Cutting Tiny Shapes In Sheet Metal

Clamp the sheet metal in place on your work table to hold it in place while you work.

Cutting tiny shapes in sheet metal.

When set to a low amperage a plasma torch won t warp the metal and can yield quick clean cuts that help you get the job done quickly. Tin snips are primarily used for cutting thin sheet metal like tin aluminum brass and thin gauge stainless steel. Use shears to cut a small piece of silver from a larger sheet for cutting with a jeweler s saw for cutting templates from a thin sheet of metal or for chain cutting. In our test it cut through rebar like a hot knife through butter.

The cutters are offset below the handle so you can keep your cutting sheet metal hand above the work and the compound action allows you to cut thicker material with less effort. This is a pepakura pattern if anyone is familiar with the concept. Loosen up the drill head with the provided wrench. Align the snips with the line you want to cut with the upper blade of the tin snips touching the sheet metal.

Hold the tool tight. Mark the cut line with adhesive tape and draw your cut lines. The other tools mainly make round holes and to use them you start by drilling a small pilot hole. For less precise cuts metal shears cut sterling silver quickly.

Green snips are designed to cut clockwise curves and red snips to cut counterclockwise curves. I have to cut out all the solid lines and then fold on the dotted lines. Cut metal with your circular saw. The fastest way to cut sheet metal in complex shapes or straight lines without a shear is a plasma torch.

Install one of the cutoff cutters. Sheet metal cutters and nibblers can be used for cutting irregular shapes and for cutting up big sheets but they cannot cut holes less than 25 to 50mm across. Plus a plasma torch can be used for thick metal too so they are really handy. I m trying to cut a very large shape out of sheet metal about 3 x5 overall.

For clarity here is the shape below. Metal shears may resemble scissors or they may look more like small gardening shears. Compound snips also called aviation snips are color coded. Thick using a ferrous metal cutting blade.

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. When cutting a thin piece of metal precisely you need to make sure to start with a good line and a good mark to follow. Hot metal chips will fly everywhere.