Cutting Tiny Shapes In Sheet Metal

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.

Cutting tiny shapes in sheet metal.

For clarity here is the shape below. Align the snips with the line you want to cut with the upper blade of the tin snips touching the sheet metal. I have to cut out all the solid lines and then fold on the dotted lines. Plus a plasma torch can be used for thick metal too so they are really handy.

Thick using a ferrous metal cutting blade. Green snips are designed to cut clockwise curves and red snips to cut counterclockwise curves. 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. In our test it cut through rebar like a hot knife through butter.

Mark the cut line with adhesive tape and draw your cut lines. There are hundreds of complex small angles in this shape. Clamp the sheet metal in place on your work table to hold it in place while you work. Instead of using a pencil a magic marker or soapstone kevin caron suggests.

For less precise cuts metal shears cut sterling silver quickly. It may not be an obvious choice but fitted with the right blade a circular saw is a great metal cutting tool. I m trying to cut a very large shape out of sheet metal about 3 x5 overall. Compound snips also called aviation snips are color coded.

The fastest way to cut sheet metal in complex shapes or straight lines without a shear is a plasma torch. This is a pepakura pattern if anyone is familiar with the concept. Metal shears may resemble scissors or they may look more like small gardening shears. The other tools mainly make round holes and to use them you start by drilling a small pilot hole.

Tin snips are primarily used for cutting thin sheet metal like tin aluminum brass and thin gauge stainless steel. 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. Place the dremel cutter on the cutting line perpendicularly to the sheet metal. Install one of the cutoff cutters.

You can cut mild steel up to about 3 8 in. Hot metal chips will fly everywhere. Loosen up the drill head with the provided wrench. Hold the tool tight.