Cutting Aluminium, anyone?

[Garrett Lowell]

Hi, long time, no post (for me, that is). I have a question which is not boat-related, but I'm hoping some here can help.

I'm trying to install a storm door to replace a sliding screen door. The sliding door rides on a single aluminum track on the exterior door sill. This track is about 5/16" tall. What is the best way to remove the track? It's in the way of the bottom of the new door. Can I hand-plane this down? Thanks for any help or advice.

[Gary E]

Use a sharp chisel, either a cold chisel very sharp, or a sharp wood chisel, finish with a disc grinder then finer grit disc.

a plane will just be a wast of time.

[Dale R. Hamilton]

Garrett- can't you just pull out the old track, hacksawing it free at the corners, and replace it with an aluminun threshold available from HD?

[P.I. Stazzer-Newt]

Most Aluminum alloys cut easily enough with jigsaw or sawsall - use paraffin as a cutting lubricant.

[Garrett Lowell]

Thanks Gary. Dale, I would have tried that, but we've had a lot of trouble with this door leaking and I don't want to upset whatever it was the builder did to fix the problem. A very sharp cold chisel I can do. Edited to add: Thanks P.I., as well!

[Gary E]

Yeah, a sawzall would work fine...but you think he'd ask ifin he had one?

[DJM]

Most Aluminum alloys cut easily enough with jigsaw or sawsall - use paraffin as a cutting lubricant.

Is that parafin what we call kerosene, or is it what we call wax?

[JimConlin]

belt sander?

[Gary E]

Skip the wax or kerosene...all that will do is make a mess...
Grind and sand it dry.

[P.I. Stazzer-Newt]

Is that parafin what we call kerosene, or is it what we call wax?

You can use either - I'd use candle wax.
Far away and a long time ago - I used to cut up a lot of Al extrusion with a small bandsaw - the wax makes a difference.

[Dan Lindberg]

This may be heresy,
but for years my brother cut light/thin aluminum on his table saw, using a carbide blade.

Dan

[Ken Hutchins]

Put the hand plane to it. a good sharp blade will cut it nicely.

[Llance]

If he can get his table saw down there to cut that i don't want to be in the next room with him if he gets mad.

candle wax and a sharp sawsall and maybe a bit of grinding with a disc grinder and you'll have it clean as a whistle.

lance

[ssor]

I use a router with carbide cutters. Aluminum cuts easily.

[pipefitter]

Skip the wax. Regular bar soap works better than wax and is likely to be close by. I don't use wax at my shop as it interferes with the welding.I use wood cutting blades on the bandsaw with soap and a blade will last me a month while cutting aluminum all day,every day.Also use it on the sawzall with an 8 tpi blade.
Another alternative to the sawzall is an airsaw with an 18tpi hacksaw blade cut short with the teeth turned so it cuts on the pull stroke.The airsaw will get alot closer like a filet knife compared to a butcher knife.

[orphan314]

I use a router with carbide cutters. Aluminum cuts easily.

I must agree here. I route aluminium all the time ....and cut it with a carbide blade on my chop saw and tablesaw. No need for wax or oil because the material moves cleanly and easily with no heat buildup.A sawzall tends to leave a pretty raggedy cut so I would stay away from that. A laminate trimmer would even be a good bet for this job

[Charlie Santi]

Start with a sharp utility knife and begin to score the track along the base extrusion. Contiune the scoring with several passes until you see a grove form of bright shinny material. Next take a small block of hardwood and a hammer and begin to fold the track away from the score. Once folded over flat it will break off clean. Any material left can be cleaned of with a little sandpaper.
Charlie

[AyeFinch]

I use a skill saw with the blade turned backwards to cut alu siding, makes a hell ofa noise, but works great.

Aye

[Garrett Lowell]

I'm just trying to do this in the least messy fashion. Thanks again everyone.

[GROOVY]

Try what Charlie S said .... it will work no big mess. sharp heavyduty utility knife.....

[Bob Cleek]

Definitely what Charlie Santi said! Or, you can score (or even saw) the line with a Fein Multitool and the saw attachment. You DO have one, don't you? When all else fails, I pull out my Fein and it seems to solve the problem about ninety percent of the time!

[ssor]

Aluminum is very notch sensitive. Siding people score and brake all the time to break aluminum for trim work.