Cutting Straight Line Sheet Metal

An well known trick when cutting with your plasma cutter is to clamp a metal straight edge to the metal so the arc is directly over your cut line.

Cutting straight line sheet metal.

One of the simplest types of press working operations is a sheet metal cutting process called a straight cutoff. This same idea i decided to take to sheet metal when using the scissor shears. Even so your cut will probably be a little ragged. This way you can simply press the edge of the torch cup against the straight edge and slowly make a straight cut.

Industrial sheet metal cutting operations such as this will usually incline the punch so as to reduce the maximum force needed by distributing the required force over the. Start by taping both sides of the sheet metal directly over the line you want to cut and clamp the metal to a work station so it doesn t move. Then create a pilot hole within the penciled circle. This may be a no brainer to most of you but i had to do a lot of repetitive cutting of sheet steel and was looking for the fastest way to do it.

For thin sheets of metal you can use tin snips to cut through it. As you cut one side of the sheet metal will ride up and over the. Step 5 optional if your project requires cutting a hole in the center of sheet metal draw it on the metal as you would any other cut line. If you ve got a lot of straight cutting to do buy tin snips like the one shown in photo 4.

A punch separates a length of stock along a straight line. Then grip the saw with both hands and push the blade through the metal to cut it.