I have a 24t hacksaw and tried some flat plate and it was ugly. 32t I will buy but should the blade be backwards and cut only in one direction and not as if you were sawing down a tree? I will use a miter box and the hacksaw as I don't have the room for a chop saw and cutting aluminum is very easy by hand as long as I have (I didn't with the flat plate) something to keep my cut straight (hence the miter box). I am about to start with my printer build so trying to get everything working in my head and I hope all of it will be done by the second anniversary of having built the boat anchor of a printer I have now.
Same deal as a chop saw and that was already brought up as a no. Back to the unanswered question of "which is better to cut with a 32 tooth hacksaw blade having the teeth going backwards or frontwards"?
32t frontwards. Cut on the push not the pull. A good rule of thumb for blade selection is 3 teeth in a row in contact with the work. You may not get that with cutting extrusion, but the finer blade should do okay. Joe
Ahhh, half of what I was thinking after cutting the aluminum plate with the 24t. I figured the cut on the push then pull it up on the pull and back down on the push to cut again but I was thinking the teeth towards me so I got that part wrong. I don't quite get that part about 3 teeth in a row in contact with the work. Any pictures or links I can study? edit: I know a nice 60 dollar Diablo 84t blade made for non-ferrous metals on a 10inch chop saw/miter saw makes it short work but you use what you have and I am only going to cut 6 times so not counting the lack of room here I would have no other uses for the huge beast.
