How To Cut A Round Hole In Thin Sheet Metal

Sheet metal drills a pdf drilling holes in thin sheetmetal have you ever tried to drill holes in thin sheet metal using standard drills and ending up with a ragged triangular shaped hole not anywhere near the diameter you wanted and perhaps requiring a trip the medicine cabinet for a band aid.

How to cut a round hole in thin sheet metal.

At first locate the center of the whole. When cutting out a circle one or sometimes two cutting tools are rotated about a center point to. Cutting sheet metal with snips can be tricky and frustrating. Put your ink to the use and mark the hole center.

For clean precise holes in thin sheet metal make a wood sandwich. Advance the drill through the thin sheet metal it may be difficult to get the drill to start cutting but a gentle force should be used until the cloth has been pierced taking care not to distort the sheet metal the drill will then advance normally through the metal but the resulting hole will be both round and assuming drill geometry is not miles out the size will be spot on. Now it s time to use that center punch. When drilling or punching a hole in sheet metal you more or less cut out the entire hole at once.

But you don t have to be a tinsmith to cut sheet metal successfully. The wooden bread layers of the sandwich keep the sheet metal flat and prevent the drill bit from wandering as it bores through the sheet metal. This will create dimples in the sheet. Simply sandwich the sheet metal between two pieces of wood and clamp everything down on a table or workbench.

Next use a compass to outline the edge of the hole. The edges are sharp the cutoffs are stiff and get in the way the snips bind or you just can t seem to negotiate the curve.