Tool used to cut alum sheet

Guys,
What should i use to cut some alum sheeting for my deck. The size is a 4x12 with .125gauge, I think that's a little under 3/16". Got it for $100.00 everywhere else was around 250-500. What size rivet to use if I don't weld?

You can purchase abrasive cutting wheels to put in hand-held circular saws and grinders to cut aluminum. Be sure you get the wheels designed for Non-ferrous metal, plus wear some eye and and hearing protection. You only get one set of eyes and ears 8)

Thanks Waterwings. I'll be visiting the local box stores after Black Friday.....I guess i could go on Blue Saturday or Yellow Sunday!
Anyways thanks and Happy Thanksgiving

Waterwings, not again.... :roll:

You use abrasive blades for ferrous metals. For aluminum, you want a carbide toothed blade, with a high tooth count. A standard carbide wood blade, if it has a high tooth count, is satisfactory. You can then cut aluminum with a table saw, circular saw, radial arm saw, miter saw etc. For saber saws, a standard metal blade is available, as it is for demolition saws.

.125 is 1/8 inch, and in my opinion, the best thickness for building boat decks. I used .090 (3/32 is .093 for reference) on mine, because it is what I had, but wished I had .125 to work with. For rivets, if you are going with pop rivets, get the .1875 (3/16 for those of y'all that still use goofy fractions) diameter ones. They come in both .25 and .5 inch grip length.

Nice catch BassBoy - I read this three times and something kept telling me "that cutting wheel will just clog" I completely forgot he is working with aluminum

Fine tooth blade will work great.

The eye and ear thingy still applies

Captain Ahab said:

The eye and ear thingy still applies

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Definitely. Long sleeves too.

After all the years I spent repairing naval ships, it now seems that some of that work was done incorrectly, ie., using non-ferrous cut-off wheels that were designed for that specific purpose. :roll: . Yes, there are fine-toothed blades to cut aluminum, with the non-ferrous abrasive/cut-off wheels as another method, and if available, you can use a plasma-arc cutting torch, which is capable of making nice cuts on carbon steel, stainless steel, and aluminum. :wink:

Here's a cut & paste from a website that sells such wheels:

"BOSCH® “RAPIDO” wheels are the real thing; ultra thin cutting wheels
with a .040 thickness for cutting, grinding, and blending all stainless and nonferrous
metals. Thinner wheels provide up to 50% less cutting time, with less
force required, and they are vibration free. When you use these wheels, there’s
no ‘thermal bluing’ or burring so there’s no re-work.
‘Type 1’ wheels are flat for cutting only, with some limited grinding..."

https://www.acetools.com/pdf/Class 15.pdf

:wink:

Have to agree with WW on this one again. I used abrasive blades from Lowe's to cut all my aluminum.

I have used a compound miter saw with a carbide blade for wood to cut small pieces of aluminum. Works very well!

:!: Make sure you wear eye protection!

Now Waterwings, I had not seen such, and while I am not yet openly disputing you, I don't yet have enough information to be convinced you are right.

Also on the link you posted "...Both types of these wheels are used for cutting on car bodies, farm, and
construction tanks. They are commonly used on strut, threaded rod, steel
cable, rebar, angle iron, thin walled pipe, composite materials, and high
temperature materials like repairing turbines."

I don't see anything that is specifically aluminum in that paragraph. I did a lot of searching on the Bosch rapido cutting wheels (40 bucks for a consumable? :shock: ), and couldn't find anything one way or another on aluminum cutting with them. There are other nonferrous metals, with very different properties as aluminum, that definitely have different cutting characteristics. I would much appreciate it if you post a link to a reliable source that definitively shows one way or another on this. (For my own education. That last sentence may have sounded rather snide - sorry.)

Now, even though it is in the air as to whether or not it is safe to do, I will still hold my idea that the carbide blade will have the best cut. And, the reasons why the carbide blade cuts better than the abrasive are the same reasons that the abrasive is unsafe to cut aluminum with. The abrasive cuts steel by using the friction to heat up the steel almost to the melting point, at which point it can then cut out pieces much easier. Aluminum is a much softer metal, so the area around the cut will get too hot, and deform. Also, the aluminum will weld itself to the blade when it gets that hot, which is the dangerous part. The blade will clog up, and then quickly overheat, thereby leading to a blade disintegration, which is lethal at the high RPMs that chop saws and angle grinders turn (usually 3600 and 10000 respectively).

If you do a search on the web, you will find many a threads on message boards, many Yahoo ask pages etc. on this. Most all of them have some who tried both the abrasive, and then the carbide. However, it is unsure, at least on all that I read, as to whether the abrasive was your standard Home Depot steel one, or if it was one made for aluminum, provided it actually exists. Either way, it was an almost unanimous agreement among people who had used both, that the carbide cuts straighter, smoother, cleaner, cooler etc.

...I would much appreciate it if you post a link to a reliable source that definitively shows one way or another on this...

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Take my word for it, they exist, and have for years. Yes, there are toothed blades that do the work also, and I never questioned whether there were or not, and I never asked for links to prove that they exist. I started using the non-ferrous cut-off wheels (and non-ferrous grinding wheels for pedastal grinders) back in 1971, and I saw their use up until 1992 before I retired from the Navy. Please do not question my experience, and most of all my integrity. Now, lets move on and leave it at that. 8)

In round 1 Bassboy takes on Waterwings. It's a heavyweight bout of aluminum cutting ideas......ding ding....! Guys I appreciate both of your suggestions. As I've said before on other threads this is why I love this forum. The members here are passionate about their builds as well as the knowledge they possess. I will take both of your experiences and use which ever one suits my mediocre skills. Once again I really appreciate the help from the both of you....to all the members of this forum.