Best way to cut corrugated sheet metal

We also have a expensive special dedicated strickly metal cutting skill saw--the guard always gets caught.

We have air nibblers, die grinders, air and electric tin snips, muffler cut off tools, air chisel with sheet metal cutting bits, half moon nibblers, side grinders up the yazoo, yet for the most part we never use any of these high priced toys. Yea I just had to have them when I seen them as I always try for a better way. A sharp utility knife will do good on straight --not over the rib cuts.

Most times we just grab a skill saw --with a guard raising lever---and saw it. Please note the most important part of the last sentence. WE NEVER EVER turn the blade around backwards---I have no idea who the heck origanaly came up with that idea decades ago. He should be publicly horse whipped. If you use a decent quality blade, Carbide or not the saw will pull downwards like it does for wood. If you turn the blade backwards it will try to climb up,slide sidways on the rib, and you have to wait for it to more less burn it's way into the steel. You will double the speed of your cut if you cut with the blade in the same position as you do in lumber. Keeping the saw at arms length helps eliminate splatter and direct ear shock. Wear eye and hearing protection. Try to keep the tin from binding by supporting the tin as you cut.

If your cut must be perfect, make the cut 1/4-1/2 inch long and trim with a aviation type tin snips. Doing so will alow the off cut to roll out of your way. Do not buy cheap tin snips, and don't hesitate to throw them away when they get loose or dull.

The biggest chance of climbing is on the industrial rib, and some that have a high tensil strength. Or the length wise cut where you have only a slight angle. Another advantage is when we cut on top of the roof without saw horses, and many times digging our toe nails in to stay on the roof. It is hard to control the saw real well. Some times it is best to not even try explaining a no calk lap on a valley to the guy on the ground. I would also suggest that on the job site, time is money so we probably get a little carried away at times going to fast with the saw, not giving it proper time to actualy cut the steel, thus a climbing action does indeed take place.

I would like to also say that we all have heard that -- those old carpenders always did it just perfect when it comes to squaring up a roof etc. If that is so, alot of our comunity was build by inbreeds. Many times the line from point A to B gets a little crocked, and you need to climb over the rib. I guess if I did not have a calculator with a square root key maybe our projects would look that way to.

We live on roofs sometimes, and some of these cuts get real trickey, so for the most part we cut face up so we do not screw up.

I wondered also how many use the large rib panel shears to cut the steel to a proper length? We seldom do, rather we cut the whole pile (max around 40 sheets)at one time with a metal cutting cement saw. We just never had a uncluttered area that was level, and not on gravel.

One of the best places to cut steel is in deep grass so the skill saw does not hit the dirt, nor do you scratch the steel. One time we cut a 5/8" copper gas line off that farmer Brown had never got around to digging in. No harm was done, no fire, we all three could have went to the eye doctor and not needed the eye drops to dialate our eyes. The devil will just have to wait for the next round.

But, it gets the job done!

This is an article from my scrapbook from the archives of this forum.

All the best, Stan

CUTTING GALVNIZED METAL WITH WIRE
Posted by Trucker on July 14, 2002 at 16:40:31 from (65.167.169.14): In Reply to: Cutting galv metal posted by [email protected] on June 24, 2002 at 17:34:13: You can cut galvanized metal with a piece of baling wire. You take a couple of 2x4s and put them close together where the wire will go between them, nail a board across the bottom and top of your 2x4s, tie the wire to the bottom cross piece, put the wire under the metal, put the 2x4s on top, stand on the boards and pull upon the wire with a long rod or something used as a T handle with the wire tied to it, you pull the wire right through the gap between the boards and it cuts the metal. If you want to get fancy you can make another frame and put a hinge on it, tie the wire to the bottom cross piece, lay the wire on the bottom frame when its open, lay the metal on the bottom frame, close it, stand on the boards and pull up on the wire. It�s not too hard, and doesn�t make any noise, but you have to change the wire a lot. Straight 2x6�s would work better.

Isn't the bottom of a rib on one side the top of a rib on the other side? There must be something about your situation I'm not aware of.

Stan

Blade is made of metal and looks like a finish blade but has slots about every 2 inches. Need to apply some motor oil to the blade just before use but they work the best that I know of short a metal cutting circular saw.

jt

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