I want to cut some thin stainless that I have in my shop to create so door
sill protectors for my car. BUT how can I cut it without leaving tool marks
or stretching the material? My chocies.

1) Band Saw
2) Grinder
3) Die Cutter
4) Hand Held metal shears
5)???

For thin material, an abrasive cut off process with relatively slow feed
is apt to create less distortion. This would work with complex shapes
hard to cut with other tools. However, if the stainless that you are
cutting is flat, power shears and perhaps hand shears will not create
much distortion.

Richard


HotRod wrote:
I want to cut some thin stainless that I have in my shop to create so door
sill protectors for my car. BUT how can I cut it without leaving tool marks
or stretching the material? My chocies.

1) Band Saw
2) Grinder
3) Die Cutter
4) Hand Held metal shears
5)???




--
http://www.fergusonsculpture.com
Sculptures in copper and other metals

"HotRod" wrote in message
...
I want to cut some thin stainless that I have in my shop to create so door
sill protectors for my car. BUT how can I cut it without leaving tool marks
or stretching the material? My chocies.

One way we used to cut thin metal for electronic prototypes was to clamp it
strongly between two pieces of 3/4" plywood, then cut at high speed with a
lot-o-teeth carbide blade in a table saw.

LLoyd

Take it to a sheet metal shop and have them sheer it for you. Takes
only a few minutes and shouldn't cost more than a couple of bucks.

73 Gary N9ZSV

"HotRod" wrote in message
...
I want to cut some thin stainless that I have in my shop to create so door
sill protectors for my car. BUT how can I cut it without leaving tool
marks
or stretching the material? My chocies.

1) Band Saw
2) Grinder
3) Die Cutter
4) Hand Held metal shears
5)???


Any grinding process will introduce considerable heat, so that's not a great
choice. Shearing the material will leave a rolled edge, often curling the
piece in question, so that's not a good choice.

You mentioned a band saw. If you use a base piece that has a slot the
same size as the blade, and use a very fine toothed blade in the saw, you
can usually saw parts in thin stainless without distorting them. The key is
to use the narrow slot support, and not push hard, for stainless is
notorious for stripping teeth from the blade. If the blade starts
shucking teeth, you have nothing to lose, so you can usually run the speed
up considerably and get the job finished, although it will continue to shuck
teeth. Time your feed rate in keeping with the missing teeth to minimize
losing more----

To avoid scratching the material on the bottom side, from sliding in chips,
tape some heavy paper on the bottom side of the part, while you're sawing
the profile, or a couple layers of masking tape. Or, keep the bottom side
the bottom, so when they're installed the scratches won't show. It's
hard to avoid scratching the bottom face when using a band saw.

Harold

I already tried sending the metal to shop to have it sheared and it ended up
deforming the sheared side enough that it rolled on the edge a bit. I'll try
the bandsaw idea and see how that works.


"HotRod" wrote in message
...
I want to cut some thin stainless that I have in my shop to create so door
sill protectors for my car. BUT how can I cut it without leaving tool marks
or stretching the material? My chocies.

1) Band Saw
2) Grinder
3) Die Cutter
4) Hand Held metal shears
5)???

On Thu, 26 Jan 2006 11:03:38 -0500, "HotRod"
wrote:

I want to cut some thin stainless that I have in my shop to create so door
sill protectors for my car. BUT how can I cut it without leaving tool marks
or stretching the material? My chocies.

1) Band Saw
2) Grinder
3) Die Cutter
4) Hand Held metal shears
5)???



You do know that you can get stainless with either a plastic film or a
paper protective coating applied. Allows you to do quite a bit of
work without marring the finish surface, although it won't stop
shearing deformation (warping). Makes it a bit easier to hold too.
You could probably do the same thing with un-coated on your own using
something like MacTac, but I have never tried it.

I have tosn of 4' square sheets of stainless, galv. aluminum and other stuff
that I got for free. I want to start workign with it instead of trying to
buy somethingelse. BUT thanks. I'm going to give the bandsaw a try this
weekend.


"Brian Lawson" wrote in message
...
On Thu, 26 Jan 2006 11:03:38 -0500, "HotRod"
wrote:

I want to cut some thin stainless that I have in my shop to create so door
sill protectors for my car. BUT how can I cut it without leaving tool
marks
or stretching the material? My chocies.

1) Band Saw
2) Grinder
3) Die Cutter
4) Hand Held metal shears
5)???



You do know that you can get stainless with either a plastic film or a
paper protective coating applied. Allows you to do quite a bit of
work without marring the finish surface, although it won't stop
shearing deformation (warping). Makes it a bit easier to hold too.
You could probably do the same thing with un-coated on your own using
something like MacTac, but I have never tried it.