How To: Shear Corrugated

[47ford - 1.5ton]

Looking at doing some stuff with corrugated aluminum....

Can get 26" wide x 10' long stuff from local menards for fairly cheap.

That being said... can I just bring this stuff to work and cut it on the sheet metal shears or will it flatten out when I shear it?

Mounting the corrugated lines horizontally collects dust...

Mounting vertically looks better as well..but that means you need to cut the 10' lengths every repeat in 'wainscot' hieght... (most are between 24-36")

Thoughts?

Maybe nathank will chime in...

 

[RVDan]

I'd use a plasma cutter

 

[tinbender 66]

The holddown on the shear would mangle it if you can even get it under there. It cuts pretty easy with a skil type saw. It is really noisy and will throw a lot of hot chips on ya but you can wear protection for that. That's how we do it in the field. Have fun!!

 

[slopecarver]

or water jet cutter if you have access to one, basically use anything that doesn't try to crush it. you might get away with a non-ferrous blade in a table saw!

 

[tinbender 66]

P.S.........Don't let anybody tell ya to run the blade backwards either.

 

[KGarage75]

I score it with a drywall knife then tear it. This works along the same concept as a soda can.

 

[47ford - 1.5ton]

I score it with a drywall knife then tear it. This works along the same concept as a soda can.

Won't work consistently as I need to cut against the 'run' of the wave.... (IE I need to cut up and down the waves...)


Do they make corrugated panel with the 'corrugation' running 90* (aka vertical vs. horiztonal in regards to the long run....)

 

[kool55]

An abrasive cut off wheel on my 4 1/2 grinder worked best for me. Better than the 10 ga. nibbler that I bought for the job.

 

[mebedave]

any good shear watch this: http://www.metacafe.com/watch/4176620/cutting_curved_corrugated_metal_profile_shears/

or:

 

[PeterT]

Magnasnips

 

[kenners]

Milwaukee 685220 Sheet Metal Shear.
Looks like a drill motor, but has a solid jaw on left and right side and a moving jaw in the middle.

 

[mudhog]

My first shed I bought the same stuff and used a abrasive wheel to make cross cuts and some wire on a board to make the long cuts (neat trick). The next building I built I bought the tin from one of those metal building shops and they will cut your metal to within a half inch of what you want. and it was priced about the same, well worth it. and they have several colors to choose from. when cutting with the abrassive saw try not to get the cutting stuff on the metal it will leave speckles of rust.

 

[Nighttrain]

An abrasive cut off wheel on my 4 1/2 grinder worked best for me. Better than the 10 ga. nibbler that I bought for the job.

I found this to work the best also. I purchased a piece of wood that was formed the same was as the metal (used as backer) and layed the wood over the metal for a straight edge. Used a sharpie to draw the line and went after it with the cut off wheel. Pictures of my corrigated wainscoating in my build

 

[Falcon67]

P.S.........Don't let anybody tell ya to run the blade backwards either.

Works on steel, why not aluminum? Probably make more of a mess in AL.

 

[Bigrhamr]

After reading every post I could find on the subject I decided to try what was handy which was a Skilsaw with a carbide tip blade, general framing with coarse teeth. I ran with the blade in normal position. It goes through the galv steel as fast as you can move the saw, fairly clean cut. Put support boards underneath on both sides of the cut and clamp a straight board on top for a saw guide. It throws a stream of metal shards about 20 feet forward and makes every bit as much noise as you would expect. Wear a good face sheild and maybe glasses too for good measure, gloves, heavy long sleeves and ear protection. Not for the timid but fast and effective. I've also cut it with a grinder and cut wheel which works fine but is far slower, eats wheels and leaves more metallic dust to rust if it's outside.

 

[rslaback]

They make shears specifically for that. A lot of times you can rent one from the supplier of your steel. I know our local lumberyard has one.

http://www.swensonshear.com/pivotshears.html

 

[jlckmj]

Menards will custom cut the panels for you at no charge. It may take a week to get them, but it would be worth it.

ALSO, I have cut those panels with a "nibbler" it has a narrow head and moves up and down the raised portion easily, but I would still rather order the correct lengths.

Jim

 

[A**holes Garage]

After reading every post I could find on the subject I decided to try what was handy which was a Skilsaw with a carbide tip blade, general framing with coarse teeth. I ran with the blade in normal position. It goes through the galv steel as fast as you can move the saw, fairly clean cut. Put support boards underneath on both sides of the cut and clamp a straight board on top for a saw guide. It throws a stream of metal shards about 20 feet forward and makes every bit as much noise as you would expect. Wear a good face sheild and maybe glasses too for good measure, gloves, heavy long sleeves and ear protection. Not for the timid but fast and effective.

I've cut up a lot of corrugated using the Skil saw with a carbide blade

 

[fordcragar]

I've just cut mine in a shear. It flattened them a bit, but they were easy to put back into shape.

 

[RobertMo1988]

It cuts pretty easy with a skil type saw. It is really noisy and will throw a lot of hot chips on ya but you can wear protection for that. That's how we do it in the field. Have fun!!

+1 on the skil saw! they do spit something viscous but it is the fastest cleanest way, ive ripped 20ft panels for equipment screens and its the best way, not everyone has access to a plasma tooo

 

[machine_punk]

I cut sheet and plate aluminum all the time with these two tools: A 10" table saw with a non-ferrous blade in it and a 7.25" worm-drive saw with a non-ferrous blade in it...
View media item 13009
I haven't had the need to cut corrugated aluminum yet, but when I do, it will be one of these two tools doing it (I have a garden fence project coming up, where I plan to use corrugated aluminum panels).

M_P

 

[trainer]

They make special circular saw blades for metal roofing.

 

[Shadowdog500]

When Morton put my building up they used something like the nibbler in the video below to cut the corrugated. My neighbor has the HF version and it don't work nearly as well as the one in the video or the ones the Morton crew had.

 

[Norcal]

A Kett shear does quite well, a poster above recommended the Milwaukee model. I found mine in a pile at a scrapyard, new blades & cord & it was good to go...

 

[LSU]

They make special circular saw blades for metal roofing.

I've looked for these and have never found one. Got any leads?

I've used a plywood very fine tooth blade installed backwards. Works well. Wear ear plugs and super safety glasses. Used my plain old circular saw.

 

[Falcon67]

I've looked for these and have never found one. Got any leads?

I've used a plywood very fine tooth blade installed backwards. Works well. Wear ear plugs and super safety glasses. Used my plain old circular saw.

Same here. When I was working with the steel, an old timer told me to use the reverse blade deal. Said to use a bootom-of-the-line plain blade, used up for regular service. Flip it over and get after it. It does make a bit of a racket. But it would rip through corrugated steel like it was 1/4 plywood. I was skirting a big double wide and the work went pretty quick. Carbide tips makes the teeth wider and I think that gets in the way. Cheap non-carbide blade cuts a thinner path.

 

[GN4WHLN]

I just mark it and use a air die grinder with a cut off wheel. Air or electric nibbler would probably also work well.

 

[pop pop]

Would you believe the aluminum producers use a saw that looks like a chop saw? It has about a 50" blade and 300 hp motor. The aluminum cut needs a negative rake on the blade where wood uses a positive rake. Let the blade cool occasionally. Aluminum doesn't really like to be sheared. The wood blade will work for thin cuts like siding. For thick material say 1", you can buy a chain with negative rake for your chain saw. Yes, we've done this. Wear hearing and eye protection as mentioned. 30 years in the business.

 

[Bluepine]

Harbor Freight sells a 7-1/4 inch metal cutting blade for $20. Carbide tipped and works flawlessly, virtually no burr. I cut 9 sheets of Menards Pro Rib steel at one time to get perfect wainscotting. Laid the sheets upside down and clamped them so there would'nt be any chatter. Zero issues. I cut 120 feet of steel and the blade looks new still.

 

[machine_punk]

With aluminum, you really don't need to install the blade backwards. I DO have the aluminum (non-ferrous) blades for my saws, but the Freud Diablo non-ferrous blade I am using (bought from Home Depot) is also described as a LAMINATE BLADE. What you are looking for is a TRIPLE CHIP pattern in your carbide saw tips. I cut aluminum sheet and plate all the time with circular blades in wood-cutting saws. Be careful with kickback (can be worse that wood), but they make great cuts.

Unless it is all you have, a cutting blade in an angle grinder is the wrong way to do this. You will do a LOT of deburring and edge cleanup (ask me how I know!).

Look for Freud non-ferrous blades (I get mine at Home Depot)
Look for Onsrud non-ferrous blades (I get these on eBay)

For more information, look at my thread on cutting aluminum with a tablesaw...
http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=122619

or read through my Aerodrome Studio thread, where I cut a LOT of all sorts of aluminum, using a variety of cutting tools...
http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=122188

M_P

 

[Bronson]

I cut Mine with Aviation snips. If You dont have to do a ton of them, its fine, nice clean cut, no noise, nothing to buy, no mess. I did enough for a 10 by 10 x 8 shed, inside My shop while I watched TV.

 

[shopnut]

They make shears specifically for that. A lot of times you can rent one from the supplier of your steel. I know our local lumberyard has one.

http://www.swensonshear.com/pivotshears.html

Thanks for sharing that rslaback - I've been trying to find one of those profile shears to use on the 20 sheets of surplus siding matching my ASYLUM. They are destined to be used on my smaller shed for a matched look around the compound. I remember that is what the builder used way back during the construction process.

Doing it the hard way...
I've cut quite a few sheets of corrugated steel for various projects and have decent luck using one of these. I'm using it for another project here, but you should get the idea. I payed $30 for them at HF and have benn using it for about 5 years now without troubles.



It's fairly slow going because you have to keep flipping from side-to-side as you cut around the ribs, but it makes a clean straight cut. I chose this method because the steel siding manufacturers recommend shearing the metal to pinch the galvanized coating back together to minimize edge rust. Of course, that's not a concern with the aluminum being discuss here.

EDIT: If it will help someone, I can explain the steps in more detail for cutting ribbed metal with this shear.