Cutting thin sheet material on a budget

[AnthonyExmouth]

Just received a box of offcuts to learn/practise tig welding but the offcuts are much larger than expected. I'd like to make them smaller and a stack of similar-sized pieces. Ideally I want nice clean straight edges.

 

[stuvy]

Tin ships or get more skill practising with a grinder

or take them to a fabrication shop off a drink and run them through the guillotine

 

[AnthonyExmouth]

Tin ships or get more skill practising with a grinder

or take them to a fabrication shop off a drink and run them through the guillotine

I'm ok with a grinder but like the idea of having the nice crisp edges i see on all the youtube videos for practise welds. My distant worry is I end up buying a guillotine next.

 

[Munkul]

You need one of two things for straight edges:
1. a machine
or,
2. marking out properly and some skill

You can get very crisp edges with an angle grinder mark it out, clamp it down to something and score all the way along the line. Then follow the line and cut right through.

Those little guillotines for sale are generally pretty weedy, unless they're a good old fashioned well-built item.

 

[AnthonyExmouth]

You need one of two things for straight edges:
1. a machine
or,
2. marking out properly and some skill

You can get very crisp edges with an angle grinder mark it out, clamp it down to something and score all the way along the line. Then follow the line and cut right through.

Those little guillotines for sale are generally pretty weedy, unless they're a good old fashioned well-built item.

Wondering if being 1-2mm I can get away with using my ali cutting blade in my mitre saw, but don't wanna kill it.

these are the offcuts

 

[Munkul]

You'll kill your circular saw blade on that.

 

[AnthonyExmouth]

You'll kill your circular saw blade on that.

It's a 10" bosch mitre saw, cuts through 3mm ali tube ok. wondered if one of those diablo blades might work in it.

 

[Kram]

Tin snips are great but really designed for final trimming after rough cutting with sonething else. The peice being cut off should be weak enough that it will curl, so under 20mm wide. Worth looking on youtube for video how to use properly. If you try to cut a sheet down the middle it will work, but take a lot of force and both peices will be bent.

Grinder. Ive learned that the flat thin 1mm discs give a more accurate cut than the super thin 0.8mm recessed discs.

 

[cianh91]

Won’t be a clean cut . Pop into a fab shop with a tin a decent bickys and get the to cut them

 

[Rrobson]

Have you got a vice? Using a decent cold chisel, place material in the vice with the cut line along the top of the jaws and starting at one edge chisel the material into the rear vice jaw. Once through, if it’s longer than the jaws reclamp further along and repeat. If done properly it will leave a clean edge.

 

[outofthefire]

I don't know what you're eventually hoping to weld mostly, but personally i'd spray them with oil and stick them under your bench and get some smaller bits to practice on, they're nice bits of steel.

 

[AnthonyExmouth]

I don't know what you're eventually hoping to weld mostly, but personally i'd spray them with oil and stick them under your bench and get some smaller bits to practice on, they're nice bits of steel.

most still have a plastic cover on one side. Wish i could fine somewhere that I could buy some small pieces at a reasonable price.

 

[rtcosic]

I donated £5 to the tea fund at a local fab shop and came home with many kilogrammes of 1.2 mm sheet neatly guillotined into identical small rectangles.

Most of which No1 & No3 son used to patch a terminally rotten old Rover's wheel arches without asking first!

The joys of parenthood. Still could be worse - I might have had daughters.

I then cut up an old bonnet that was lying around instead. Old length of angle as a straight edge and a 1mm disc in a grinder. Matching the curves afterwards was fun. Tip - use a flap disc or 'grizzly' to remove all the paint before cutting into little pieces.

 

[rtcosic]

with sons youve only got one wee willy to worry about ,,, with daughters you have to worry about them all.

Got it in one!
Teenage Daughters. God's revenge on Teenage Boys.

 

[AnthonyExmouth]

I donated £5 to the tea fund at a local fab shop and came home with many kilogrammes of 1.2 mm sheet neatly guillotined into identical small rectangles.

Most of which No1 & No3 son used to patch a terminally rotten old Rover's wheel arches without asking first!

The joys of parenthood. Still could be worse - I might have had daughters.

I then cut up an old bonnet that was lying around instead. Old length of angle as a straight edge and a 1mm disc in a grinder. Matching the curves afterwards was fun. Tip - use a flap disc or 'grizzly' to remove all the paint before cutting into little pieces.

I'll have to find somewhere local, only one I do know were really pricey when I went in for a quote on some work a while ago. need to see if i can fine a smaller, friendlier place

 

[Tangledfeet]

Just received a box of offcuts to learn/practise tig welding but the offcuts are much larger than expected. I'd like to make them smaller and a stack of similar-sized pieces. Ideally I want nice clean straight edges.

I'm with @outofthefire on this; that looks like some really nice sheet metal you have - save them!

If you're also just starting out on TIG I'd start off on thicker material; 3mm or so. TIG Welding thinner material (whether steel, stainless or alloy) is, in my experience, much harder than thicker. I'd suggest getting hold of some cheap black iron flat bar and grinding off the scale and taking it from there.

(I did a TIG welding evening course two years ago and we started off on 6mm for exactly this reason; just ground the scale off and spent a few hours just laying beads along a straight line, getting the hang of feeding, dabbing and moving, etc.)

 

[AnthonyExmouth]

I'm with @outofthefire on this; that looks like some really nice sheet metal you have - save them!

If you're also just starting out on TIG I'd start off on thicker material; 3mm or so. TIG Welding thinner material (whether steel, stainless or alloy) is, in my experience, much harder than thicker. I'd suggest getting hold of some cheap black iron flat bar and grinding off the scale and taking it from there.

(I did a TIG welding evening course two years ago and we started off on 6mm for exactly this reason; just ground the scale off and spent a few hours just laying beads along a straight line, getting the hang of feeding, dabbing and moving, etc.)

6mm is the upper limit of my machine so maybe I should just buy a length of 50mm flat for now

 

[Barking Mat]

Got a scrap yard near you? They normally have bins of off cuts from fab shops.

 

[AnthonyExmouth]

Got a scrap yard near you? They normally have bins of off cuts from fab shops.

Nearish, I take my lead and copper there.

 

[Tangledfeet]

6mm is the upper limit of my machine so maybe I should just buy a length of 50mm flat for now

And don't forget to take either a battery grinder with slitting disc - or a hacksaw! You're well served by steel stockholders down there (just had a Google, I'm envious) but flat bar may come in anything up to 7.6m in length.