What to cut 1/8 sheet metal with?

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Hi,I am new to welding and I was about to build my first welding cart. I have a chop saw to cut the angle iron, but I need to cut my 1/8" sheet to size, and was wondering the best method considering the tools I have. Is it possible to cut it with a reciprocating saw or jigsaw with metal cutting blade?. I dont really have anything else to cut with. Thanks for your help.Jason
Reply:I used my DeWalt recip saw with Irwin blades to cut 1/4 mild steel when building my welding table. It made a straight cut of about 26 inches, and blade is still going strong.  A piece of angle clamped to the sheet for a guide will help also.  Irwin blades (or Lenox) can be found at Lowes.  I would think a good metal-cutting blade in a jig saw would work for 1/8, also.Last edited by nctox; 03-16-2010 at 09:55 AM.Nctox,  Stickmate LX  235AC/160DC  HH210
Reply:A few years ago before I had any cool tools, I used a sawzall and a steel blade to cut through an 8x8 1/4" square tube.... it wasn't fun.... or quick.    but it worked. do you have an angle grinder with a thin wheel?Miller 211Hypertherm PM 451961 Lincoln Idealarc 250HTP 221  True Wisdom only comes from Pain.
Reply:here is a handy guide for an angle grinder at Harbor freight,makes cutting straight line with angle grinder with a thin wheel pretty easy.Use mine all the time,any thicker than 1/8" gets pretty hard on the grinder unless you are just doing short cuts. Attached ImagesLast edited by dugndeep; 03-16-2010 at 10:59 AM.Maxus Pro-125 MigChicago Electric 90 amp DC flux-coreLincoln Electric AC 225 tombstoneO/A torchM/O mini-torch10 acres of flatland15 acres of holler
Reply:The one thing with both the recipricating saw or jig saw is that you may have to set that thin steel between 2 sheets of plywood to stop the sheet from moving. You don't have to cut thru the wood, just use it to help stiffen the steel by getting it near the edge. With the jig saw you may be able to just cut on a single sheet of ply near an edge, as the base of the saw will keep the blade from bringing the steel up.Another option is to use a slitting disk in a 4 1/2" grinder either free hand or with a straight edge. If you don't own a grinder, I'd suggest you go buy one. Other than a hood, it's probably THE most used tool in any welders shop. As much as it hurts me to say so, even a POS Horror freight grinder is better than nothing. You'll need it for sanding and grinding to remove bad welds, prep rusty steel and remove mill scale. With a wire wheel to clean off flux from stick and FC wire. Cut and shape, remove old paint... There's no end of things these are used for. Most guys end up with multiple grinders rather than change disks. I usually have 3 in use when ever I'm working. One with a slitting wheel or narrow grinding disk, one with a sanding disk/flap wheel, and one with a standard grinding wheel. If I'm doing stick, one of those will get changed out to a knotted wire wheel. Might as well get started on your collection. .No government ever voluntarily reduces itself in size. Government programs, once launched, never disappear. Actually, a government bureau is the nearest thing to eternal life we'll ever see on this earth! Ronald Reagan
Reply:Originally Posted by dugndeephere is a handy guide for an angle grinder at Harbor freight,makes cutting straight line with angle grinder with a thin wheel pretty easy.Use mine all the time,any thicker than 1/8" gets pretty hard on the grinder unless you are just doing short cuts.
Reply:Originally Posted by CUOFFROADNow that looks like a handy little guide....and wouldn't you know it I was just in HF last weekend.  It's an out of the way trip for me but next time I'm going to pick one of these up.
Reply:HF has a 4 1/2" drill master angle grinder for $9.99,take 20% off of that with a coupon,come to $7.99 + $5.99 for the angle grinder guide for a total of $14.80 with .06 sales tax added.I have had this very same angle grinder for years and it still works fine,haven't had to put new brushes in it yet either,probably about time though.I do have a craftsman 7" grinder for the heavy stuff,but it is heavy also.Maxus Pro-125 MigChicago Electric 90 amp DC flux-coreLincoln Electric AC 225 tombstoneO/A torchM/O mini-torch10 acres of flatland15 acres of holler
Reply:Originally Posted by dugndeepPeople put HF down but they have these neat gadgets like this that work and where else would you find this?
Reply:Originally Posted by dugndeep.People put HF down but they have these neat gadgets like this that work and where else would you find this?I love shopping at HF,my nephew hates going with me because he know's I will go down every aisle looking(lol) for that gadget that I just got to have.........doug
Reply:I'll second everything DSW said in both posts. You buy your welder, then your helmet then an angle grinder. Everything else after that you can add as you need, IMHO. I've got 6 grinders at my table. One for everything. IMHO, one of the biggest things to look for in a grinder is how it fits in your hand. I mostly use 4 1/2" Makita. I have small-ish hands and theirs is the smallest ( in terms of the body diameter) I've found over the years. Bosch is pretty good too. My oldest Maki is 8 years old and still going.  I'm a fan of the locking trigger too. Fit in your hand really makes a HUGE difference as well as being safer. I do 80% of my grinding one handed.  One thing I did too was cut down all my grinder cords to a 3" stub. I attach to an extension cord with one of those locking ends. Just works better for me. 6 grinders = a lot of cord-spaghetti!! Just my 3 cents.200amp Air Liquide MIG, Hypertherm Plasma, Harris torches, Optrel helmet, Makita angle grinders, Pre-China Delta chop saw and belt sander, Miller leathers, shop made jigs etc, North- welders backpack.
Reply:Small pieces, all of the above work well.Any larger pieces, just have them sheared by your supplier.  Cheaper and easier in the long run, and the stuff fits like it's supposed to"Any day above ground is a good day"http://www.farmersamm.com/
Reply:Thanks for the replies. I do have an angle grinder. I think I am going to buy a thin wheel for it and give that a try. If that fails, then I will try the reciprocating. Thanks again. Jason
Reply:Get a Bullet metal cutting blade for a circular saw. It cuts really straight and goes through metal like butter. I have cut metal as thick as 1/2" with one.Cut an MGB and widened 11" C4 Corvette suspension and LT1 Chevrolet power & 6 spd. Pictures here:Part 1http://forum.britishv8.org/read.php?13,7581Part 2http://forum.britishv8.org/read.php?13,22422
Reply:For straight cuts I used to use my 4 1/2" grinder with the cut-off wheels from HF and if I need to make curves I use a jigsaw with a metal cutting blade. Now I simply use a Plasma cutter. The jigsaw is plenty fast enough for smaller jobs, but the grinder is more useful.Synchowave 180SD  Bernard 3500SS water coolerMillermatic 200Parker Plasma Tec 40dvOperating Engineers Local 12
Reply:1/8 inch thick steel plate cuts pretty nicely with a plain old circular saw (with a metal blade guard, no plastic ones! ) with a steel-cutting blade.  BTDT.    Pretty quick (but not as fast as a plasma cutter  ), nice clean edges (as in clean SHARP freshly cut steel edges ), waaaay better and easier and faster and quieter than an abrasive disk.See these threads where I responded in the past about cutting 1/8 inch steel plate.http://weldingweb.com/vbb/showthread.php...ud+1%2F8+lenoxhttp://weldingweb.com/vbb/showthread.php...ud+1%2F8+lenoxhttp://weldingweb.com/vbb/showthread.php...ud+1%2F8+lenoxAnd yes, you'll still need a grinder (or 3 or 4 or 6  ) for grinding and such.  Let's see, one with a grinding wheel on it, one with a flap disk on it, one with a wire wheel one it, maybe one with a cup brush on it, maybe have another one with a finer grit flap disk on it, etc, etc.  Bcause you have to grind or flap-disk off the mill scale off the plate before you weld it.  Because you have to (or should) remove the slag or crud off the weld when you are done or in between multiple passes.  Because you need to smooth a corner on the table so you don't rip open your hand or leg when you brush past it.  Because you need to grind a bevel on an edge before welding it.  Etc, etc, etc.  The best laid schemes ... Gang oft agley ...
Reply:i can go through a $3 cut off wheel in 10 minutes. then another, and another. look into the jig saw if you wanna do this cheap
Reply:Yes, but this is one place where brand makes a difference.  In those 10 minutes, I may have only cut several inches with a dewalt wheel, but a few feet with a metabo.
Reply:Originally Posted by John Tthats funny... I'm the same way with tractor supply store...last christmas, my wife got me a bunch of cool welding goodies from HF I said... "you ordered all this stuff online?"  she said, No silly.. there is a store on the turnpike a few towns over...I was like..  I got a list for next time I get up that way...this mig torch holder she got me..  is the best.   magnet base.. stick it right to the table. $7.99
Reply:I'll second the circular saw. I just cut up some 16 ga. sheet last week with a 7 1/4" circular saw with a Vermont American Steel Demon saw blade (Home Depot, $40). Cut the steel about as fast a cutting 3/4" plywood... Make sure your saw has a metal guard on it, the chips are hot (and sharp). I also make sure to wear plenty of protective gear. http://www.evolutionpowertools.co.uk...tion_fury.htmlIf you want to go to a dedicated saw, I see where Sears sells the Evolution Fury line, and the 7 1/4" saw is $99.99, same price as the cheap Harbor Freight steel cutting saw. I'd go for the Evolution in that case, but I already had an extra saw to dedicate. The nice thing for these is that the guard is better designed to keep most of the chips from flying everywhere like a regular saw.And another reminder, sawing or grinding, if you don't want to see rust stains on your driveway/patio/sidewalk later, make sure you can clean the area WELL, or better, go cut in the grass (not dry and brown), cause the shavings will stain your concrete once they start rusting. DAMHIKT Mike "Dodis"Century 135 MIGMiller Thunderbolt XL AC (working on DC converter) (SCORE! got a H/F box off eBay for this one too) now gotta get busy!!! Harbor Freight 130 TIGOxy/Propane Victor Torch
Reply:Edit: that was a Freud Steel Demon (don't know why I was thinking Vermont American...  )Mike "Dodis"Century 135 MIGMiller Thunderbolt XL AC (working on DC converter) (SCORE! got a H/F box off eBay for this one too) now gotta get busy!!! Harbor Freight 130 TIGOxy/Propane Victor Torch
Reply:[QUOTE=dodis;375040]I'll second the circular saw. I just cut up some 16 ga. sheet last week with a 7 1/4" circular saw with a Vermont American Steel Demon saw blade (Home Depot, $40). Cut the steel about as fast a cutting 3/4" plywood... Make sure your saw has a metal guard on it, the chips are hot (and sharp). I also make sure to wear plenty of protective gear. QUOTE]If you don't have a metal cut off blade you could try and do what I use, I use an old  7 1/4" Makita wood saw but use a metal cutting disk in it, had to put straight edge on my welding table that I made as the 8mm plate edge was cut with a Propane/oxy torch and had heaps of gaps and gouges from a straight line. Put a 2mm cutting disk in it and it took about 30 minutes. A thicker disk such as a 3mm generates too much heat. Length of cut was 1.5mt and 8mm thick plate, put a length of steel RHS clamped at each end as a guide for the saw, raised the blade up so it only just cut about 1.5mm thick each time, at the end dropped it another 1.5mm and started again, and continued untill finally cut through. If you drop the disk down all the way in a one off cut style the blade has a tendency to wander or be pressed off a straight line. Also trying to do it in one cut seems to go through disks a lot faster than lots of fine cuts. Used 1 and a half  7" cut off disks for the 1.5mt cut. About $4.50 total cost. Perfect straight line and didn't need to grind off anything to make it straight. just used a file to take the knife edge off so I wouldn't be cut by it. Worked for me.Miller Auto Invision 456 + S-62 wire feederC6240B1 Gap bed lathe16 ft3 air compressor16 speed pedestal drillHafco BS-912 Bandsaw
Reply:Originally Posted by rlitmanYes, but this is one place where brand makes a difference.  In those 10 minutes, I may have only cut several inches with a dewalt wheel, but a few feet with a metabo.
Reply:Yes it is possible you need to handle the sheet carefully for it...luggage scales
Reply:Originally Posted by dugndeepYow it work's great,just $5.99 at Harbor freight.People put HF down but they have these neat gadgets like this that work and where else would you find this?I love shopping at HF,my nephew hates going with me because he know's I will go down every aisle looking(lol) for that gadget that I just got to have.........dougimho..the 4 1/2" grinder armed with a thin cutoff wheel is the most dangerous tool i own bar none. hi torque, 13000rpm, it will jump up quick and bite hard.i have 5 of them. i recently got a ridgid 7" and am using it more and more.lifetime  service agreement too.
Reply:I use RazorBlade by Flexovit.  They are .045 thick.  I have a 6 inch grinder so I use a 6 inc blade.
Reply:Originally Posted by 7A749Cheapest effective method: Grinder with an .045 cutoff wheel.Sure, there are other ways, but this one doesn't cost much & will get the job done just fine. Especially if it's short cuts. I prefer it to many other methods myself because of it's ease of use & cost.I'm sure some prefer to use other things & believe those methods work better (not like I haven't already been told that ) but it's been working for me for over 10+ years & for the investment you'll have in a fair quality grinder & a few cutoff discs.......IMHO only, of course.
Reply:If you have a skill saw you can buy a chop saw blade to fit. Be careful though this is a real weapon. Wear a face shield and safety glasses and secure the material.Scotthttp://www.welders360.com/New guy.