I would like to craft a slatted ventilation panel/grill like this:
The frame will be made of square aluminium tubes (25 mm side, 3 mm thick). The slanting panes will be cut of 4 mm thick aluminium sheet.
The main challenge here is to affix the panes to the frame in a nice, regular fashion. My intention is to cut shallow (0.5-1.0 mm deep) grooves on the tube sides, apply some metal epoxy (e.g. JB Weld) and slide the panes in the grooves:
The whole point of the grooves would be to direct/hold the panes in the right position while the epoxy hardens.
How do I cut the grooves?
Is there some artful tool that could save me from tedious and error-prone work with a hacksaw and file?
Best Answer
I believe this can be done in a home-shop environment using a table saw with a carbide tipped blade. I cut 25 mm square aluminum tube often enough without harming the saw. The swarf is a bit of a mess, as one might expect.
The challenge here is to properly index the cuts. As you require 4 mm slots, it means two passes for each slot, along with the need to index for each individual slot.
I think the best approach would be to construct a sled with the required angle and create a stop-block that is secured to the angled portion of the sled with indexed holes into which you'd thread a bolt or screw for more precision.
The requirement for two passes would be managed by a shim on the stop block. One pass for the main cut, insert the shim and make a second pass for the correct width, then relocate the stop block
From Lumberjocks.com:
The photo represents a simple, flexible saw sled for angle cuts. The indexing stop block could be attached to a longer piece of wood on the right side in the image. Alternatively, one could make the right block indexed to the sled or to the hold-down clamp.
This isn't necessarily the only answer, and is expected to be used as a starting point for expanding one's thought process to reach the goal.