* from the disk and the tubing is brought down to final size very quickly and easily.
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I found an inexpensive large tubing cutter that will handle 1.125" aluminum tubing. Gonna give it a try. And, I also have the chop saw with the TCG 80 tooth blade that I'll try as well. I'll just have to see which one I like better. Thanks for all the response! |
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https://www.amazon.com/TC14-Telescop.../dp/B001F9RJ4K Wow, I just saw that Amazon (Toolup) wants $10.73 shipping. Check with a local plumbing supply house or the internet. Better deals can be had. I don't recommend you buy used as a sharp cutter wheel makes all the difference. ~Marc |
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