Best tool to cut 1/8" aluminum

Maker Talk
1

Hi y’all, I am relatively new to the space and have a quick question.

I’m working on a wooden planter box right now, but the legs will be 1/8" aluminum angle bars (see this link). What I need to do is to cut my 2 bars in half so that I’ll have 4 legs (at a 90 degree angle), and then drill screwholes in the bars to attach them to the planter itself.

My guess, after poking around on the internet, is that the miter saw would work for cutting each bar in half and that the drill press in the woodshop will work for drilling screwholes. But I’m not sure, and I don’t want to mess up any tools. What are your thoughts?

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That’s exactly the way to do it. There’s a cold saw in the fab shop with an aluminum blade in it (the one that says “AL ONLY” on it) that is perfect for what you want to do. It’s on the bottom shelf, usually in the middle.

The drill press near the fab shop is the one to use for metal drilling.

You can in a pinch use a regular wood-cutting miter saw for aluminum (I do it at home on rare occasion) but the fab shop has the right tool for the job, so you don’t need to risk ruining a wood blade.

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