Suggestions on cutting aluminum

[BirdDog]

I'm looking for a little advice on cutting aluminum. I've only cut aluminum once and it was a pretty simple design for a trophy and out of fairly thick material, 1/4 inch if I remember right. I have a customer that I did a design for out of 12 ga steel and now he wants another one of the same design out of aluminum. When I'm cutting steel, as a general rule, I make sure my minimum width of material between cuts in .150" to keep it from burning out. Here's a pic of the design and it's about 2'x4'. I can figure out the cut speeds and settings to use but my question is how thin of material can I use and is .150 sufficient on aluminum or does it need to be thicker, specifically on areas like the fishing line? I appreciate any input.

[plasmanewbie]

I have always found thinner aluminum (.150" - .050") to be very easy to cut. I think for the design you are doing .080" would be sufficient unless it is more than decorative and needs strength. I would experiment by doing some test cuts to see how thin you can get that fishing line and then modify the design to be use that thickness on the line and bikes. Would love to see it once you have it cut.

[BirdDog]

I have always found thinner aluminum (.150" - .050") to be very easy to cut. I think for the design you are doing .080" would be sufficient unless it is more than decorative and needs strength. I would experiment by doing some test cuts to see how thin you can get that fishing line and then modify the design to be use that thickness on the line and bikes. Would love to see it once you have it cut.

Thanks for the info. I'm going to put together a quote for him this week. If I end up doing the job, I'll post a pic of the final. Good idea on the test cuts and adjusting the design to the thickness that will hold.