planetester
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| posted on 25/9/04 at 05:44 PM |
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Neat ally panels
Just a bit of info for those about to make ally panels,
people use all sorts of methods to cut them from a big sheet & this sometimes leave the edges rough & distorted, Ive just made mine &
used a £20 B&Q router, make a template from cardboard, draw around it on the ally panel, clamp a straight edge with G clamps to guide the router
& away you go
hope this helps someone
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madforfishing
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| posted on 25/9/04 at 06:41 PM |
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Planetester, what router bit did you use to cut the Ali ? Anything special, or those bits that come with the router as a set of usually six or so.
I had 2 cheap routers before they died and became a false economy. They're ok if you use them now and again though.
Rick
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OX
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| posted on 25/9/04 at 08:34 PM |
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i used a stanley knife to score some deep lines and then snapped it off,i made all my inner panels this way but it does leave a sharp edge,next time
i think i'll be tempted to buy the router,£20 sounds like a bargain 
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Rob Lane
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| posted on 25/9/04 at 09:37 PM |
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Mentioned before but a TCT blade in a circular saw works well for straight cuts.
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planetester
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| posted on 25/9/04 at 09:45 PM |
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used just a standard 1/4" carbide bit that came with the router, I used 16swg aircraft grade fully hardened alloy for my floor & it cut it
quite easily
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Mark Allanson
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| posted on 25/9/04 at 09:48 PM |
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Whats wrong with tin snips? Perfect cut, faster that cutting paper with scissors.
If you can keep you head, whilst all others around you are losing theirs, you are not fully aware of the situation
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RoadkillUK
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| posted on 26/9/04 at 12:08 AM |
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One of these does a lovely job.
Roadkill - Lee
www.bradford7.co.uk
Latest Picture (14 Sept 2014)
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blueshift
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| posted on 27/9/04 at 12:20 AM |
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I don't know if you have some kind of magic tin snips, I have straight cut "aircraft type" (I think?) tin snips and they leave one
side serrated and the other side bent. plus you get into some serious bending if you try and cut more than about 3" in.
I got a drill powered nibbler at donnington, it's brilliant. slices through aluminium like butter, does curves, straights (with a guide), etc.
highly reccomended.
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stephen_gusterson
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| posted on 27/9/04 at 09:04 AM |
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an air nibbler - dont they max out at about 1.2mm?
I used a hand nibbler from machine mart. costs about 7 quid and did 2mm alu no probs. might be a bit hard on the hand with steel tho!
atb
steve
quote:
Originally posted by RoadkillUK
One of these does a lovely job.
[Edited on 27/9/04 by stephen_gusterson]
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Kitlooney1000
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| posted on 27/9/04 at 09:12 AM |
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i found a jigsaw with ali blade worked perfectly fine
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blueshift
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| posted on 27/9/04 at 10:52 AM |
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the drill nibbler does up to 2mm alu or steel I think.
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DarrenW
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| posted on 29/9/04 at 02:52 PM |
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i tried tin snips for a bulhead panel - definitely looks second hand. Will be trying air nibbler next.
Ive just bought a rotozip from ebay (£30 - bargain) to cut out fibreglass etc, has anyone used one of these for ali?
Cheers,
Darren.
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alfasudsprint
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| posted on 29/9/04 at 08:30 PM |
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used a jigsaw with special ali blade too...perfect! protected ali with making tape on jigsaw, cut holes everything.
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Peteff
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| posted on 29/9/04 at 10:10 PM |
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Anybody want to try the router.
Aldi's offer next week is a router and bits for £17.99. It won't break the bank if you f*%K it up.
yours, Pete
I went into the RSPCA office the other day. It was so small you could hardly swing a cat in there.
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planetester
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| posted on 30/9/04 at 10:05 PM |
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I just wanted to tell people of a good, cheap way of doing there panels,
Tin snips make it look like a dogs dinner
I dont think you will get an electric nibbler for under £70
You wont cut flooring thickness ally with a sharp knife,
just trying to help
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stephen_gusterson
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| posted on 30/9/04 at 10:45 PM |
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and so you have...... other people just like to add to the debate. my hand nibbler works, but it takes effort..
atb
steve
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OX
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| posted on 30/9/04 at 11:08 PM |
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quote:
Originally posted by planetester
You wont cut flooring thickness ally with a sharp knife,
i wouldnt know my floor was cut for me ,but the 1.5 mm innner panels i made and didnt cut all the way through it ,just some deep lines and bent it
over and it snaps ,a bit fiddly but it was all i had at the time to do the job
and you have helped becouse i will be buying a router next time. thank you
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stephen_gusterson
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| posted on 1/10/04 at 08:48 AM |
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its like most things in my build - having bum all acess to proper metalwoking tools needs a lot of improvation.
Cutting approx 8mm per 'wrist action' does rather develop the muscles tho when you do all the cutting - which has got to be in excess of
20mts of cuts - easily.
Im staying away from the wrist jokes......
atb
steve
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MikeP
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| posted on 1/10/04 at 12:29 PM |
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There's probably some better tricks for using aviation snips than I've found, but one that works for me: I use anything to rough out the
cut, leaving about 12mm (1/2" from the cut line I want. I've got one of the air nibblers in the picture, it's easy and quick.
After final shaping and fitting I finish the cut with the aviation snips, using the correct handed one to push the waste material up and away from the
sheet. Probably obvious to most of you, but my snips rusted in my tool box for years till I figured that out...
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stephen_gusterson
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| posted on 1/10/04 at 01:38 PM |
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aviation snips come in a set of 3 - straight, left and right handed cut. I have all three, virtually prisine and unused!
atb
steve
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irvined
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| posted on 4/10/04 at 03:37 PM |
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I have a steel floor, and used a grinder and a very fine cutting disc, really straight edge, quite noisey but very little bending. I did need to file
it down a bit as there was lots of sharp bits, but i'm quite happy with it.
That was however before i bought my air nibbler which goes through anything up to 2mm like a hot knife through butter.
Before that I also had a machine mart drill nibbler thing, it was good at cutting but a little fragile.
D
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