Cutting Tiny Shapes In Sheet Metal

Use shears to cut a small piece of silver from a larger sheet for cutting with a jeweler s saw for cutting templates from a thin sheet of metal or for chain cutting.

Cutting tiny shapes in sheet metal.

Mark the cut line with adhesive tape and draw your cut lines. This is a pepakura pattern if anyone is familiar with the concept. Align the snips with the line you want to cut with the upper blade of the tin snips touching the sheet metal. Hold the tool tight.

Compound snips also called aviation snips are color coded. Cut metal with your circular saw. Install one of the cutoff cutters. Green snips are designed to cut clockwise curves and red snips to cut counterclockwise curves.

It may not be an obvious choice but fitted with the right blade a circular saw is a great metal cutting tool. Thick using a ferrous metal cutting blade. Instead of using a pencil a magic marker or soapstone kevin caron suggests. Loosen up the drill head with the provided wrench.

Clamp the sheet metal in place on your work table to hold it in place while you work. The other tools mainly make round holes and to use them you start by drilling a small pilot hole. For clarity here is the shape below. 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. For less precise cuts metal shears cut sterling silver quickly. I have to cut out all the solid lines and then fold on the dotted lines. Tin snips are primarily used for cutting thin sheet metal like tin aluminum brass and thin gauge stainless steel.

There are hundreds of complex small angles in this shape. You can cut mild steel up to about 3 8 in. 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. The fastest way to cut sheet metal in complex shapes or straight lines without a shear is a plasma torch.

Plus a plasma torch can be used for thick metal too so they are really handy. When set to a low amperage a plasma torch won t warp the metal and can yield quick clean cuts that help you get the job done quickly. I m trying to cut a very large shape out of sheet metal about 3 x5 overall. 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.