aluminum blades, wood blades, what's the difference?

[erikfsn]

I didn't get the aluminum blade with my Kapex, so I used the blade that came with it to cut
some aluminum (not much, and pretty thin, around 1/16"). The blade cut fine at around half
speed, seems very sharp still.

So, why get an aluminum blade?

 

[Brice Burrell]

It's the geometry of the teeth, the aluminum/plastic blade: for non-ferrous metals/acrylic/hard plastic, 68 tooth triple chip blade, teeth have a 0? rake. The triple chip grind will hold up much better than the alternating top bevel grind of the Universal blade (the blade that comes with the Kapex.) I believe the rake makes some differences as well, no exactly sure what.

Cutting thin aluminum once or twice may be okay with wood blades but it's no a good for the ATB grind.