[digits]

Hi guys, I wonder if you can help me - I have a large amount of 20mm thick aluminim plate that I would like to slice into other thicknesses - e.g. 5/10/15mm thick. I have taken very thin slices (~2mm) off large blocks of metal, but they were fairly easy as the blocks were long enough to clamp in the vice. This 20mm plate is too thin to be clamped by the moving jaw of the vice as it is trimmed down to allow room for the blade guide. Has anyone found a way to safely clamp thin materials for cutting?

Cheers.

[HuFlungDung]

Here is what I do for resawing short pieces on the bandsaw, because my vise jaws end about 1.5" from where the band runs: cut a couple of 'extender pieces' of 1/2" or thicker mild steel (or cold drawn C1018 would be nice as well), maybe 12" to 16" long. Lay them inside the vise as per normal, with the ends almost touching the blade band. Cut a precision spacer to match the stock width of the pieces you wish to resaw. Place this spacer at the far end, between your two extenders. Then, place your stock piece in position under the band. Tighten the vise. This is all easily done if you have 4 hands

Now you said you had a lot of these to do, so maybe it would make sense to 'fancy up' the extender bars. Primary concern is getting the part sitting square on the saw bed, so to facilitate this, mill a shoulder at the working end of the extender bars, creating an inset to nest the stock in. If you wish to increase the grip, I'd suggest using a threadmill to mill a fine serration in the wall of this nest.

You could also use a screw jack at the outer end of the extender bars. This will permit you to make fine adjustments of the seperation of the extender bars, if your stock width is poorly defined.

[Zumba]

Wrong tool for the job...

What's wrong with buying different sized plate to begin with?

[DennisCNC]

^ Simple and to the point!

[digits]

Wrong tool for the job...

What's wrong with buying different sized plate to begin with?

A fair question - if I had known exactly what I needed before I'd ordered my metal, I probably would have just had everything cut to size and in the correct thickness, but I didn't.

About 90% of what I'm doing does need 20mm thick plate as it is just about ideal for countersunk M8 socket head capscrews, but for some things it is overkill. As I have over 75kg/150lbs of the stuff, I'd rather not have to buy more metal for a few odds and sods of thin plate.