Cutting corrugated iron with your FS rails

[Kev]

DON'T DO IT.

The reality is that a good quality metal cutting blade and the TSC55 do an extremely good job of cutting sheet metal cladding with the FS rails but the downside is the rubbish that gets into the plastic parts of your rails.

Among many others I had to make a few 5m cuts and as a result I'll need to replace the various strips on several rails [sad]

 

[Stephen B]

[member=13058]Kev[/member] I do this with Corrigated iron , Colorbond and Zincalome:- mark a line, then using an Angle Grinder with a thin metal cutting disc cut 2-5mm along waste side of the line, and then make final cut by hand with appropriate tin snips. Others might use powered sheers or niblers but making a cut by hand reduces the long term  liklyhood of rust along cut edges on Colorbond and Zincslome.

My neighbor has a business erecting farm sheds, and he uses the same method as I. This way has clad our house, the Untidy Shop and more recently the Mower Shed. The roofing company that did our house roof also used this method, or just cut by hand in some cases.

This may be a time Kev, (as you discovered} to leave the Festoolians alone!  [huh] [eek] [smile]

 

[Kev]

[member=19746]Untidy Shop[/member] normally I'd use my trash rail for this sort of stuff ... it was the complication of having to cut to fit corrugated laid horizontally to fit under an existing carport roof.

I've used a metal blade in a circular saw and then sprayed the edge for rust protection for ages - haven't used the angle grinder and snips for yonks. It's really quick and not annoying if you're laying corrugated the right way!

 

[Acrobat]

Kev,
Would the DSC 125 angle grinder (running on the base attachment that fits the rails) not work to get a good straight cut without damaging the rails strip?
I'm interested to see, as I will need to attack a large corrugated barn very soon and make it my new workshop. Moving to the country shortly and have a heap of sorting to do there.

 

[Kev]

Kev,
Would the DSC 125 angle grinder (running on the base attachment that fits the rails) not work to get a good straight cut without damaging the rails strip?
I'm interested to see, as I will need to attack a large corrugated barn very soon and make it my new workshop. Moving to the country shortly and have a heap of sorting to do there.

[member=4404]Acrobat[/member] possibly would and I should certainly have considered it. I've got the 125 and 230, so I wouldn't have been stuck on depth either way [sad]

 

[Kev]

I have a Hypertherm 30XP plasma cutter, cuts through thin sheet metal like butter as fast if not faster than a saw.

[member=23087]bnaboatbuilder[/member] I'd love one of those puppies .. but I bet I'd need to practice for a year to get a straight line [sad]

 

[Bohdan]

[member=23087]bnaboatbuilder[/member] I'd love one of those puppies .. but I bet I'd need to practice for a year to get a straight line [sad]

No practice, you just run the torch along any straight edge like drawing a pencil line. (about the same speed too)

 

[Kev]

[member=23087]bnaboatbuilder[/member] I'd love one of those puppies .. but I bet I'd need to practice for a year to get a straight line [sad]

No practice, you just run the torch along any straight edge like drawing a pencil line. (about the same speed too)

[member=36526]Bohdan[/member] now you've gone and done it [embarassed] ... I suppose I should also think about sorting out my welding skills [big grin]

 

[Rip Van Winkle]

One thing you might want to consider when cutting sheet metal, is were you are doing the cutting, and what migh be around that could cause issues.

Cutting corrugated material can be quick with high quality abrasive wheels, but the wheels will generate a large amount of sparks, which can be sn issue if you're doing the cutting outside in an area that might have a large amount of dry foliage, or other combustable material around. The same issue might apply is there are flammable liquids around like solvents and finishes, or flammable gases.

Cermet or carbide circular saw blades for metal, as well as various jigsaw blades designed for cutting metal, can also generate sparks, but the amount of sparking is significantly less than that caused by abrasive cutting wheels.

Nibblers and power shears can also generate sparks, but will likely generate less sparking than metal cutting saw blades. The nibbler or shear tools are routinely used to remove old fuel storage tanks which have been drained, but which still would have small amounts of fuel contained inside. 

While I like sheet metal nibblers it should be mentioned that they tend to produce a huge amount of metal bits, that will likely get inbedded in your footware, requiring an hour with a pair of pliers removing the bits. Nibblers with round dies tend to produce crescent shaped chips that are particularly sharp and annoying.

The long, and really long, metal cutting jigsaw blades Bosch manufactures are actually designed for cutting corrugated sheat metal. Making a longer supplemental base for your jigsaw can help cut across the bumps as would a jigsaw track adapter.

If you do a lot of corrugated sheet metal work, or other dirty work, it might not be a bad idea to keep a Festool track exclusively for this.

 

[tdragomir]

If you are cutting metal with an abrasive disc take care where the grinder is shooting the waste. A fair amount of disc and metal dust is spraying off the grinder. This dust is not really visible until the next rain shower. Then black dots of rust appear say right across your nice cedar wood deck and they don't come off.

 

[Bohdan]

The hot sparks will also embed themselves into any galvanizing and leave rust stains. To prevent this use a disc designed for cutting stainless as it does not leave any particles that will rust.

 

[Stephen B]

[size=8pt]

The hot sparks will also embed themselves into any galvanizing and leave rust stains. To prevent this use a disc designed for cutting stainless as it does not leave any particles that will rust.

[size=13pt]
Good advice; something I should have mantioned earlier.

 

[PreferrablyWood]

Thanks for the informative tips on cutting corrugated. I would likely have made all of the mistakes mentioned in this thread had I not read it. A least the parts about ruining the guide track and getting metal contamination for flooring. Starting a bush fire well I'm usually pretty aware of that danger but can't be reminded enough anyway.

 

[Pykie]

[member=13058]Kev[/member] I do this with Corrigated iron , Colorbond and Zincalome:- mark a line, then using an Angle Grinder with a thin metal cutting disc cut 2-5mm along waste side of the line, and then make final cut by hand with appropriate tin snips. Others might use powered sheers or niblers but making a cut by hand reduces the long term  liklyhood of rust along cut edges on Colorbond and Zincslome.

My neighbor has a business erecting farm sheds, and he uses the same method as I. This way has clad our house, the Untidy Shop and more recently the Mower Shed. The roofing company that did our house roof also used this method, or just cut by hand in some cases.

This may be a time Kev, (as you discovered} to leave the Festoolians alone!  [huh] [eek] [smile]

You can machine cut colorbond at lowspeed without the consequence of rust.

Heat is what destroys the cut edge.

I dont have their spec sheet in front of me, but colorbond certify cuts under a certain RPM, which is lower than what runs on most of the dedicated 18v small metal cutting saws.

Running the TS at a low speed should be fine.

 

[Lbob131]

I have a Hypertherm 30XP plasma cutter, cuts through thin sheet metal like butter as fast if not faster than a saw.

That's fine and dandy  but  it would ruin  the sheets  with the burning.
I use the makita 1.6mm  nibbler. I also have the slotting  shears  and the  straight shears.
All 110 volt.
The slotting shears  are my favourite.

 

[rst]

While I have not used it for cutting roofing, I use a Milwaukee 18v metal cutting saw to retrofit lite kits and cut off door bottoms on  commercial steel doors on a regular basis.  Cuts through 16ga steel like nothing, leaves the finest filings imaginable, and you can run your finger over the cut with little fear of damage.  The marvels of modern technology!!  [smile]

 

[Bohdan]

I have a Hypertherm 30XP plasma cutter, cuts through thin sheet metal like butter as fast if not faster than a saw.

That's fine and dandy  but  it would ruin  the sheets  with the burning.

There is no burning with the plasma if you go fast enough, it leaves a clean edge and no visible discolouration on gal sheeting.

Showed a builder how I cut some gal sheets and all he said was "Got to get one of those".

 

[Pykie]

I have a Hypertherm 30XP plasma cutter, cuts through thin sheet metal like butter as fast if not faster than a saw.

That's fine and dandy  but  it would ruin  the sheets  with the burning.
I use the makita 1.6mm  nibbler. I also have the slotting  shears  and the  straight shears.
All 110 volt.
The slotting shears  are my favourite.

Do the slotting cutters cut .48 BMT steel like Colorbond?

 

[Rip Van Winkle]

You can get slitting or strip cut shears for cutting up to 2.5mm mild steel the same shear can usually cut 1.5mm high tensile steel such as stainless. The slitting shears for heavier gauge steel are manufactured by Trumpf and Draco. Fein also sells a slitting shear for heavier gauge steel, but only in 220v.

The Makita JS1660 shears are rated for 1.6mm mild steel and 1.2mm stainless. Makita also manufactuers a model JS1670 that has a cutting capacity of 1mm mild steel. Both the makita shears should cut .48mm steel.

I own a Draco shear not a Makita shear, but if the shear work similarly within their rated capacity, they should be able to cut the sheet metal like it's butter. The Makita shears may only be sold in some countries.