How To Cut 16 Gauge Steel Sheet

Then grip the saw with both hands and push the blade through the metal to cut it.

How to cut 16 gauge steel sheet.

Simply line up your chisel along the line you are going to cut and strike the back of it with a hammer. Loosen up the drill head with the provided wrench. The thickness of steel is noted by its gauge with a lower number being a thinner piece of metal. Hold the tool tight.

Steel with a gauge lower than 18 is probably best to be cut with shears or even snips. Clamp or hold a straightedge or square along the cutting marks and score a line with the tip of a sharp utility knife blade. If you only have one or a few to do a decent variable speed jig saw with a fine metal cutting blade will make reasonably quick work of it. And you can use the same technique anytime you need a straight cut on aluminum or other light gauge sheet metal even steel.

A soft wood backer will allow for the chisel to pass through more easily by providing support for the metal. How to cut 16 gauge sheet metal by metalman21 sun feb 18 2018 6 33 pm clavius wrote. Thicker steel is better cut with a plasma cutter circular saw or angle grinder. Then bend the sheet back and forth a few times to snap it.

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. Situate the metal under the blade and line the blade up with the cut line. The lower the number the thicker the metal is. Install one of the cutoff cutters.

Pull the handle down slowly with your hand and slice through the metal. To operate mark the cut line on the piece of sheet metal. Most sheet metal cutting tools are limited to 16 gauge and thinner 14 gauge is still sheet metal but in common forms 11 gauge while technically sheet metal is 1 8 thick and not really sheet metal for the purposes of this article so we will focus on 16 gauge and thinner.