There are two ways to cut round ducts.
Cutting thick sheet metal.
If you ve hit it hard enough the chisel will cut the sheet metal if it s thin enough.
The lower the number the thicker the metal is.
A handheld cutting tool fitted with a metal cut off wheel will easily cut through sheet.
They look like scissors and work fine with sheet metals like brass aluminum tin steel etc.
Simply line up your chisel along the line you are going to cut and strike the back of it with a hammer.
Choose between red blue or yellow snips based on the cut direction.
There are some cuts that you can do with decent tin snips.
To prolong blade life rub wax along the length of the blade.
Extend blade life by keeping the saw s speed slow.
Set your saw to straight rather than oscillating if there s a choice.
For a cleaner cut put a strip of masking tape on the top and bottom of the sheet to keep chips from scratching the material.
Jigsaws and metal cutting band saws are more work but can make most cuts in light to medium sheet metal.
Using tin snips for thin sheets.
Wax your saw blade before cutting sheet metal.
They don t cut curves well.
Here are a few tips for cutting metal with a recip saw.
Cutting straight lines with an electric saw.
Such as straight cut snips left cut the right cut etc.
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.
Using a chisel and hammer is the most basic form of cutting sheet metal.
Making detailed cuts with.
Straight cutting compound snips work best for cutting thick or doubled up sheet metal.
A hacksaw can cut sheet metal but its shape limits its turning radius and depth of cut.
How to cut sheet metal method 1 of 4.
