Quote:
Originally Posted by billbo911
The advantages and disadvantages of the Miter and Horizontal Band Saw have been covered pretty well. In summary, the Miter is more precise but can be noisy. The Band Saw is less accurate but fairly quiet.
The best advice I have for this situation is to keep a sharp carbide tipped blade on it. Cut a bit slower, let the blade do the work and don't force it. Lastly, secure the material you are cutting. It will be safer and the cuts will be more accurate.
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This has been my experience as well. Basically, we use a cheapo (<$100) 10” non-sliding miter saw for cutting aluminum stock (up to about 4” wide) down to size. It cuts 80/20 T-Slot (10 series) nice, clean and square enough on the ends to require no further machining (other than either tapping the end hole or anchor pocketing depending on which connector we are using). The secret to good miter saw cuts is less about the saw and more about the blade. It has been my experience that this holds true when cutting any material. I would rather have a cheapo saw with a good blade over a high dollar saw with a dull cheap blade any day. Always use a good blade designed to cut aluminum when cutting aluminum (duh). We use a Freud blade from the local Home Depot that runs ~$50 designed for aluminum. 80 tooth IIRC. I usually change it a couple of times during the 6 week build season. No getting around it though, cutting aluminum on a miter saw is noisy!
We also have
this horizontal bandsaw we use on occasion for cutting heavier aluminum, round stuff or steel. It’s nice, slow, quiet, but sure doesn’t cut as clean or square as the miter saw does on the smaller aluminum.
I feel compelled at this point to stress safety concerning cutting aluminum on a miter saw. It goes without saying that the material needs to be clamped securely. While it may seem obvious, I would STRONGLY recommend AGAINST cutting round stock on a miter saw, especially short pieces that can’t be securely clamped properly. I can say from 2 separate experiences (years apart) that this is a VERY BAD IDEA. In both cases, I was younger, less wise, and barely escaped serious injury. After the second incident I quickly gained some wisdom and realized what happened and swore I would absolutely never cut round stock on a miter saw again including but not limited to PVC pipe, aluminum tube/round bar, and in the case of the second incident even aluminum hex stock. Bottom line, in both of my bad experiences the long piece was being held securely but the short piece being cut off was too short to clamp. After the completion of the cut the short piece “rolled” into the blade and was ejected at a very high velocity like a bullet. After the first incident I found the cutoff piece about 100 feet away in my neighbor’s yard where it had bounced of (and cracked) one of their windows. The second incident actually happened in our robotics shop a few years ago. It damaged the saw, fractured half a dozen teeth off the blade, and ejected the part clean across the room which fortunately was only occupied by myself at the time. It was there and then that I instigated the “no cutting round stuff on the miter saw rule” and ordered the above horizontal bandsaw for the robotics shop. I still have the broken blade and the jagged pieces of the hex stock and bring them out every year as examples during our team miter saw safety training. Pictures available upon request...
On another miter saw safety note, I have observed many people who “think they know what they are doing” improperly using a miter saw in a very simple way. After the blade has cut through the material continue to pull the blade all the way down, release the trigger, and let the blade come to a complete stop before raising the blade. Never raise the blade back up while it is still spinning. At a minimum you risk buggering up the material being cut on the “back cut”. Safety wise the cutoff part can get snagged and ejected as well. The material has already been cut. No need to try to cut it again on the way up.
Also, for what it's worth and in case anyone was wondering, I had an idea one time to get one of those
variable speed A/C motor controllers used on routers to slow them down and try it on the miter saw to slow the blade down some when cutting aluminum. That didn't go so well either. Aluminum really does like to be cut better at high speed...