Tough cut for domino?

[Guilliaume woodworks]

I want to sandwich 1/8" aluminum between walnut strips. Anyone ever domino through aluminum? I'm pretty sure it would cut ,but I'd feel better getting some feed back from fog. I know it will wear cutter prematurely and I always plunge slowly into material. I will be using 5mm domino unless  someone advises against it. Here's a pic of desired look

 

[jonny round boy]

I think it will be fine. It may wear the cutter prematurely (which you're aware of) but other than that I can't see any problem.

How will you do it? You'll need some kind of timber behind the aluminium when plunging - can you glue the alu strip to one side of the timber, and cut them both together? Or do you need to do the alu separately?

Jonathan

 

[jonny round boy]

One more thing- I don't know if you've combined aluminium with timber before (if you have, apologies for teaching you to suck eggs) but you may have issues when you come to sanding the top.

I did a beech table years ago with aluminium inserts, and when I sanded it I had issues with tiny pieces of the aluminium getting ground into the timber. I learnt that you have to sand it very gently to avoid this - no pressure whatsoever on the sander.

Jonathan

 

[Guilliaume woodworks]

Thanks for the sanding tip. I was planning on clamping sacrificial material to aluminum during plunge cut , or even the walnut itself if it's aligning nice with  aluminum.

 

[tallgrass]

Instead of using domino on the aluminum I would use a router and cut the slot carefully and slightly over sized. While the domino might work I would not risk it. I do not believe it was designed to suck the fine aluminum shaving that you will be making. It would be a pity to get those fines in the mechanism. I would also use wd40 on the aluminum while cutting. I use it on my mill when cutting aluminum on my mill when not using flood coolant.

 

[NYC Tiny Shop]

I have never done this, but I think that I would drill out the aluminum and use the domino on the wood.

 

[cje]

Does the aluminium vary in size comparable to the wood? I bet it won't suffer from variations in environmental humidity. That would be another reason to slightly oversize the slots in the aluminium.

Best, Karel

 

[GarryMartin]

I have never done this, but I think that I would drill out the aluminum and use the domino on the wood.

+1

Domino for the two halves and drill for the aluminium, slightly oversize.

 

[AlexThePalex]

I would also refrain from using the Domino. The task can easily be done with a drill and a vile, or a normal router. I don't doubt the Domino cutters would eat through aluminium with relative ease, but I wouldn't risk filling up the precision mechanism of the Domino with razor sharp aluminium shavings. 

 

[greg mann]

Good suggestions to mill the aluminum first, but even there you need to support it well. Because it is only 1/8 thick your cutter could easily grab when breaking through. Ironically, the Domino probably offers the best control if you do it with the aluminum properly sandwiched between hardwood, and I believe the DC would take care of the chips as well. My main concern would be too much force on the drive that oscillates the cutter. Having said that, milling into end grain on Ipe has to be pretty close to the same load and I have had no trouble doing that with a 10mm bit.

 

[wrightwoodwork]

I think I would mill the slots using a cutter for aluminum there's no point in putting unnecessary stress on the cutters 

 

[Guilliaume woodworks]

Thank you every one for the feedback. After reading comments I choose not to try plunging through aluminum. The comment about little fragments of metal could be problematic to the tool, gave me nightmares.