How Do You Cut Thin Sheet Metal

To cut straight lines use an electric saw.

How do you cut thin sheet metal.

There are some cuts that you can do with decent tin snips. Using a chisel and hammer is the most basic form of cutting sheet metal. The illustrations are for a small bracket but i have cut 3 foot. If you ve hit it hard enough the chisel will cut the sheet metal if it s thin enough.

For thinner gauge metal you may want to use a piece of scrap wood as backing so that the stainless steel sheet does not bend during cutting. Start by taping both sides of the sheet metal directly over the line you want to cut and clamp the metal to a work station so it doesn t move. These photo steps show that it can be done using a utility knife. They look like scissors and work fine with sheet metals like brass aluminum tin steel etc.

How to cut thin sheet metal and keep it flat. Then grip the saw with both hands and push the blade through the metal to cut it. As you cut one side of the sheet metal will ride up and over the lower jaw. Simply line up your chisel along the line you are going to cut and strike the back of it with a hammer.

It may not be an obvious choice but fitted with the right blade a circular saw is a great metal cutting tool. You can cut mild steel up to about 3 8 in. Such as straight cut snips left cut the right cut etc. Step 2 clamp your steel to a work bench or sawhorse.

If you use metal shears to cut thin sheet metal such as duct metal it curls and can be difficult to flaten properly. Thick using a ferrous metal cutting blade. If you ve got a lot of straight cutting to do buy tin snips like the one shown in photo 4. For thin sheets of metal you can use tin snips to cut through it.

Tin snips or aviation snips are one of the most widely used tools to cut sheet metals. Cut steel between 16 gauge and 8 gauge with an electric jigsaw with a metal cutting blade or with a hacksaw. And the long blades make it easy to cut straight and leave a smooth edge. Hot metal chips will fly everywhere.