Re: Need help to find a tool, kinda urgent
 

What about pneumatic hand metal shears? they are relatively save, cheap (if you already have a compressor) and easy. they also are widely available. 1/8 alum is not the lightest stuff, but would be easy enough to cut with one of the larger ones. such as one of these

Also: another tool i have not seen mentioned, a sawzall (reciprocating saw) i have cut 1/4 inch steel with those things, and it worked just fine. you will ruin plenty of blades cutting a bunch of 1/4 inch alum, but it's cheaper than a shear!

keep in mind that these are hand tools, but with a little skill and line drawing, they should work fine for some rectangular plates.

Re: Need help to find a tool, kinda urgent
 

There are also electric nibblers that with a sharp die would cut AL well. They work best for free form shapes.

Re: Need help to find a tool, kinda urgent
 

16 CFM is a ton of air. The kind of air that would require a hard wired 220v+ 5+ HP 2 stage compressor. You're talking about $1500+

Re: Need help to find a tool, kinda urgent
 

I would recommend a Bosch 1590 or 1591 jigsaw, unless you can afford a Festool or Fein. http://www.boschtools.com/Products/T...aspx?catid=140 The 1590 is about $170. at Lowes. It is made in Switzerland and is rated to 3/8" in mild steel. If you clamp the plate down using a piece of 1" x 1" or so aluminum tube as a guide fence for the jigsaw base, you should have little problem getting a straight cut. They have all kinds of blades available http://www.boschtools.com/Products/A...aspx?catid=138

You can also do this with a jigsaw, with or without a rip fence. I think this one is a Bosch accessory.

http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/at...d=121441254 6

Re: Need help to find a tool, kinda urgent
 

There are some tricks to getting a straight cut with a handheld cutting tool, such as clamping a piece of angle to the work to guide it.

Will one of those pneumatic hand shears really cut 1/8" aluminum? if so, what alloys? I have the big compressor....but not the shears.

Re: Need help to find a tool, kinda urgent
 

There are pneumatic nibblers that will handle 3/8" steel. :ahh:

http://www.emaxaction.com/index.asp?...TS&Category=35

I wouldn't want to try making a long straight cut with one. They also have shears that will cut 7 gauge. http://www.emaxaction.com/index.asp?...ATS&Category=2

Re: Need help to find a tool, kinda urgent
 

heh...I was asking about the capability of the $30 hand shear! Yeah, you can do a lot of neat things if you have a several grand to spend.

Re: Need help to find a tool, kinda urgent
 

For a small fee the aluminum supply and sales companies will cut the material to any size or quantity. They use a system similar to the plywood cutters used in the lumber supply stores but on a larger scale and they use blades for aluminum.

Re: Need help to find a tool, kinda urgent
 

You don't necessarily need a larger compressor if you aren't using it at 100% duty and you have a large enough air tank.

You can nibble for 20-30 seconds, wait for recharge of tank, nibble again, wait, and so on.

However......you won't be able to cut 0.125" aluminum with that tool. The capacity listed there is only 18 gauge metal, which depending on if it is steel or aluminum, is 0.0478" or 0.0403" respectively.

Re: Need help to find a tool, kinda urgent
 

Use a "laser", bwa, ha, ha, ha.

http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/at...d=121441807 6

Re: Need help to find a tool, kinda urgent
 

I would recommend going to a welding shop and having them cut it to size.

Either that or you could use a standard table saw in conjunction with a special metal cutting blade: http://www.toolbarn.com/product/bosch/PRO1280NF/

Re: Need help to find a tool, kinda urgent
 

We have a vertical band saw in our robotics shop that a mentor got from home depot in the 07? build season. It works great for plate aluminum with the right blade and some ear protection. I've personally only made less than 1 foot cuts on it with plate aluminum but I have done 3 foot cuts with lexan and you can get very straight cuts if you have a guide or clamp something to the table as a guide.