Al cutting TF 52 blade - Grease Pencil?

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gpmcginn

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I have some 24 Gauge AL to cut so I purchased a 496307 Alu/Plastic blade for my ATF 55. The instructions say "Lubricate with a cutting spray or a grease pencil. This increases the tool life of the saw balde". Well at $100, with tax and shipping, I DO WANT TO INCREASE THE BLADE'S LIFE. 

My question is: What is a grease pencil? I searched on all the woodworking sites I buy stuff from and tried a GOOGLE search with NO RESULTS!

I have a spray bottle of "Tool & Bit Cleaner" from Trend Routing Technology, Inc. I usually use it to clear router and saw blades from resin pickup and light rust. Would this be similar to the cutting spray Testool refers to?? It is a very light clear fluid.

Any suggestions would be welcome.

George McGinn - Durham NC
 
There's aluminum and then there's aluminum. Depending on the grade you might be just fine cutting dry. 8020 extrusions cut just fine dry, and mill well with a router dry, which is a much more severe process. At worst, a little application of WD-40 will serve you well. For me, this is a bit ironic because I am not particularly impressed with WD-40. When  I say a little, I mean just that. Don't over-do it as it can become messy.

Generally, the higher quality the aluminum is the better it will saw dry. 24 gauge sounds like an extrusion and extrusions by nature cannot be too gummy, therefore they don't need much in the way of lube. Try it dry first. HTH.
 
George and Everyone,

Another name for 'grease pencil' is 'china marker'. Not something often used in woodworking, but sold in art supply stores.

We machine absolutely no metal in my cabinet business, but 5 miles west of there I own a sophisticated metal fabrication business. I even use a Kapex with the aluminum blade there for making some angle cuts. There are many schools of thought as to the cutting fluid to be used when cutting and machining aluminum. Something to remember is that many forms of aluminum tend to become sticky when machined. So cutting fluid for aluminum is not all about reducing heat (as is the case with ferrous metals) but keeping the cut aluminum from clinging to the tooling.
 
ccarrolladams said:
George and Everyone,

Another name for 'grease pencil' is 'china marker'. Not something often used in woodworking, but sold in art supply stores.

We machine absolutely no metal in my cabinet business, but 5 miles west of there I own a sophisticated metal fabrication business. I even use a Kapex with the aluminum blade there for making some angle cuts. There are many schools of thought as to the cutting fluid to be used when cutting and machining aluminum. Something to remember is that many forms of aluminum tend to become sticky when machined. So cutting fluid for aluminum is not all about reducing heat (as is the case with ferrous metals) but keeping the cut aluminum from clinging to the tooling.
Click to expand...

So, , are you using a lube or not?  [big grin]
 
Greg, we do not cut aluminum dry.

The choice of cutting fluid is a function of the alloy and the task.
 
If you use some lubricant when cuting aluminium, you will not only lubricate your material, but also your saw. And as the saw has a large spinning blade it will spew the lubricant everywhere. I wouldn't do this for 1 or 2 cuts in aluminium, if my main use for the saw is wood. You don't want that lubricant on your wood.

I don't see a problem with cutting aluminium dry if it's an occasional cut. It's a soft metal and you don't need to take the caution you have to with iron.
 
Alex and Everyone, this is why my metal fabrication facility is miles away from my much newer cabinet shop. Despite the enclosures on modern metal working equipment, such as the CNC mills and lathes, there remain tasks which require less well enclosed machines.

Sure, we do have fully enclosed saws, but we also have Kapex dedicated to cutting aluminum at odd angles where the touch and feel of a human machinist is more important than ultimate containment of the lubricant spray.

The OP asked about grease pencils, and I explained those are also called china markers sold in art supply stores. To reduce clean-up of a Kapex if only a few cuts are involved, that might be worth a try.

 
Although there is such a thing in NA as a grease pencil as evidenced by the link posted above, and a grease pencil might indeed work, I suspect that the term 'grease pencil" is the result of German technical to English translation.

Peter
 
Peter Halle said:
Although there is such a thing in NA as a grease pencil as evidenced by the link posted above, and a grease pencil might indeed work, I suspect that the term 'grease pencil" is the result of German technical to English translation.

Peter
Click to expand...

I think the intent is to get a waxy like substance on the cutting teeth so as to inhibit the aluminum sticking to them. This would mitigate the mess mentioned above. A Crayola of any color would do the same.  [wink]
 
Why use something so small when you can grab a cheap (large) candle and make a quick cut in it prior to cutting the AL.

JT
 
Thanks for all the replies! What's in a name? I did see some "China" markers but I'm cutting Al so I didn't think that was a solution.
I think I'll try a candle, using an old white bees wax one.

I'm making radiator covers and the total length of the cuts needed in the light gauge Al is about 30'. The sheets are an open pattern
product by MD Building so the cut is not a soild line cut but across the holes in the pattern.
 
gpmcginn said:
Thanks for all the replies! What's in a name? I did see some "China" markers but I'm cutting Al so I didn't think that was a solution.

I think I'll try a candle, using an old white bees wax one.
Click to expand...

Grease pencil=China marker=lithography crayon

Lithography is interesting.

For the purpose of cutting aluminum the other suggestions are better.

If the lubricant is needed and is applied to the blade it will wear off.
If it doesn't last long enough for the full cut you can spray some WD-40 or equivalent on the stock along the cutting path.
 
Julian Tracy said:
Why use something so small when you can grab a cheap (large) candle and make a quick cut in it prior to cutting the AL.

JT
Click to expand...

Julian has the answer, one of the best kept machine shop secrets.  [thumbs up] I use candle wax all the time when cutting aluminum, especially on a metal cutting bandsaw. It works better than any commercial product. Just lightly cut into the candle until all the teeth have some wax on them.

I use WD-40 when cutting aluminum on the lathe. WD-40 is too messy to use on my bandsaw blades (and requires constant spraying) and wax takes too long to apply on the lathe parts.
 
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