Cutting Thin Aluminum Sheets

And you can use the same technique anytime you need a straight cut on aluminum or other light gauge sheet metal even steel.

Cutting thin aluminum sheets.

Clamp the aluminum down. How to cut fold sheet aluminium. An air powered sheet metal nibbler or a nibbler head attached to a power drill can cut through galvanized corrugated aluminum sheet as well as flat sheet up to 16 gauge. Clamp the sheet metal in place on your work table to hold it in place while.

To cut the sheets of metal rathe. Align the tin snips with the sheet metal. Using a softer piece of material such as wood as a backer will allow the chisel to push through the metal and prevent wear on the chisel s tip. Using tin snips for thin sheets 1.

Cutting aluminum sheet metal with a hammer and chisel is relatively straight forward line up the edge of the chisel along the line you wish to cut and strike the chisel with a hammer. Choose between red blue or yellow snips based on the cut direction. Clamp or hold a straightedge or square along the cutting marks and score a line with the tip of a sharp utility knife blade. Sheet aluminium can be cut without the need for a guillotine or tin snips which tend to deform the metal.

Use cnc router bits for cutting aluminum carbide endmills cnc routers use a variety of specialized cutters that should not be used with aluminum. Be the first to share. 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. Set the piece of aluminum on a table or over sawhorses and position it so the cutting area has open space underneath it.

Then bend the sheet back and forth a few times to snap it. Make your first cut. Mark the start and stopping point of your cut with a grease pencil or some similar implement that marks on sheet metal. Downcut spirals compression cutters and the like have no place in aluminum work.

You want cutters specifically made for aluminum.