A guy who seemed to know what he was talking about told me that you could cut soft metals like aluminum on a regular table saw. You need a many-toothed carbide blade, preferably one of those new, very thin ones (just over 1mm thick). You lubricate the blade with WD-40 and let 'er rip.
I was skeptical, but I tried it (on aluminum) and it really works - does a beautiful job. For very thin metal, sandwich it between layers of plywood or MDF.
I hope I don’t need to add that eye protection is essential.
I was surprised when I went to work for one company who was expanding. They were in the process of building a new manufacturing line.The gear boxes were hand made from 2 foot X 2 foot X1foot thick aluminum. It was cut to size using a circular saw and carbide blades.Of course everything was finished off on a mill.
You have to be careful with some kinds of Aluminum. I assume you were cutting something like 6061-T6 or some other good-machining alloy. Pure aluminum (1100) and many aluminum alloys (3003,5005,5052) are a nightmare to cut because they are extremely gummy and will mess up your saw blade, even if it’s carbide or diamond.
I do some machine shop work on the side and we do this all the time. Last night I cut a bunch of extruded aluminum on a Delta radial arm saw. I bought a very nice carbide tipped blade for about $85 and it tears through stuff and leaves such a beautiful finish that I don’t have to clean it up on the mill or even deburr with more than a bit of sandpaper.
I used a water based oil coolant in a spray bottle. Not so much for the lubricity but the keep the blade cool. Heat is the enemy, trust me I’m a tool salesman.
I’ve had success cutting quarter inch thick copper plate as well. Lots of horsepower on a 220 line and you can have chips bouncing into the ceiling.