Best way to cut sheetmetal

[ford3]

all of the above suggestions and tools are good, but there is no way to cut a perfectly straight line by hand, if you need clean straight cuts find a shhet metal shop to cut them, shop around till you fond a shop thats reasonable, if you buy the material from them they will be more willing to work with you on price

[Kurt in NJ]

At work a bench shear arrived, I laughed at it, but have grown to like it --it has about a 12" cut, not too hard to cut a sheet in a straight line --i have seen them for 100$ --this one on enco sometimes has free shipping --http://www.use-enco.com/CGI/INPDFF?PMPAGE=672&PMCTLG=00

I havn't seen the most baisic method --cold chisel and hammer mentioned ---but going the the sheet metal shop is good advice

[Tom Wesenberg]

Originally Posted by Kurt in NJ

At work a bench shear arrived, I laughed at it, but have grown to like it --it has about a 12" cut, not too hard to cut a sheet in a straight line --i have seen them for 100$ --this one on enco sometimes has free shipping --http://www.use-enco.com/CGI/INPDFF?PMPAGE=672&PMCTLG=00

I havn't seen the most baisic method --cold chisel and hammer mentioned ---but going the the sheet metal shop is good advice

LOL, when I was 12 that's how my dad and I removed the sides and top from his old 1950 Studebaker, so I could have a field car for the back 40.

Sure wish I had that car back in good condition, like it was before we cut it up into a field buggy.

[Joe K]

I'm in the middle of putting new patch panels on the bottoms of a spare pair of CC pickup doors.

The best I've found is to use a 4" grinding wheel in either an air grinder or an electric grinder. You can buy the 4" wheels in 0.035 thin-ness and following a line is not hard.

The wheels are available at www.mscdirect.com and are
MSC #: 59963223


It leaves a cut virtually distortion free and any imperfections/unstraightness can be removed with a file held perpendicular and longitudinally.

Air grinder available at Harbor Freight.



The 90 degree version may be easier to use but I don't own one.

Don't forget the mandrels.

Joe K

[Pete]

You say you have a wood band saw.
How much horsepower does it have???? 1/2 or more??
Will it mount standard 16 or 18 tooth metal cutting blade????
An old worn out blade works fine for FRICTION SAWING.
Clean the wood dust out of the saw first.
Run the saw on it's HIGHEST speed and wear a welding jacket, gloves and a full cover face shield.
There's going to be a lot of hot chips flying around. Some will be red hot.
Clamp some kind of ripping fence on the saw table.
Have at it. Feed as fast as you have horsepower to keep the blade speed up to maximum.
As strange as it seems, there is almost no heat spread into the sawed parts.
It all goes out in the kerf.
Oh, by the way, it's going to be noisy. Wear ear muffs.

[Ted Duke]

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Back in 1972+ I did a lot of it with an old Sears Craftsman saber saw and LOTS of steel cutting blades (it was all I had), but NEVER AGAIN, now I borrow my sons old electrics nibbler until I buy one.

[nospartsman]

Cutting a couple strips can be done without buying anything, by using a sharp scribe, a straight edge and your hack saw. If your strips are only a couple inches wide as you mentioned, use the hack saw for the 2 inch side and score the long dimension several times and score the back side also, use some pressure. When you think you have scored it enough take a couple crescent wrenches or vice grips to grab the strip and move it up and down til it cracks off. If it starts to bend near the score edge, you didn't score it deep enough. Take a file to dress the raw edge and you're done. If you don't have a strong scribe, sharpen a nail set to a point, they're harder than sheet steel. Problem solved no tools bought, money spent. Not the best way, but the cheapest.

[howie123]

I have heard that a bandsaw can do a nice job on sheet metal if the blade is reversed. That is the teeth are pointing up and running quite fast. I haven't tried it myself.

[theHIGHLANDER]

Originally Posted by tbirdtbird

that Black and Decker is actually a nibbler, and very pricey, at that.

If you mean what I posted, no it's not a nibbler. A nibbler removes a little crescent of metal as it cuts. I hate those too.

This is a shear:


This is a nibbler: