Cutting Precision Holes In Light Sheet Metal

Wax your saw blade before cutting sheet metal.

Cutting precision holes in light sheet metal.

Your hole burrs depend on your drill or cutter. Part 2 of 2. The process is accomplished through a shearing force that removes material from the sheet of metal leaving a square rectangle or another desired geometric design. Position the pattern on the sheet metal where the hole needs to go and draw a line around it using a permanent marker.

Open the snips all the way at the beginning of a cut and seat the sheet metal as deep as possible into the opening this provides you with maximum leverage. Such as straight cut snips left cut the right cut etc. Create a paper pattern of the size and shape of hole you wish to cut. In larger holes use a deburring tool.

Apply a thin layer of paraffin or saw wax to the blade just enough to cover the surface before making any cuts in the metal. In this 2 part video tubalcain shows several different methods of cutting holes in sheet metal. 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.

Hot metal chips will fly everywhere. Measure from the edges of the sheet metal to the point at which you wish to place the hole. Tin snips or aviation snips are one of the most widely used tools to cut sheet metals. In small holes finger twist larger twist drill over the hole.

Punching is a metal cutting process used to create cutouts and holes of various shapes sizes and dimensions in a metal sheet. For clean precise holes in thin sheet metal make a wood sandwich. In response to a question about h. They look like scissors and work fine with sheet metals like brass aluminum tin steel etc.

For cutting out holes in sheet metal it s going to be necessary that you begin with a starter hole this can be formed by using the hammer and chisel method to punch through the metal. Let s discover some awesome saws to cut a round hole in sheet metal. Some items cut clean and some create rough and sharp insides. Smooth out the hole.

There are some cuts that you can do with decent tin snips. The wooden bread layers of the sandwich keep the sheet metal flat and prevent the drill bit from wandering as it bores through the sheet metal. Metal is difficult for saws to cut and rubbing wax along the blade helps prolong its sharpness. Knockout punches circle cutters are also pretty famous for creating holes in metal sheets.

In our test it cut through rebar like a hot knife through butter.