How Do You Cut Aluminum Sheets Cleanly

All types of aluminum trim are readily cut with standard saws although certain types of power saws will require carbide blades.

How do you cut aluminum sheets cleanly.

Since you ll be cutting. Using a softer piece of material such as wood as a backer will allow the chisel to push through the metal and prevent wear on the chisel s tip. A handheld cutting tool fitted with a metal cut off wheel will easily cut through sheet. Using electric power tools 1.

If you ve hit it hard enough the chisel will cut the sheet metal if it s thin enough. When you cut materials of roughly 1 8 inch thickness buy a saw blade that features 10 teeth per inch of diameter e g a 12 inch x 120 tooth or 10 inch x 100 tooth blade any aluminum piece that is 1 4 inch in thickness 8 teeth per inch of diameter is ideal. Simply line up your chisel along the line you are going to cut and strike the back of it with a hammer. Cutting aluminum sheet metal with a hammer and chisel is relatively straight forward line up the edge of the chisel along the line you wish to cut and strike the chisel with a hammer.

Apply cutting lubricants on your blades or bits. If you only have a few pieces of aluminum trim to cut you can cut through the trim with an inexpensive handsaw. Use a wood cutting saw with carbide tipped blades to cut most aluminum. Select a fine toothed blade and don t cut.

These photo steps show that it can be done using a utility knife. This can range from standard oil to saw wax. Jigsaws and metal cutting band saws are more work but can make most cuts in light to medium sheet metal. Reduce the diameter of the.

The illustrations are for a small bracket but i have cut 3 foot long pieces using this method. Kevin caron is cutting 16 gauge 5051 soft aluminum and it s a little too thick for tinsnips so he needs to use a power tool.