Cutting thin aluminum by hand.

RogueTadhg

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I purchased some thin aluminum and I'm looking to cut it with scissors. I know back in the day there used to be snips that could do what I'm looking to do - but I can't find them and I remember it being a real pain in the hands to use.

Any help in finding something?

H14 grade, .032 guage.
 
Look for metal snips. There's also nibblers (power, manual, and drill attachments). You could also use a bandsaw or jigsaw with the proper blade to make cuts.

Trying to cut sheet metal, regardless of gauge, with scissors will quickly destroy them and probably mangle the material.
 
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Scissors? As in paper scissors? That would be silly.

.032 (22-ga) aluminum should cut like butter. What kind of snips did you use previously? Probably single action type on the left. Use some 'aviation snips' like you see on the right. The compound-action jaws give much better mechanical leverage.

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A Dremel would be a lot easier. Just clamp the sheet under a piece of bar stock to get a straight cut.
 
I cut sheet metal with scissors all the time and it works fine. generally you can get a longer cut without having to move / mangle the metal like you would with aviation snips. it will eventually fuck up the scissors but all the pairs I have used last for awhile. dremels can also work very well
 
keep in mind, Avaition snips are specific for the direction they cut ( left right or straight ) so you actually need all 3 pair. For sure .032 aluminum will cut with a pair of scissor though. If straight cuts, a paper cutter will also work wonders.

Also, I have a hand " lawn mower blade sharpener " which does not work at all for lawn mower blades, but that is to be expected. It cuts a single edge knife like a scissor edge perfectly to keep them sharp.
 
Dremel for small pieces.

A non-ferrous saw blade on a circular saw if you want to cut a "panel" out.

I was terrified to do the circular saw part for a while. But then I tried it and the cut is just phenomenal. I did the snips method many times and the distortion of the work piece edge wasn't acceptable in my mind.

I use an old Ryobi circular saw for metal cutting.....just in case something happens and jacks up the saw. You can clamp the metal to thin piece of plywood or MDF and lay it down on the grass. That will keep it from vibrating or wobbling. You can even set the blade cut depth so it's just barely poking out of the saw and doesn't go all the way through the wood. I'm telling you, if you want to cut panels this is the way to go.

For small cuts I would absolutely recommend a Dremel using an abrasive cutoff wheel. It leaves a very clean cut. I would also recommend the EZLOCK cutoff wheels. They are thicker and bigger in diameter so they don't shatter like the standard cutoff wheels, plus they last a lot longer. Also the chuck/mandrel is way easier to change out discs....plus it has some flexibility that allows the discs to pivot which also contributes to the discs not shattering like the hard mounted smaller discs.

Here's a project I did making a speaker enclosure inside a computer case by cutting aluminum panels to seal up the hard drive bay.
 
No to dremel. Aviation snips. In thinner stuff like .020 regular scissors work fine.
 
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