After cutting off some material, scuff the newly cut edges with your sanding block. Gloves are recommended but not required as you’ll be holding the block instead of a file and making short scrubbing motions – pushing away from you.

amen. I got a really good deal on a bunch of 4545 (and other) extrusion so I’m building a lot of stuff with it (because I can) so it will for sure be worth it. The cutter itself was one of these “because I can” projects. I’m not sure why people are having so much trouble with that lol…. Yeah, a mill would be better. Yeah a miter saw can do an ok job. There are a lot of different ways to cut extrusion, but this is hackaday and this is my hack for getting almost mill like results for a fraction of the cost.

Right…should read more like: “If you’re looking for the perfect excuse to buy that big, beautiful Bridgeport mill, we’ve got some bad news: that excuse is not in order to make perfectly square end cuts on aluminum extrusion.”

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If your design is relying on the ends being square to a tenth of a millimeter, you’re doing something wrong or silly.

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Westminster is in the process of re-evaluating its benefits to see where they can improve; an on-site gym and a part-time on-site nurse practitioner are strengthening wellness initiatives. Management is also tapping into the knowledge of older workers by bringing back retirees to work part-time to train new recruits on machines and processes.

PS: Don’t try this unless you know how to calculate blood loss in litres per nano-second if the blade shatters.

Endmills bend, even thick endmills. Ringless engine designs count on this deflection to make pistons seal at the top of the stroke.

Visit the round tools shop, a growth area for Westminster, and you’ll see teamwork and flexibility, as seasoned machinists with a cross-section of expertise work smoothly together and share know-how. Sandvik Coromant recently acquired tooling company Precorp about an hour away in Greer, South Carolina. Westminster leadership saw huge value in the Precorp workers’ tooling knowledge and offered all 40 of them relocation to the Westminster plant. Seventeen took the deal, pulling up stakes and moving their families, and now work as a team with the machine operators in the round tooling shop.

There’s no doubting the utility of aluminum extrusion in both prototyping and production builds, nor that the versatile structural members often add a bit of class to projects. But without square cuts, any frames built from them can be seriously out of whack, leading to misery and frustration down the road. [Midwest Cyberpunk]’s mill-less solution uses a cheap Harbor Freight router as a spindle for a carbide endmill, riding on a laser-cut acrylic baseplate fitted with wheels that ride in the V-groove of — you guessed it — aluminum extrusions. A fence and clamping system holds the extrusion firmly, and once trammed in, the jig quickly and easily squares extrusions that have been rough cut with a miter saw, angle grinder, or even a hacksaw. Check out the video below for a peek at the build details.

This is certainly a perfectly good jig to throw up with parts you have and maybe you can store it more easily, nothing against it at all as a tool, when even the flexibility of these extrusions looks rather well dealt with how can there be really. But don’t rule out getting a small mill into your space, they are surprisingly capable really, if often way more challenging to sort out work holding than the big iron, could certainly handle this job trivially if you had one.

This type of jig could also be used to cut vertical slots or other shapes that a saw most certainly can’t do.

The can-do spirit is also on display in the blanks department, where that team recently took the initiative to build a vertical wall storage area for a continuous improvement project. It saves precious floor space, prevents operator mistakes by making labels more visible and substantially reduced inventory-on-hand by limiting storage capacity to what can go on the wall.

Your eye is likely the squarest and straightest tool in your box. Not mine though, but it’s still close.

Define ‘square enough’, tell me about the Bridgeport’s history, how the extrusion is held and the cutter used.

The fact you haven’t been able to measure the runout says more about your measuring than anything else. Don’t use sparkplug gap setting feeler gauges.

>> If your design is relying on the ends being square to a tenth of a millimeter, you’re doing something wrong or silly.

Despite the competition for manufacturing workers, Westminster’s human resources department has had decent success recruiting for the shop floor and even engineering with periodical weekend job fairs they’ve hosted for the past three years. But partnerships with local technical colleges and the public schools are especially important for talent development. Sandvik Coromant Westminster funds college scholarships and has an internship program; its team members are guest presenters in STEM classes and are working with a local elementary school on building a greenhouse. The Westminster team also donates meeting space in its facility for community groups like Girls in Engineering and Manufacturing (GEM) and a STEM summer camp.

I think if he used a higher quality chop saw and /or a higher quality blade – he wouldn’t be using a fancy jig to re-cut the extrusion. My 12in Dewalt miter saw will cut aluminum extrusion fairly perfectly. I quick sand with the orbital sander – and you can have a super smooth edge on it as well if you need it.

Exactly how Voron 3D printers are designed – butted joints. Mind you, the official spec states you should order pre-cut genuine Misumi profiles, and a single set of those will cost €/$ 150-200. So it may be worth making such a jig if you have the parts lying around and prefer cheap no-name alu profile, or you want to become a supplier of Voron parts. But arguably, if you are spending $1500-2000 on a DIY 3D printer, then faffing about for half a day or more building, calibrating and testing this jig in order to save $50-100 on alu profile for a single printer is rather thin gruel.

>> For example, making a square bracket without cross-braces or corner braces, relying only on the ends of the bars to make it square.

Perfect doesn’t exist. There are no perfect square cuts in existence, anywhere. Closest you can get is likely a cleaved crystal.

He didn’t say his mill didn’t cut square – he said he didn’t buy a mill because it wouldn’t have been right for his workspace or wallet. He did say that he wasn’t able to get properly square cuts from his miter say.

Though it’s got 2 axes and a spindle so coulda said, don’t buy a fullass mill when you can build a halfass mill. :-D

There are robust miter saws for metal taht do a rather good job. But generally used more generic ones for the last decade or so.

I really like this jig, thanks for sharing. I had been designing something like it in my head already, and seeing this in action has saved me any further ‘mulling over’ time, I will get on and build one pretty much the same.

Jimmy Dubs – I get drill master isn’t a reputable brand but this router is an exception. I will actually measure the runout but the results in the video speak for themselves. I tested with several feeler gauges and couldn’t get one under the square. I later used a real machinist’s square, and it was the same result.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01LXDARMZ/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&th=1 I think 0 degree or no rake angle

For example, making a square bracket without cross-braces or corner braces, relying only on the ends of the bars to make it square.

Empowerment at every level of the organization is evident in Westminster’s robust safety culture, with team members self-reporting hazards (and, when appropriate, immediately fixing them) and over the past five years making substantial progress in reducing safety incidents. A year ago, the plant celebrated 1,000 days of zero lost-time safety incidents. While that streak was recently broken with a slip on a mat, the plant continues to have a respectable OSHA incident rate of 1.23 for 2021. Employees reported 396 hazards last year, 90% of them resolved within 90 days.

Over the past few decades, I’ve used several miles of 80/20 extrusion for prototyping manufacturing systems ( robotics ) at GE and Boeing.. We just used a chop saw. Put the precision where you need it.

I agree – my cold cut saw does a pretty good job of square cuts in steel, let alone aluminum, and they are not expensive or that hard to put somewhere..

Very possible and another perfectly valid reason, my only point was don’t rule out the baby sized mills as pointless, they fit in tiny spaces and can do useful work.

I know what it’s like, use what you’ve got. And why cut aluminum when you can build a jig, or better, a machine. This does look like a job for one of those horizontal bandsaws though. The cut quietly, straightly, and very independently. I just love sitting down with a cup of tea and watching the machine work.

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Get an adhesive backed sanding disc, at 220 grit, and stick it on a piece of scrap plywood that’s >= 0.375 inch thick. Trim and round off the edges leaving 0.25 inch around edge of sandpaper.

Lindsey, who has been at the plant for 29 years, starting as a grinder, has transformed into a self-made data analytics expert (partly through a slew of YouTube videos) and built a system of automated daily push reports that go to supervisors, managers and upper management every morning. He has also built individual departmental reports and created an app to easily share data on the shop floor via phones and tablets.

That matches my experience, miter saw blades will have some deflection. Even my fancy DeWalt miter saw with the nicest, thickest carbide tooth blade has had problems not deflecting when trying to square up an existing cut.

If you’re looking for the perfect excuse to buy that big, beautiful Bridgeport mill, we’ve got some bad news: it’s not going to be making perfectly square end cuts on aluminum extrusion. Sadly, it’s much more cost-effective to build this DIY squaring jig, and search for your tool justification elsewhere.

Key to the increase in productivity is cross-training workers on new jobs and new machines to alleviate bottlenecks. Worker flexibility has not only increased engagement but helped keep production on track during COVID labor shortages. Workers, many with long tenure at the plant, talk about being part of a family and like that they are challenged and respected by their bosses.

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I wrote an almost identical reply, before realizing, after a bunch of re-reads, that it’s just poor wording…

In a particularly green, winding section of South Carolina sits a city called Westminster that is also a particularly thriving manufacturing center. Boeing, BMW, Caterpillar and BorgWarner have plants in the vicinity, and the competition for workers is fierce. Global metal-cutting tooling manufacturer Sandvik Coromant has a plant here, too, a 328,000-square-foot facility that over the past decade has steadily established itself as a real workhorse. The plant’s performance, and the people who drive it, distinguish Sandvik Westminster as a 2022 IndustryWeek Best Plants Winner.

Drop quotes around “making perfectly square end cuts on aluminum extrusion” and it reads a lot clearer. In conversation it’d be a lot clearer (you’d just pause after “be”).

How precise are is the square required to be? With technique, miter saws can be pretty good. Not a mill, but ever so close.

I didn’t view the full video – is that explained somewhere? I’d really like to know the explanation behind the statement.

The price of Aluminum is especially volatile at the moment, so that’s probably being reflected in extrusion prices too. Some brewers are stocking up on cans because they are concerned about availability over the next few months…

Bet my bandsaw gets closer to perfect square then this contraption, if I took the setup time. Granting it’s big. No way this thing is as close to square and straight as a decent Bridgeport.

Being able to see light through the gap is about 1/10 of a thou (units just to annoy the SI dweebs). Set the square and the extrusion on your surface granite, don’t preload and line them up with some bright sunlight.

I could easily screw it up. Length of exposed extrusion tuned to so resonant frequency is the same as spindle RPM * cutter flute count.

mmao88 , This has been my experience. I use a new TCG blade for aluminum and it does a great job for “rough” cuts but the deflection causes a kerf of .1mm or more every time. I can see why people don’t care because the kerf is negligible to them or maybe they’ve found a saw that can do perfect 90 degree cuts (if those exist?) but the imperfections from my craftsman miter bothered me and this was a fun project.

Boatloads of initiative and a well-thought-out and executed vision have brought rewards—and profits— for this hardworking team in Westminster.

I work with IndustryWeek's contributors and report on leadership and the automotive industry as they relate to manufacturing. Got a story idea? Reach out to me at [email protected]

Sandvik Coromant’s Westminster plant, which came to the company during its acquisition of cutting-tools maker Valenite in 2002, primarily manufactures cemented carbide inserts—over 2,300 types—for aerospace, automotive and oil and gas tooling. In addition, Westminster produces over 50 different grades of ready-to-press (RTP) powder and customized round tools for industry and refurbishes those round tools for its customers, many of them big names in industry. It has a competitive advantage by being the only plant in the Sandvik Coromant family that produces inserts, round tools and the materials used to manufacture them.

I think it’s saying, you don’t have an excuse to buy it just for that, because here’s a cheap/good way to do it, not that it can’t do it.

We use extruded aluminum for making work benches all the time and just use a chop saw to cut it. Pretty square!

Golden rule of jig-making: If you ever have to make more than three of something, build a jig to do it. The router can be taken off of this and the thing hung up on the wall until needed again. Of course some sort of jig for your router table IF YOUR HAVE ONE will do just as well.

Well with a router table you wouldn’t even need a jig… Set up the fence just shy of the bit, put the extrusion against the sled and fence, push, done… Not saying he shouldn’t have built a jig, just saying a standard router table would probably have been a lot more useful and versatile for the same kind of money/effort, while also fullfiling the exact same purpose Also, making a table/sled setup rigid and precise may be easier than the whole plate/rollers assembly

It could be his butter bot “What is my purpose?” “You cut square edges” i.e. he wants to leave it jigged up like that ready to go because he frequently cuts square ends and doesn’t want to re-jig a multipurpose tool every damn time.

A years-long push to refine processes, strategically invest in automation, develop new business and upskill workers has paid off in increased productivity and profitability, a stellar safety record and outstanding quality metrics. Total manufacturing time (number of days from the start of an order until it is shipped from the plant) is down 19% in the past five years. Productivity as a percentage of sales is up 23% in the past three. Customer complaints are at 1.2 per 1 million inserts. Average machine availability rate was 97.26% in 2021. And the manufacturing rejection rate in the powder and blanks department has decreased by 46% since 2010, resulting in significant cost savings and setting the benchmark in the Sandvik Coromant group.

Westminster’s lean journey began in 2012. The plant is currently focusing on signage and flow throughout the shop, with supervisors and production workers taking charge of the labeling and organizing for their own departments.

Before folks chime in with “why not just use a miter saw or chop saw,” remember that blade deflection is always present, they won’t get as easily repeatable cuts. This is also better for truing existing faces — if you had a piece that was cut at 89 degrees you’ll have a hard time getting the saw blade to not deflect against the shallow angle.

Heh. The rule is, you share something cool you are proud of and we pick it apart or tell you why it’s the wrong answer, isn’t it? Thanks for playing lol. I think it’s a cool hack.

Squaring extrusion is a very poor excuse to buy a mill…. Much better to buy a nice lathe with a big spindle bore.

Interesting approach – and it has given me an idea for making a trenching jig for my woodworking router. However, I cut Al plate and heatsink extrusions with my Makita mitre saw. There are a couple of challenges – fthe first is clamping the material so it is square and does not move and the second is dealing with all the chips – they get everywhere & here in the UK the weather often precludes working outdoors!

We love the simplicity and utility of this jig, but can see a couple of areas for improvement. Adding some quick-throw toggle clamps would be a nice touch, as would extending the MDF bed and fence a bit for longer cuts. But even as it is, this tool gets the job done, and doesn’t break the bank like a mill purchase might. Still, if your heart is set on a mill, who are we to stand in the way?

Still leaves sharp edges. Just more square and shorter sharp edges. Needs to build something that can quickly sand or file the ends as well because doing so manually takes far longer than it should!

Because router spindles are perfectly concentric and don’t deflect? Plexiglass plates and rubber wheels have infinite modulus of elasticity?

To hear more from Sandvik Coromant and other IW Best Plants winners, attend the Manufacturing & Technology Show from Oct. 18-20 in Cleveland. All four winner's of this year's awards will participate in a panel discussion on Oct. 19 to discuss how they approach continuous improvement and strive toward manufacturing excellence.

I’ve seen a beancounter step out of her space and add a zero to a drawing. She wouldn’t let me add a zero to my check, didn’t get how the two were related, her zero was to the right of the decimal. Still don’t know what she was thinking.

As opposed to where they get hammered out of cans, probably Tennents extra in Scotland and VB in Aus.

I used to use a 14″ TCT circular blade at about 18000 RPM. The Centrifugal force at that RPM is probably just below tensile strength and kept the blade perfectly straight. I used wax (paraffin) and never placed any part of my body inline with the blade! but yeah perfect cuts every time.

Though if you’ve got a dozen poor excuses for getting one, you might be in better shape than the dude with a 30% single excuse, cost/benefit wise.

That looks to be a substantially larger footprint than some mini-mill, which will come with advantages of considerably better motor and gearbox, the ability to fit a wider range of tools, more control of cut depths and lengths – its just a more versatile tool.

What is the rake angle? I have done well with a triple chip carbide with zero deg rake angle and cut lots of 1/4 inch aluminum plate and rods and such.

Wouldn’t it be just easier and a lot more versatile to use a router table with a carefuly squared up sled ? Looks like a very expensive for a single use…