I have some 3/16 6061-T6 corner armor I need to cut. For those of you who have cut aluminum with a jigsaw, what is your favorite blade?
Best jigsaw blades for cutting aluminum
- Thread starter HornedToad
- Start date
I just did that last weekend. I used a 12TPI Diablo blade at very slow speed (trigger barely pressed), and it worked very well. I tried blades with small teeth and faster speeds, but the teeth gummed up in every other situation. Using the 12TPI at slow speeds, I was still able to cut it fairly quickly. I'm guessing it took about 5 minutes to cut one wheel well.
Bosch T127D, T127DF or T227D for Aluminum. Have always had a positive experience with Bosch jigsaw blades if you pick the appropriate blade for material and type of cut.
OP
The thing with aluminum is heat. It melts at a much lower temperature than steel. Just like welding it, cutting it is all about minding the heat!
WestCoastDan
TJ Addict
First off HT, GREAT questions.
I don't have a shop at home, but I do a lot of mild to moderate upgrades, repairs and mods with BASIC tools at home.
At work I have access to and have worked with a ton of cutting equipment, a lot of it on aluminum.
When I started my last job, they were getting tons of complaints about adhesive failure between our lightweight, aluminum-backed circuit boards and the aluminum substrates (heatsinks) that they were attached to.
I learned that one of the cutters decided to use WD-40 as a cutting fluid because it stopped the blades from getting all gummed up.
He was treated as a hero because their blade budget (sharpening and new) dropped like a hot rock towards zero.
Turns out, WD-40 was the cause of the adhesive failures, as it was very difficult to clean it all off prior to assembling the parts.
The assemblies would stick and stay together at the factory and even through installation, but shortly after, the units were falling apart due to the poor adhesion.
I immediately stopped that practice, but rather than go back to using no cutting fluid, I decided to try a "water-based" cutting fluid, that would be far easier to clean off compared to the WD-40. It was better, but it still left a residue that would require a detergent to remove, so rather than go with that, we went back to using no cutting fluid simply because it kept the obligation and resolution "in-house" by eliminating the warranty claims.
All that said, I agree with the blade choice and slow feed rate if using a jigsaw.
Since it has a very short (vertical) blade travel and/or #of teeth per inch compared to the bigger industrial blades, it is very apt to take multiple blades if you're making a lot of cuts.
Using a cutting fluid could help prolong the blade, but make certain that it doesn't create an issue for any painting, etc. that you may have planned as a subsequent step.
I just resorted to using tin snips at home on some diamond plate, because I didn't trust that my jigsaw blades wouldn't bugger up the edge.
It was also powder coated black, and I knew that I'd be able to touch up the edge and it would disappear, but trying to match the PC on the face would be tough.
I opted to snip it close and then file the cut edge clean, because I wasn't happy with the above snags.
I don't have a shop at home, but I do a lot of mild to moderate upgrades, repairs and mods with BASIC tools at home.
At work I have access to and have worked with a ton of cutting equipment, a lot of it on aluminum.
When I started my last job, they were getting tons of complaints about adhesive failure between our lightweight, aluminum-backed circuit boards and the aluminum substrates (heatsinks) that they were attached to.
I learned that one of the cutters decided to use WD-40 as a cutting fluid because it stopped the blades from getting all gummed up.
He was treated as a hero because their blade budget (sharpening and new) dropped like a hot rock towards zero.
Turns out, WD-40 was the cause of the adhesive failures, as it was very difficult to clean it all off prior to assembling the parts.
The assemblies would stick and stay together at the factory and even through installation, but shortly after, the units were falling apart due to the poor adhesion.
I immediately stopped that practice, but rather than go back to using no cutting fluid, I decided to try a "water-based" cutting fluid, that would be far easier to clean off compared to the WD-40. It was better, but it still left a residue that would require a detergent to remove, so rather than go with that, we went back to using no cutting fluid simply because it kept the obligation and resolution "in-house" by eliminating the warranty claims.
All that said, I agree with the blade choice and slow feed rate if using a jigsaw.
Since it has a very short (vertical) blade travel and/or #of teeth per inch compared to the bigger industrial blades, it is very apt to take multiple blades if you're making a lot of cuts.
Using a cutting fluid could help prolong the blade, but make certain that it doesn't create an issue for any painting, etc. that you may have planned as a subsequent step.
I just resorted to using tin snips at home on some diamond plate, because I didn't trust that my jigsaw blades wouldn't bugger up the edge.
It was also powder coated black, and I knew that I'd be able to touch up the edge and it would disappear, but trying to match the PC on the face would be tough.
I opted to snip it close and then file the cut edge clean, because I wasn't happy with the above snags.
When I cut my aluminum corner armor I tried all different kinds of aluminum blades. All clogged up after a few inches of dry cutting, and I destroyed 5-7 blades. @NashvilleTJ suggested I keep the blade liberally lubed. So I bought some cutting fluid. After I started applying the cutting fluid while I was cutting the armor, the 1 blade I was using never clogged up for the remainder of my cuts. The moral of the story is liberal lubrication (with a decent aluminum cutting blade) is your friend, not some expensive special cutting blade in this instance.
I didn’t mention using Tap Magic-Aluminum before because it wasn’t nearly as important as watching the heat. I’m pretty sure I could have done it without the cutting oil by slowing down just a tad more. The 12TPI blades were the coarsest I had, and that was key, too. With aluminum’s high heat transfer, the chips get hot very quickly, so the bigger they are, the more resistant they are to melting due to the thermal mass.
Aluminum tends to stick to your blade and fill the collets - that’s the main problem In my experience. When I cut aluminum, I always use regular old bath soap. Touch it to the moving blade every few minutes and it works great Keeping the blade clean. It also does not make a mess like cutting fluid.
I use it on the band saw as well as the jig saw.
I use it on the band saw as well as the jig saw.
Another good product is Eastwood’s “Grinder’s Grease.” It’s very similar in consistency to a soap. I use it with Rotabroaches and die grinders with burrs, like when porting heads - basically any time you’re cutting at higher speeds.
I’ve seen where people use beeswax for aluminum but I myself haven’t tried it.
Bosch aluminum specific blades with a bit of WD squirted on them while cutting mows through that specific aluminum like butter and in a hurry. I've cut miles of aluminum with a jigsaw, nothing has worked as well yet.
https://www.boschtools.com/us/en/boschtools-ocs/t-shank-jig-saw-blades-for-metal-t227d-30858-p/
I have the lube stick recommended by Blair. It is okay, the problem is as the blade heats up, it just melts the lube stick so the efficiency drops way off and you have to reapply it much more often. I've not found anything that works better than a good scribe line that doesn't wash away by solvents and WD.
The lube stick is very similar to beeswax. Melting point is too low.
OP