Using a chisel and hammer is the most basic form of cutting sheet metal.
How to precisely cut sheet metal.
There are three tools that kevin caron uses a lot to get a precise cut from a thin piece of metal.
Using tin snips for thin sheets.
The way the metal separates hence the cut will be largely determined by the clearance.
Get a strip of masking tape from the top and bottom of the sheet metal.
They don t cut curves well.
There are two ways to cut round ducts.
I hope this reads sensibly.
Clearance is an important factor in the design of a sheet metal cutting process.
A handheld cutting tool fitted with a metal cut off wheel will easily cut through sheet.
Place the metal on a hard surface to score it and on long pieces do the bending with the score place along a sharp edge of a bench and if necessary clamp the fixed piece with a long piece of flat wood to prevent buckling the metal while bending it back and forth.
Jigsaws and metal cutting band saws are more work but can make most cuts in light to medium sheet metal.
How to cut sheet metal method 1 of 4.
After cutting metal there s often a sharp edge left.
Go slowly proceed with the utmost caution and wear hearing protection.
Be sure to remove it.
Simply line up your chisel along the line you are going to cut and strike the back of it with a hammer.
One tool is a foot shear or a jump shear.
As discussed earlier cutting clearance is the straight line lateral distance between the edge of the punch and the edge of the die hole.
First if you want to cut a duct near the middle and use both ends mark and cut the duct before snapping it together.
However if you attempt to cut sheet metal with a top rated hacksaw follow these couple of tips rub some wax along with the blade of the hacksaw.
Another tool is a plate shear for cutting slightly.
This way it won t create separate metal chips.
Making detailed cuts with.
Straight cutting compound snips work best for cutting thick or doubled up sheet metal.
Cutting straight lines with an electric saw.
It might sound crazy but you can cut sheets of aluminum on a table saw.
Wax your saw blade before cutting sheet metal.
