How To Shape Sheet Metal With Hand Tools

Tin snips or aviation snips are one of the most widely used tools to cut sheet metals.

How to shape sheet metal with hand tools.

How can you go about shaping metal with simple hand tools alone. For this example we will hammer form some tank end caps. This is a handy metal fabrication technique you need to learn. Now that you know your bend allowance take your protractor and draw a clear line with your marker across the point at which you will bend your sheet metal.

There are some cuts that you can do with decent tin snips. Hand operated bead rollers like this one form beads and ribs into sheet metal. Follow along as i demonstrate how to hammer forming metal. Such as straight cut snips left cut the right cut etc.

Mark your bend lines. But the discs wear down quickly cut slowly and shrink in diameter as you use them. In the past we ve presented metal shaping articles that showed the average inexperienced joe how to create just about anything from a flat sheet of steel provided he has access to the right tools. Instead we recommend using a diamond blade that s rated to cut ferrous metal.

They look like scissors and work fine with sheet metals like brass aluminum tin steel etc. Hammer forming is one of the oldest simplest and least expensive ways to shape sheet metal. Numerous forming and folding dies are available for bead rollers.