How Do U Cut Sheet Metal

Straight cutting compound snips work best for cutting thick or doubled up sheet metal.

How do u cut sheet metal.

An angle grinder fitted with an abrasive metal cutting disc works well to cut all kinds of metal including bolts angle iron rebar and even sheet metal. The abrasive material can be made of aluminum oxide zirconia silicon carbide or others. Instead we recommend using a diamond blade that s rated to cut ferrous metal. But the discs wear down quickly cut slowly and shrink in diameter as you use them.

It s the same material ducts are made of and is commonly sold in large flat sheets in 18 to 28 gauge thicknesses you can also find sheet metal in aluminum or even copper and brass and they all can be cut using the same tools and techniques. This device is a power tool using an abrasive disc to cut the metal. If you ve hit it hard enough the chisel will cut the sheet metal if it s thin enough. How to cut sheet metal method 1 of 4.

There are three tools that kevin caron uses a lot to get a precise cut from a thin piece of metal. The illustrations are for a small bracket but i have cut 3 foot long pieces using this method. One tool is a foot shear or a jump shear. Cutting straight lines with an electric saw.

There are two ways to cut round ducts. Using a chisel and hammer is the most basic form of cutting sheet metal. Wax your saw blade before cutting sheet metal. They don t cut curves well.

Aluminum oxide works well for mild steel. At the beginning of each cut it is important to open the tool completely and seat the edge of the sheet metal as deep as possible in the jaws. A handheld cutting tool fitted with a metal cut off wheel will easily cut through sheet. Jigsaws and metal cutting band saws are more work but can make most cuts in light to medium sheet metal.

Using tin snips for thin sheets. To break it out by tools that can cut metal the list below details the various methods. Align the tool s blade with your pattern line the. First if you want to cut a duct near the middle and use both ends mark and cut the duct before snapping it together.

If you use metal shears to cut thin sheet metal such as duct metal it curls and can be difficult to flaten properly. Making detailed cuts with. Choose between red blue or yellow snips based on the cut direction. Simply line up your chisel along the line you are going to cut and strike the back of it with a hammer.