Cutting Steel Sheet Metal

Thicker steel like pipes tubes and plates may require the use of power saws and torches.

Cutting steel sheet metal.

It may not be an obvious choice but fitted with the right blade a circular saw is a great metal cutting tool. Its head rotates 360 degrees to make any job easy. Steel comes in many different forms and thicknesses. Thick using a ferrous metal cutting blade.

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. Hot metal chips will fly. It will glide through 14 gauge material without much hesitation. Steel thickness is referred to as gauge the smaller the number of gauge the thicker the steel.

Thin gauge steel like sheet metal can be cut with a large variety of tools. In our test it cut through rebar like a hot knife through butter. Cut metal with your circular saw. For thin sheets of metal you can use tin snips to cut through it.

To cut straight lines use an electric saw. Once you have the starter hole work your way out to the desired radius using the correct red or green colored snip. The attachments will cut sheet metal corrugate pipes powder coated material stainless steel copper aluminum formica plastic and fiberglass. I m using irwin to.

A handheld cutting tool fitted with a metal cut off wheel will easily cut through sheet. Jigsaws and metal cutting band saws are more work but can make most cuts in light to medium sheet metal. It can cut straight curved or complex designs and leaves edges with minimal burrs.