The soft nature of aluminum makes it a difficult metal to cut and grind. When using a toothed cutting blade on a power saw, the aluminum will quickly clog the area between the teeth. The same happens when you grind the aluminum with a grinding wheel or a sanding disc. Dressing the blade and grinding wheel with wax will allow you to cut and grind longer, but the blade and grinding wheel will still eventually clog. One tool will cut and grind aluminum without clogging.
Place the piece of aluminum on the worktable.
Slide the piece of aluminum to the end of the worktable. Secure it to the worktable by placing one pair of self-locking C-grips on each corner of the aluminum that rests close to the edge of the worktable.
Mark a cut line of the surface of the aluminum by measuring off one side of the aluminum with the tape measure and marking the dimension with the soapstone. Make sure that you place two marks equal distance from the same side of the aluminum.
Align one side of the straightedge with the two cut marks that you placed on the surface of the aluminum in the last step. Draw a line along the edge of the straightedge with the soapstone to complete the cut line.
Put on your safety glasses, face shield and leather gloves.
Attach a .035 abrasive cutoff wheel to the 4-inch angle grinder and lower your face shield.
Pull the trigger of the grinder and lower the abrasive cutoff wheel to the soapstone cut line you drew on the surface of the aluminum.
Move the abrasive cutoff wheel back and forth along the cut line to start cutting the aluminum. Do not hold the abrasive cutoff wheel in one location to cut through the aluminum and then move the cutoff wheel. This will cause the cutoff wheel to wear quickly.
Remove the cutoff wheel from the grinder and attach the 36-grit flapper wheel to the arbor of the angle grinder.
Release the self-locking C-grips to free the cut piece of aluminum from the worktable and slide the cut side of the aluminum over the end of the worktable. Make sure that the aluminum sheet overhangs the edge of the worktable by at least 1/2 inch.
Pull the trigger of the angle grinder and lower the spinning 36-grit flapper wheel to the edge of the aluminum.
Run the flapper wheel back and forth along the cut end of the aluminum to grind the burr left from the aluminum cutting process.
