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Sliding carriage, repairing aluminium (1 for Wallace?)

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Sliding carriage, repairing aluminium (1 for Wallace?)

Postby Jimmy Mack » 17 Feb 2018, 16:17

I bought this SCM sliding panel saw a couple of years ago (second hand. Made circa '98), and there's some (typical) damage to the extruded aluminium carriage.

Is there a way to build the edge back up? I'm not knowledgeable in this area. I've tagged Wallace, but others may be able to advise.

You can see from the straight edge it's as wide as 5mm in places, combined with the clearance from the blade it's about 12mm!

Thanks in advance,

Jim

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Re: Sliding carriage, repairing aluminium (1 for Wallace?)

Postby 9fingers » 17 Feb 2018, 18:26

You could cut the damaged area out and glue in a piece of aluminium bar of the correct thickness dress it back to the correct line. JB weld would be a suitable adhesive.
Or you could drill into the edge and fix in a number of reinforcing pins with loctite or JB weld and then build up oversize with two part car body filler. Dress to size when fully hard.

I'd avoid building up with weld as it is liable to distort due to temperature differences/stress and you would need one hell of an oven to preheat the whole piece.

Good Luck

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Re: Sliding carriage, repairing aluminium (1 for Wallace?)

Postby Robert » 17 Feb 2018, 18:39

My 2p.

I'd say building the edge up with TIG weld is not a option as the heat would most likely buckle the extrusion.

There are super versions of fillers (like car filler but industrial) that might work but equally might fall off. May be worth a try as it is the easiest fix.

It appears to be 6mm thick which is probably enough to mechanically fix to the edge with screws. Aluminium cuts fine with a TCT blade and plenty of lubricant (WD40 or parrafin).
You could cut all the damage off full length then drill, counterbore and say M3 cap screw a rectangular bar onto the cut edge to restore the width.

edit.

I need to type faster...
Last edited by Robert on 17 Feb 2018, 18:39, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Sliding carriage, repairing aluminium (1 for Wallace?)

Postby Coley » 17 Feb 2018, 20:55

Have you noticed you get more tear out in that area ? Mines the same, but with a sharp blade it doesn't affect the finish.

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Re: Sliding carriage, repairing aluminium (1 for Wallace?)

Postby wallace » 08 Mar 2018, 10:43

Sorry Jimmy I missed this, not really my comfort zone being not cast iron and ancient. That liquid metal filler seems to stick well and sand nicely.
Does the slider move in and out towards the blade? I'd be tempted to just remove a full length off the extrusion to give a new edge.
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Re: Sliding carriage, repairing aluminium (1 for Wallace?)

Postby Jimmy Mack » 08 Mar 2018, 11:07

wallace wrote:Sorry Jimmy I missed this, not really my comfort zone being not cast iron and ancient. That liquid metal filler seems to stick well and sand nicely.
Does the slider move in and out towards the blade? I'd be tempted to just remove a full length off the extrusion to give a new edge.
Thanks chaps.

Ooo...I'd not considered trimming the length... Could be worth a shot, I'll see if i have enough adjustment in the carriage. What blade can I use to Trim it? Any tips?

Jim

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Re: Sliding carriage, repairing aluminium (1 for Wallace?)

Postby 9fingers » 08 Mar 2018, 11:40

Blade for aluminium? I tend to use my second best combi blade with good results.

Bear in mind that in this application you are possibly looking for the new cut edge to be as near zero clearance to the blade you would be using to cut wood. You might want to pack out the ali cutting blade if it is narrower kerf to get the LHS of the teeth in the right position.

If you have a suitable small diameter blade, use that to reduce the cutting speed. Feed slowly. Stand to one side to avoid a shower of quite hot chips.

hth
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Re: Sliding carriage, repairing aluminium (1 for Wallace?)

Postby TrimTheKing » 08 Mar 2018, 11:49

Any kind of tablesaw blade will cut Alu without issue.
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Re: Sliding carriage, repairing aluminium (1 for Wallace?)

Postby Jimmy Mack » 08 Mar 2018, 18:16

Cheers chaps, so spent most of the day messing... The usual scenarios of difficult to get to adjustments and removing body work to get to them!.... Bit like changing a headlamp bulb on a new car! ...And everyone you tighten a lock nut it goes off!

Summing up, I've used the maximum adjustment to bring the carriage as close as possible, there wasn't the potential to take a clean rip off the carriage length though it is an improvement of about 3mm and I've given it a good clean out. Was probably due a proper tune up after its initial install last year too.

I shall continue to ponder a repair.ImageImage

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Re: Sliding carriage, repairing aluminium (1 for Wallace?)

Postby TrimTheKing » 08 Mar 2018, 23:39

I've just had a :idea: moment !

Do you have an oldish handplane? I have successfully handplaned down an aluminium door threshold at about 3mm thick so it would fit!

If you can get the table off, clamp tow straight bits of timber either side of it along the length of the wavy edge (only as far down as the 'lowest' points of the dips then you should be able to handplane it flat.
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Re: Sliding carriage, repairing aluminium (1 for Wallace?)

Postby TrimTheKing » 08 Mar 2018, 23:41

Reading back, I think that would probably leave you with too much gap wouldn't it, if you've already used up all the lateral adjustment...
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