[LazyMan]

Does anybody have any ideas on doing some kind of skim cut on the end of 8020 extrusion to make it nice and square, without the use of a mill. I noticed the extrusions I recieved are not very square.

I was thinking along the lines of some edge grinder/sander.

I thought about purchased a miters saw to make my own cuts but fear it wont be very sqaure.Any ideas and experiences would be appreciated

[Gary55Ford]

I cut lots of 80/20 at work, we make everything from work benches to complete machines with it. we made a bench on wheels with a miter saw with an 80 tooth carbide tip saw blade built into the bench. It works great no machining after cutting

[johnmac]

Just don't try to shave an edge square. Be sure to make cuts with some scrap cut off. I have read, (but not tried yet) that a squirt of WD-40 along the cut will make a cleaner cut, as it keeps the chips from sticking to the blade teeth.

John

[USMCPOP]

A good quality miter saw with a metal-cutting blade should get you nice square ends. Just don't force the cut. I wouldn't recommend cutting off a wee sliver of an end, as the small remainder can end up jammed in the table slot. Flying carbide teeth are scary!

A disk sander with a guide should allow you to even up an end without a problem.

[vger]

John,
Yes WD-40 does help. I'm sure there are other products that work better but the WD-40 does the trick for me. I've cut up to 3/4" aluminum plate on a table saw with carbide blade. Don't let the WD-40 get into your eyes! OUCH. The softness of the aluminum allows the shavings to wrap around the sides of the teeth on the blade and it gets almost welded in place. Then you get really terrible cuts and the saw wants to bind up in the slot. WD-40 works pretty well when using a slitting saw on aluminum as well.

Steve

[keebler303]

I've used a mitre saw with wd40 with good results. Is your 8020 straight from the factory? All the factory ends were better than I could produce on my stuff. I tried to use the factory ends as much as possible. I have used 8020 for several projects and then ends have always been pretty good.

Matt

[LazyMan]

Yeah its straight from factory. Ive tried bosch rexroth and 8020 and both ends werent very square when you actually checked it.

I'm sure there are other products that work better but the WD-40 does the trick for me

I used to use wd-40 all the time for aluminum cuts and then I discovered Tap Magic. Worked a bit better and is not too expensive either.

[ViperTX]

I used a table saw, a metal cutting blade and a sled made of mdf to square up the ends of the 80/20 stuff I bought.

[Geof]

'''Yes WD-40 does help. I'm sure there are other products that work better but the WD-40 does the trick for me...Steve

Automatic transmission fluid works like a charm, I think it is better than WD40.