Cutting sheetmetal; what do you use?

I don't have much experience with cutting sheetmetal. To date I've just used some old snips that my dad left me, with unsatisfactory results. What kind of tools are you using for this job? Thanks. John B

 

Band saws work pretty well, but a nice big one is expensive and hard to come by. A pneumatic nibbler works pretty well. You can use a standard sabre saw, but it needs a very fine blade and lots of support or it just bounces up and down without cutting anything. Plasma cutters are nice to have around if you dont' mind messy edges and lots of slag.

 

I use a Jig Saw/Cut-off Wheel/Sawz-All for thin stuff.......for thick stuff, I try to find a plasma cutter to borrow!!

 

Can't beat an air powered cut off wheel, leaves a clean smooth edge. Just a little slow, can't push it.

 

Pneumatic Nibbler, or a Plasma Cutter

 

Can be as straight as you can make it, but I agree with the SLOW. Wear double eye protection...It costs $100 to get chunks of metal pulled out of your eyeball...wonder how I know that?

 

"New" snips for sheet metal. Cutting metal is what I have to do all the time, so I have several weapons of choice.

 

I wear glasses so I always have protection. Sounds like you learned the hard way, scooper?

 

I had goggles AND a face shield, and a chunk still found it's way in there

 

4-1/2 " angle grinder with one of the Thin "3/32" wheels. Actually saw Paul jr using this on American Chopper and it works great. Just like a die grinder with a abrasive wheel except about 100 times more powerful and faster. Not jumpy like a sawzall. Anything over 1/8" steel gets the gas torch broke out on it.

Cleaver

 

Dang! The next step was to put a blind-fold on!

That had to suck.

 

Cut off wheels on electric grinders work the best, I have a 9" grinder that I put a 12" metal wheel on and it goes through anything. Its what I use for notching shock towers. Smaller stuff gets the 4" grinder.

 

metabo electric cut-off saw faaaasssst and smooth
http://www.foximas.com/ky/2153861.html
top one

 

Cutoff wheels, snips, mostly. If I am cutting sheet metal to make a patch I generally use some good snips to cut with. When removing sheet metal from a vehicle, I almost always use a small cutoff wheel. In the old days before I had any real tools I just always used snips, always found them to be reliable for what I want done.
Dan

 

if it's thinner material, nibblers work great. Fast too. They'll eat aluminum up in no time especially if you're doing a backhalf floor in a race car. That stuff is usually only .040" thick.