Cutting Thin Sheet Metal Straight

Here are a few tips for cutting metal with a recip saw.

Cutting thin sheet metal straight.

Set your saw to straight rather than oscillating if there s a choice. Right cutting left cutting and straight cutting snips. Choose between red blue or yellow snips based on the cut direction. Simply line up your chisel along the line you are going to cut and strike the back of it with a hammer.

Worked well to cut thin steel. Cutting straight lines with an electric saw. Making detailed cuts with. 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.

How to cut sheet metal method 1 of 4. Using a chisel and hammer is the most basic form of cutting sheet metal. Extend blade life by keeping the saw s speed slow. Make long strokes for long straight cuts.

Nice tight blade contact. There are many different types of tin snips but for cutting sheet metal you only need to work with three basic types. The illustrations are for a small bracket but i have cut 3 foot long pieces using this method. Longer blade was nice for long straight cuts 148 see all buying options.

If you ve hit it hard enough the chisel will cut the sheet metal if it s thin enough. Using tin snips for thin sheets. Lift the cutoff strip and roll it to the side to prevent it from binding on the tin snips handle. If you use metal shears to cut thin sheet metal such as duct metal it curls and can be difficult to flaten properly.

Right and left cutting snips are used for making curved cuts while straight cutting snips make straight cuts. Open the cutters as wide as you can at the start of each stroke and make long smooth strokes.