Best Way To Cut Sheet Metal Straight

The duckbill bladed tin snip is better for cutting in tighter curves but the tapered design of the blade makes it less robust for cutting thicker gauged sheets.

Best way to cut sheet metal straight. Place the sheet metal on top of the workbench and lay out your pattern using a tape measure pencil and straightedge. Wax your saw blade before cutting sheet metal. They don t cut curves well. Using a chisel and hammer is the most basic form of cutting sheet metal.

If you ve hit it hard enough the chisel will cut the sheet metal if it s thin enough. Jigsaws and metal cutting band saws are more work but can make most cuts in light to medium sheet metal. 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. Straight cutting compound snips work best for cutting thick or doubled up sheet metal.

Making detailed cuts with. If a straight line is required it is best to shear flat metal in a metal shear. Here are a few tips for cutting metal with a recip saw. There are two ways to cut round ducts.

How to cut sheet metal method 1 of 4. Using a straight edge clamped to the edge of the bench is also a good tip to cut thin metal precisely. The normal blade or straight pattern blade is best for making long straight cuts. Standard straight pattern tin snips.

Choose between red blue or yellow snips based on the cut direction. If your project requires curved cuts make an easy economical and adjustable. Different methods of cutting metal work best in different situations. First if you want to cut a duct near the middle and use both ends mark and cut the duct before snapping it together.

Using your power tool ensure you re up against the straight edge and can follow along the. Set your saw to straight rather than oscillating if there s a choice. Choose a blade with 20 to 24 tpi teeth per inch for thin metal 10 to 18 tpi for medium thickness metal and about 8. Cutting straight lines with an electric saw.

Extend blade life by keeping the saw s speed slow. A handheld cutting tool fitted with a metal cut off wheel will easily cut through sheet. Using tin snips for thin sheets.