Cutting 26 Gauge Sheet Metal

Cutting sheet metal with snips can be tricky and frustrating.

Cutting 26 gauge sheet metal.

While you can cut down the middle of a large sheet of metal aviation snips are best for narrow strip removal. These types of shears lend themselves towards hobbyists and sheet metal shops doing custom or repair work. These bench mounted shears convert leverage into a compact scissor which is capable of cutting medium gauge sheet metal. Saws and torches can also be used on thin steel but are impractical choices unless you re cutting high volume or need to cut steel often.

And for this reason there are other tools for cutting metal roofing such as metal shears or an electric nibbler. These problems are common for those of us who don t work with sheet metal every day. To compensate for how metal may curve or bend cut a strip out where you use red snips for one side and green snips on the other cutting 2 inches at a time on alternating sides so two inches up the right side two inches up the left. The equivalent thicknesses differ for each gauge size standard which were developed based on the weight of the sheet for a given material.

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. Sheet metal gauge size chart gauge or gage sizes are numbers that indicate the thickness of a piece of sheet metal with a higher number referring to a thinner sheet. Metal corrugated roofing can come in different gauge s most gauges can be cut with tin snips easily but slowly. Reasonably easy to cut a big sheet up as long as both sides are biggish.

It will primarily limit your cuts to straight lines. Thicker steel like pipes tubes and plates may require the use of power saws and torches. Also referred to as aviator snips these scissor like hand tools cut sheet metal materials up to 18 gauge in thickness accurately without leaving a ragged bent edge as the finished product. They are rugged and will last a lifetime if kept clean and sharp.

Thin gauge steel like sheet metal can be cut with a large variety of tools. But you don t have to be a tinsmith to cut sheet metal successfully.