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How do you smoothly cut sheet aluminum?

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HumanPoweredDesigner

Well-Known Member
Joined
Sep 6, 2009
Messages
1,030
Location
Arizona
I've used tin snips to cut sheet metal before, though probably not aluminum 2024-t3. I don't know if it is just my bad technique, but the edges always came out bent, even if I managed to cut in a straight line. Should I be able to cut better than that? I want to cut a bunch of strips 2 feet long and 1/2 inch wide. Now that I think about it, its actually very possible to do what I want with 6 inch strips, and I bet those would be a lot easier to cut straight.

Do you think the phone book would have a list of metal shops where I can pay $10 per hour to use their basic tools? Maybe they have a big straight edge that pivots down on a table. That would cut very straight and clean. I bet they'd charge extra to use drill bits, since those get dull.

Or would it be better to scratch the cut lines onto one big sheet for everything I want cut, and then pay them to cut everything out?
 
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