How to cut
3 16 Steel Plate
Three Ways to Cut Sheet Metal for any Budget!
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what's going on guys welcome to today's
video hey if you do any kind of metal
work at some point you're gonna have to
cut sheet metal so today I'm gonna show
you three different ways to cut sheet
metal for any skill level and any budget
so for the purposes of this video we're
not talking about this paper thin sheet
metal that's easy to cut you can just
cut that with shears the tools that I'm
going to show you really excel in 16
gauge 10 gauge you know a little bit
thicker stuff which is technically
referred to as plate but it's commonly
referred to as sheet metal so I call it
sheet metal but anyway the tools I'm
about to show you when I talk about
cutting sheet metal we're talking about
cutting anything about 18 gauge to 10
gauge will get the most obvious one out
of the way first
and that is of course the plasma cutter
so plasma cutters are definitely going
to be the most expensive thing on the
list but there's a good reason for it a
plasma cutter is probably the most
versatile machine and that it can slice
through sheet metal really fast and
really easy but you can also cut thick
metal with it too
whereas the other things that I'm going
to show you are pretty limited when it
comes to anything other than sheet metal
plasma cutter can do it all so the way
that a plasma cutter works is actually
pretty cool this machine makes an arc
between the gun and the base metal and
then with compressed air it blows that
metal out of there
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so my favorite things about the plasma
cutter is that you can cut an infinite
number of shapes any direction it's
basically just like having a pencil I'm
drawing on the metal anything you want
so in that way the possibilities are
really endless with this machine
but the things that I don't like about
it or that you have to have a supply of
air you know to make it work and some of
these run on 110 but really the good
ones run on 220 so you got to have 220
powers so there's some limitations in
that aspect but if you have those things
available to you these are pretty tough
to beat so the next thing on the list is
an angle grinder and you probably
already have one of these sitting in
your garage or your shop now when you
bought it it more likely came with the
grinder wheel these are like quarter
inch thick and they're great at what
they're meant for but don't try to cut
sheet metal with these I've seen people
do it and it's not free so here you can
see the difference between a cut wheel
that's on the grinder and then the
grinding wheel that's in my hand alright
let's try the grinder
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so the biggest advantages to the grinder
is like I said you you might already
have one and beyond that if you don't
have one and you're gonna be doing metal
work you're probably gonna need to buy
one anyway so it's something that you're
already gonna need to buy and if you buy
the cutoff discs for it then you can use
it for cutting sheet metal now the
biggest limitation to the grinder is
that you can really only cut in a
straight line I mean you can get kind of
creative and get some gentle curves with
them but for the most part these are
best in a straight line the other things
that I don't like about it is it's
really loud when you cut sheet metal and
they throw sparks a lot of sparks I've
actually caught my pants on fire a
couple times so you know just make sure
you're standing in the right spot when
you're using this so the third tool on
this list is gonna be a jig saw and this
is something that I don't think most
people think of when they think about
cutting sheet metal but it can be done
let me show you so odds are if you have
a jig saw sitting in the shop you bought
it for cutting wood because that's what
most people get them for that's what
they're designed for so when you bought
your jig saw it most likely had a wood
blade on it with a simple change to a
metal blade like this one you can turn
your jig saw into a sheet metal cutting
machine let's do it
super easy to change let's see how it
works
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so the jigsaw probably my least favorite
tool on the list just because it
vibrates so much when you're using it
but I wanted to include it for a couple
reasons and that is for one that you can
pick these up really cheap like this one
I want to say costs only $35 you can buy
grinders cheap too but what this has
over the grinder is that you can cut
curves and radiuses with this you can
actually cut pretty tight circles with
them not like a plasma cutter but
definitely better than a grinder now if
you're wondering why I didn't include an
oxy acetylene torch on this list the
answer is because I don't like cutting
sheet metal with those the reason being
that they put too much heat in the sheet
metal and just cause it to warp and it
just kind of makes a mess out of it any
one of these three tools it was gonna
cut sheet metal better than an acetylene
torch alright guys so there you have it
there's three different tools you can
use the cut sheet no for any skill level
and any budget thanks for hanging out in
the shop with me this morning and I hope
I'll see you again on farmer Tyler ranch
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