Whats the best way to cut steel sheet

[Piero]

I hate the mess left behind when using even good quality cutting dics on a hand held grinder.

I am looking at differant ways of sutting steel, mostly sheet of 1mm to 2mm with the odd square or round tube thrown in.

Dont really want to go for a plasma, but am all ears

was thinking either a gillateen (spelling, sorry) or a band saw

I quite like the idea of a band saw as it takes up less room

what do you guys say and why do you say it

 

[awemawson]

Guillotine is by far the best for straight cuts in sheet but they are expensive and take up a lot of floor space. The various electric nibblers and shears can leave a neat cut if run along a straight edge clamping the sheet to the bench. The nibblers leave nasty crescents of swarf that get everywhere but don't distort the metal. The shears don't leave any mess but distort one side of the cut. In my experience with hand held plasma it is very difficult to get a neat cut. Band saw is ok for small bits but hard to control big sheets and is limited in throat depth (from blade to the vertical sub frame)

 

[brightspark]

I hate the mess left behind when using even good quality cutting dics on a hand held grinder.

I am looking at differant ways of sutting steel, mostly sheet of 1mm to 2mm with the odd square or round tube thrown in.

Dont really want to go for a plasma, but am all ears

was thinking either a gillateen (spelling, sorry) or a band saw

I quite like the idea of a band saw as it takes up less room

what do you guys say and why do you say it

a decent bench shear keetona are the best edit but not the one for cutting angles on ebay

http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/items/__b...word=bench+shears&geo_id=21&ff4=228459_228459

 

[madkayaker]

Have a foot operated guillotine at work and it's great but it's capacity is a bit limited so after that a set of record shears get used.

 

[Piero]

all seem to have there pro's and cons

any one eles care to offer there 2 cents worth

 

[madkayaker]

A lot depends on your space and budget. Also what works best for you. I like using a grinder for cutting and find that I can cut well for my use with it but I tend to do thin stuff on the guillotine

 

[gavuk]

What are you intending to make? ...car patches ,boxes,sizes?.....may change whats recommended

 

[Piero]

I dont intend it for any spesific reason apart from as said above,
I restore classic cars for a hobbie.

as said, there is also tube and square section that I cut for other things as well.


I hate mess, and cutting disc's leave mess.

I have limited floor space,

 

[Cobbler]

I've got a small Clarke vice or bench mounted roller shear, cost about £30, cuts 1mm easily, supposed to cut up to 1.5mm, but will do 2mm at a push. Looks crude, but is very good. Won't cut box though! Would a jigsaw be worth trying

Cobbler

 

[cumbriasteve]

My Clarke bandsaw is great for box section, have used it for 18 months now and find it spot on, good mitre cuts and decent cutting times... I cut mostly 20mm and 25mm but have done a bit of 75mm with no problems.

For sheet steel I have one of the rotary cutters and have always been well impressed with it, could be awkward if you have large sheets I suppose...bit of a balancing act or a pair of spare hands to hold the sheet.

 

[gavuk]

For sheet steel,car patches I use 3 finger air shears and a k5 keetona shear,I still have the clarke rotating wheel type as well that doesn't get used as much nowdays ,but is a good tool as well,like others here i have a horizontal/vertical bandsaw which I use for bar ,angle etc...all have there uses....2 blade shears are well thought of ,there have been some threads which cover all of these.....

 

[gavuk]

check these posts ......search for "nibbler"

 

[bigbadbugga]

I don't think there is a single answer to this, I use several different tools to cut my metal.

I would start with a hacksaw for tube and bar, and a bench shear for sheet. Then add to your arsenal as needed.

 

[langy]

If its only 1-2mm your cutting then a jigsaw with metal blade or shears would be my choice, panels for cars are never gonna be that big are they.

 

[KemppiFrog]

Horses for courses. I needed to cut 4mm for wood stoves. Started with a bench hand sheer (5mm rated) but with 8x4 sheets at 100kg a pop. It was seriously arm building.
Mounted a 230mm angle grinder on rails, as the cuts were all straight. Worked, but very noisy and used lots of discs.
Finally got an order for 20 stoves, so bought a plasma. (a lot more pricey in those days)
Currently I need to cut a lot of 1mm sheet into rectangles. So back to the hand bench shear (with new blades). But, half way to setting up a power drive for it.
For your use, I would have thought an electric hand shear would do the job.
I sometimes rough cut with a hand electric shear. Then do the fine cut with the bench one
KF

Cors, I would love a machine of the likes that is on another thread here. A 1mtr wide cut, just hit the foot pedel. But the sort of sales that might feature one are not very noticable here. And prices are a 'little' high for s/h kit.

 

[outofthefire]

I've got a plasma cutter, rotary shears, air shears, air nibbler, jigsaw, tinsnips and 9 times out of 10 I still reach for the grinder with a thin disk. Its quick its accurate and alright it might leave a bit of mess but metalwork isn't a clean job.