How To Cut Thin Aluminum Sheet Metal

Bench mounted tools such as shears or band saws cut aluminum sheet relatively slowly and with varying amounts of accuracy.

How to cut thin aluminum sheet metal. If you use metal shears to cut thin sheet metal such as duct metal it curls and can be difficult to flaten properly. These photo steps show that it can be done using a utility knife. Place the fracture line over the edge of a table and bend the overhang slightly downwards. This weakens the aluminium and creates a fracture line.

Align the tin snips with the sheet metal. The illustrations are for a small bracket but i have cut 3 foot long pieces using this method. Most tin snip manufacturers color code their. Choose between red blue or yellow snips based on the cut direction.

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. Sheet aluminium can be cut without the need for a guillotine or tin snips which tend to deform the metal. With the aid of a straight edge and a sharp knife score both sides of the aluminium sheet.