Cutting Thin Aluminum Sheets

Clamp or hold a straightedge or square along the cutting marks and score a line with the tip of a sharp utility knife blade.

Cutting thin aluminum sheets.

Align the tin snips with the sheet metal. 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. 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.

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. Bench mounted tools such as shears or band saws cut aluminum sheet relatively slowly and with varying amounts of accuracy. You want cutters specifically made for aluminum. 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. Clamp the sheet metal in place on your work table to hold it in place while. And you can use the same technique anytime you need a straight cut on aluminum or other light gauge sheet metal even steel. Downcut spirals compression cutters and the like have no place in aluminum work.

How to cut thin aluminum. Clamp the aluminum down. Most tin snip manufacturers color code their. Then bend the sheet back and forth a few times to snap it.

Choose between red blue or yellow snips based on the cut direction. Set the piece of aluminum on a table or over sawhorses and position it so the cutting area has open space underneath it. 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. Mark the start and stopping point of your cut with a grease pencil or some similar implement that marks on sheet metal.

Make your first cut.