Aluminium Profile Type Router - Initial questions

[AndyUK]

Have you found printing 1:1 and sticking to the piece worked well? Also what contact adhesive did you use there?

Yeah it was a low-tech solution that worked quite well. Can get messy though, recommend some cellulose thinners and a rag on standby to wipe the other edges of the piece you're spraying, and obviously do it on a waste surface like cardboard. I got the wife to cut the printed bits out - shes a little bit more artsy and careful with a pair of scissors. It was then mainly a case of alignment as you put it on, trying to get a straight edge aligned with the edge of the metal. We found spraying half then putting on roughly worked well as you had a couple of seconds to adjust the paper slightly. Then fold over and spray the other half, and then flatten out.

Used Evostick Impact spray, but I'm sure any contact adhesive would do the job. This one is a bit costly, I probably nicked it from the in-laws....

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Impact-Mult.../dp/B0095RFILA

Helped a lot with the marking out. I used one of those push down centre punches, but others have used optical ones which look really good.

When you're finished drilling on them, get some lighter fluid to help remove the paper and contact adhesive. That was a nasty job... Then shine with scotch-brite.

I've bought some centre drills / counterbores to test out . Also thinking to get a metal cutting blade for the large wood bandsaw to cut the angle. That or a blade in mitre saw but feels a bandsaw would cope more..

I love the counterbores I got. Great little tools. Centre drills didn't really work for me, I just ended up starting everything with a 2.5mm.

I used a crappy old table top wood band saw, and it worked okay. Just get a decent blade. I remember learning that you want approximately three teeth in contact, and I was cutting 10mm and 20mm Ali, so I went with approx 5mm pitch blade. Slow but steady, lots of cutting fluid.

However, I only used that for un-important edges. I got Aluminium warehouse to do the main cutting to size and just cut pieces in two where they had to be ordered as one piece due to minimum piece sizes. Where I had to cut a piece that mattered, I'd use Aluminium warehouse's edge as the mating side. That way all the mating surfaces have square(er) edges - the bandsaw cut edges needed a fair bit of sanding afterwards!