Cutting sheetmetal, what's best?

[Greg]

What's the best tool for cutting clean, straight lines in sheetmetal?

I have a sawzall & cutoff wheel, but I want to chop up some sheetmetal and be left without a mess!

I'm thinking about a Air Nibbler or a Air Shear.... anyone used either?

 

[ALF]

When i worked construction the tinners all used double snips, looks like a drill only it cuts sheetmetal perfect straight clean cuts without sore hands.

 

[Shawn]

Originally posted by Greg
What's the best tool for cutting clean, straight lines in sheetmetal?

I have a sawzall & cutoff wheel, but I want to chop up some sheetmetal and be left without a mess!

I'm thinking about a Air Nibbler or a Air Shear.... anyone used either?

I have used an electric nibbler. For clean cuts and ease, this is the way to go.

 

[theferg]

when i cut the qurter panels off of my cruiser, on one side we used a sawzall--it sucked. bounced all over and super hard to keep straight. on the other side used a 8 1/4 circular saw with a chop saw blade on it--worked so much better. ended up a lot straighter. i'm no expert, just lettin' ya know what i used. good luck and HTH

 

[OCNORB]

I have a set of electric shears from my tinner days if you wanna drive out here again and get 'em. They cut well as long as you don't run into anything on the back side. (Seams, screwheads, etc.)

 

[Fuller]

i like to use a cut off wheel, beacause they give a clean cut with a lil time.

i tried my sawzal when i was doing my flares, and it did more ripping of the sheet metal than cutting it.

just my two cents

 

[Caleb]

I have never used a nibbler but I think that would be a sweet way to go...I have always used a sawzall and I feel my cuts are very clean and straight...just use the right blade and dont be in a hurry I have also heard good things about jig saws and the air body saw (at harbor freight for like $19.99)

 

[Greg]

I think I'm going to buy a Nibbler, since it sounds like the most versatile.

I stoppd by Harbor Freight and looked at theirs.... It does look like a Drill bit! Wierd... as long as it makes clean cuts, I'm happy.

ONCORB- Thanks for the offer! I think I'll buy one so I have it around in the future.

Thanks for the info guys!

 

[Caleb]

Originally posted by Greg
I think I'm going to buy a Nibbler, since it sounds like the most versatile.

I stoppd by Harbor Freight and looked at theirs.... It does look like a Drill bit! Wierd... as long as it makes clean cuts, I'm happy.

ONCORB- Thanks for the offer! I think I'll buy one so I have it around in the future.

Thanks for the info guys!

how much is the nibbler there??? give us a report on it after you have used it

 

[Greg]

I think it was either $24 or $29. Probably $29.

Yeah, I'll get it tomorrow, but I'm not sure when I'll be choppin'.

 

[Bones]

Buddy has the HF nibblers and they work real good for the money. I use Crapsman offset snips and they work real good (not as good as the nibbler) but is tough on the 16 ga. I used to tub the firewall with and other items. Makes my wrists sore and cuts into my social agenda if ya know what I mean Toyota sheet metal is cake with snips.

 

[Greg]

Sweet! Thanks for the report Bones!!

 

[Hickey]

get the nibbler/flange tool.

 

[spencurai]

the HF nibbler works real good. They have the shear type and the nibbler type, the shears work well on uneven stuff but the nibbler type works great on the flat, they dont handle sharp corners or small radius curves well. I used it to hack up my experimental zuk and both worked well.

I did end up using a sawzall for a lot of the tight stuff that was thicker than the rest of the body.

 

[Cody]

For clean cuts in a reasonable time frame, the nibbler rocks. If you're trying to cut a curve, you may have a couple of little rough edges, but nothing you can't grind down and smooht out.



Cody<---I've done just a wee bit of trimming on my rig.