6mm aluminium with hand tools

[TigerUK]

Hi

I need to work with a 6mm plate (aluminium). I was about to place an online order for it, when I realised I will be working with hand tools. Drill press, jigsaw etc. Is 6mm OK to work with or is it too thick?

My other option is to use 2x3mm pieces as I can rivet two pieces together.

Do you think it would be easier to cut two 3mm sheets seperately than to do 1 x 6mm piece using jigsaw?

[boxedin]

ultimatehandyman video here
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LacH07w8zxw

[Rorschach]

What do you intend to do with it? Cutting, drilling etc are no problem, but you will never bend or form it.

[TigerUK]

ultimatehandyman video here
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LacH07w8zxw

That's fantastic, now I need to find a cheap supplier in East London who can sell me the bits I need. Loads of sellers online but they're based far away and charge too high a delivery fee.

[TigerUK]

What do you intend to do with it? Cutting, drilling etc are no problem, but you will never bend or form it.

I need to make a small flat plate that attaches onto the exhaust clamp that I have mounted onto the iPad stand (in attached images). I will have two of these on a pole So that we can mount a foamex board onto the pole, to be used for brandings at events.

These are some of my old stock of ipad stands that I am selling off, found a buyer who wants a brandable iPad stand. I'm going to find a cheap solution for them and sell it to them.

I'm going to cut off the excess bar. The aliuminium piece needs to be flush fit to the nut. the nut is 6mm thick so the aluminium plate would need to be the same.

[Rorschach]

Ah right, yeah if it's just a flat plate it will be no worries. Use a suitable blade for thick aluminium, most metal cut jigsaw blades are for thin steel and the teeth are too fine so take your time to find a decent one. If you have a bandsaw, or a friend with one that would be ideal, aluminium cuts perfectly well on a normal wood bandsaw with a fine tooth blade, 10tpi would be ideal.

File and sandpaper to tidy up the edges.

[boxedin]

any good?
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/5-6mm-Thick- ... mBnqrUwjrg

[Hitch]

It'll be a piece of cake. Get yourself a couple of fairly coarse metal cutting blades. The progressor type ones are very good for thickish ally. A little lubricant helps prevent the chips sticking to the blade.

[TigerUK]

That's for the advice, (and the link to the cheap metal supplier).

Placed an order and will crack on as soon as it arrives.

[Job and Knock]

With the right type of cutter (ideally HSS spiral) run at the right speed (lower than for woodworking) aluminium is also fairly easy to rout, especially if annealed. Really needs guide bushes and solid templates (not the fence), a bit heavy on power and the cuts necessarily need to be light but it can be done and the results are more than acceptable - after all this was how they made aircraft components until well into the 1980s