How to cut
2mm Metal
Best Way to Cut Corrugated Sheet Metal or Trapezoidal Roofing | Trumpf N 160 Li-ion Nibbler
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[Music]
I'm Kenny from pro tool reviews and
today I want to talk about one of the
tools that we use a lot in the field
whenever we're cutting corrugated metal
or metal roofing that kind of stuff
it's the nibbler we're actually using
the Trump true tool n 160 lithium ion
it's a cordless model and what we see a
lot of people doing in the field is
they're using grinders jig saws
reciprocating saws metal cutting saws
even power cutters and a lot of it is
because these tools are now cordless or
in the case of the power cutter you've
got gas and cordless options but the
nibbler is just now starting to go that
direction so we're going to take this
12-volt Trump nibbler and see how it
compares to some of these big 36 volt 18
volt tools and just see if we can do a
better job all right so to start we're
just going to do a straight cut we're
going to try to follow the cut line that
we've got in here
we'll start with the jigsaw and we've
got a metal blade orbital actions off on
this let's just see if we can follow the
well
[Music]
all right so same thing and let's take a
look at what happens if we use a
reciprocating saw
[Applause]
[Applause]
[Applause]
all right not too bad not great and then
let's go to a grinder this is probably
one of the more popular ways of cutting
that we see in the field
[Music]
[Music]
[Music]
all right lots of sparks that one
actually looked a bit straighter than
the others and then let's wrap up with
our nibbler here yeah I'm going to
switch sides and push this away from me
a little bit different cutting action on
this
[Applause]
alright moved off a little bit at the
end alright alright unpack what each of
these saws did now we started with the
jigsaw and it actually did a pretty good
job of allowing me to follow the cut
line but what I ran into was as I would
come up and down through the grooves
here I would really start to drift the
blade would wobble on me a little bit
and I was drifting left and so following
the cut line wasn't terribly easy it
wasn't a ton of vibration and this this
was definitely the right blade for the
job it was just a little bit difficult
to make a really accurate cut and then
same thing with the reciprocating saw a
little bit of blade wobble left me
wandering some and even though this has
a pivoting shoe on the front as that
would get into the valleys here in our
material I had a hard time maintaining
good contact and that was adding some
extra vibration to the cut and then just
the angle I was having to try and work
it and still see my cut line that was a
challenge for sure especially like I
said in that valley it was losing
contact and losing my sight line the
grinder did a pretty good job this is a
6 inch grinder wheel that we've got on
here and it'll it tracked really well it
left a better edge the biggest issue
with this was really just the amount of
sparks that it was throwing it was
really hard to accurately follow that
line and then with the nibbler what was
really nice about it is because I was
able to to turn this 90 degrees I was
able to really work up and down with the
material waving along with it as I went
it sounded a lot quieter than the other
ones had left a nice edging you can't
see right here on the end I did wander a
little bit on the back into my cut but
my visibility was a lot better and I was
able to track it pretty well so that's
one type of cut that we're looking at
let's move on to a couple of different
types of cut outs that we might come
across in material like this instead of
just being able to cut the whole thing
off alright so we've got a little bit
different material here it's got some
higher ridges on it and we're just take
a look and see what some of limitations
are as far as the depth of cut of some
of these tools so we'll start with the
jigsaw again and just see if it can
complete the cut
[Applause]
[Music]
[Music]
[Applause]
so you can see there as I go into this
valley I'm totally losing my sight line
because of the distance between where
the blades actually cutting in the shoes
in my way and as I tried to come back up
the blade came out popped against this I
could probably finish this cut and get
away with it but clearly not ideal let's
see if the recent saw does any better of
course an advantage here is that you can
get longer blades or the reciprocating
saw than you would other types of jig
saws so let's see what happens we'll
start over here and kind of pull cut
toward us
[Applause]
all right we made the cut
it's actually a lot straighter than I
thought it was going to be but clearly
coming up these ridges introducing a lot
of vibration the saw the teeth are
actually trying to grab a hold and and
doing some funky stuff the worst part
about that was just how much vibration
was in that we were actually shaking
some stuff off the table which isn't
cool so again this is capable you can do
it it's not something that I really want
to be working with if I can avoid it
now see that if we can do the granite
now this is a 6 inch grinder switching
insta Grindr wheel we've used it a
little bit so we know that some of the
materials come off but let's see if it's
able to to maintain the depth going
through there
[Music]
[Applause]
[Music]
all right barely barely made it through
that again good straight cut the grind
is really good at tracking through this
compared to some of the other tools that
we've been using a lot of sparks sight
lines kind of hard to follow we'll get a
decent cut and again so that's good but
again the six-inch grinder if you've
only got a four and a half five inch
grinder you're not gonna make this cut
so finally let's wrap it up with our
nibbler and switch sides with you here
all right so let's grab our nibbler and
we're gonna we've got it turn 90 degrees
so that we can go with the peaks and
curves and see if this is a better
solution
[Applause]
[Applause]
yeah so if I had a cut line on here what
a devil been easy to follow I was
clearly moving a little bit as I made
that cut but some vibration not nearly
as much as the reciprocating saw no
sparks being thrown around on that I was
able to just kind of ease in and out of
each peak in valley so that made it easy
and even this there's enough there's a
so little vibration and and and a
relative torque or anything like that in
here that I really could just take one
hand off to help me if my handle is
getting in the way end abuse so the
grinder had some great advantages here
and it's its speed and the and it's
tracking but the the nibbler I still
like that better for its noise reduction
no sparks and better visibility on that
okay so let's take a look at a couple
different other types so we've got kind
of a curved cut out that we need to make
here but on top of that we don't have
the advantage of this material being
clamped down so we're cutting it in the
field and we we've got to use one hand
to cut and we've got to use one hand to
secure the material so let's just see
what kind of characteristics we get out
of this and I can already see starting
with this jig saw I'm having to come in
at an angle see if I can even make that
curve
Hey look at that alright so trying to
come into these weird angles and stuff
like this the blade actually jumped out
of the track on this saw so it was going
to be capable of finishing off that cut
but it's not something I really want to
do is trying to I was fighting it a lot
trying to make that happen and and even
looking at the blade here I mean it's
just it's bent now so how useful it's
going to be is pretty debatable all
right so let's try the nibbler again I
got to use one hand to cut and I've got
to use the other hand I'll secure my
material on this so
all right said just a little bit of
cleanup I need to do right there where
adds a little trouble getting in and it
took a second to get that that turn it
was a little bit tighter of a turn than
it wanted to do on its own I was able to
make it and this is a reasonable curve
it was clearly able to do the cut that
could cut with one hand hold the
material with the other and I mean this
particular tool is a 12-volt tool 10.8
volt tool is it's lightweight enough
that you can make those kinds of turns
really work your arm around and of
course if I'm not trying to to show all
this on camera I could actually
physically move from side to side to
make a cleaner cut if I wanted to but as
far as making that kerf cut out goes
clearly the nibbler is gonna be your
best option there all right so one last
cut I want to take a look at is when you
need to do a complete cutout now a
nibbler is not capable of doing any kind
of plunge cut so I actually attempted to
draw a circle here it kind of looked
more like a strawberry so we're just
going to own it but let me show you how
you're going to make that cut now you're
going to start with the easiest way to
do it is with a step bit just make sure
that you cut to the inside of of your
hole so that you don't take out any
material that you're trying to keep and
okay nice fast step bit there mmm love
that smell of oil once you've got that
going now you've got an access point and
you can can work the nibbler around I'm
gonna once again change my angle here
because I can and it's gonna be a little
easier this way all right take it all
off all right
[Applause]
all right now we have a beautiful
strawberry shaped hole here I said
obviously there's a lot of different
ways you can cut metal corrugated metal
roofing that kind of thing and some are
better than others now what I really
like about the nibbler why we use it
instead of some of these other ideas is
just simply you've got no sparks that
you're worried about it does cut very
very quickly and you get you can follow
an edge well it's just a great tool it's
the right tool for cutting this kind of
thing you're trying to do a reset saw or
a jig saw and you're getting into a tool
that's really not designed to do that
the grinder works well but it is limited
so anyway if you have any questions
about that feel free to leave them in
the comments below if you like this
particular nibbler it is the true tool
160 lithium ion who's from a company
called Trump who makes these and this
kit does come with two these 12-volt
batteries so as always thanks for
watching I'm Kenny we'll catch you later
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