Pole Barn Metal Panel cutter?

[Steve C]

How do the shears work with corrugated metal roofing? I'm planning on building a "carport" style roof on the side of the garage to protect my 'hoe. Would the circular saw mentioned at the top of this thread be better for cross-cuts across the corrugations?

The Milwaukee metal cutting circular saw works great for cross cutting, diagnol cutting and ripping the panels. If you cut with the finished side down, it glides across the ribs (that become valleys when the sheet is placed finished side down) and it cuts about as fast as a regular circular saw cutting 1/4" plywood. It leaves a very smooth edge and makes far less noise than I expected. You can also get good results with a plain old circular saw with a plywood blade in backwards, but it will make a lot more noise and the edge won't be as smooth and there will be a lot of metal chips flying through the air.

The Milwaukee metal cutting saw and other metal cutting circular saws have a lot more shielding around the blade to help control the metal chips, but you will absolutely want to wear eye protection with any saw.

If you go to the Amazon site and read my review and look at the pictures you can see the first cut I made with this tool.

Amazon.com: Bare-Tool Milwaukee 6320-20 18-Volt Ni-Cad 6-1/2-Inch Cordless Metal Cutting Circular Saw (Tool Only, No Battery): Home Improvement

please rate the review and the pictures if you happen to go there and find the information helpfull....or not..

The sheet metal was distorted from being ripped off my roof and thrown in a pile, not the best material to work with, I cut it where it lay, yet the cut is just about perfectly straight, even without following a line, just eyeballing the cut as I was making it. This is one amazing tool. I have never used a corded metal cutting circular saw but I expect that the results would be similar or even better. I am pretty sure the blade design is the key to a good cut and the additional blade gaurding makes them more comfortable to use.

I am suprised that some people have not been able to cross cut the panels with the shears from Harbor freight. My barn is 40 foot wide on the gable ends making 80 foot of panels that were cross cut. I didn't watch them do it, but every sheet of steel came from the lumber yard with square ends and the ones on my gable ends match up to my 4-12 pitch roof perfectly and the only cutting tool the erection crew had was the Harbor Freight shear. It left little 2 inch diameter coils of metal on the ground. I would guess that the sheets would have to be cut with the finished side down because the little coils of metal had red paint on the outside.

 

[BearKiller]

I think this is what your thinking of
Swenson Shear | Pivot Shears

Swenson Shear | Anatomy of a Pivot Shear

About fifteen miles up the road from me is a huge Menonite metal siding/roofing sales establishment; no electricity.

These guys have been selling metal for over twenty years; probably three semi loads per day.

They have used the shears pictured ever since the beginning, but I kinda think that they actually make their own.

Those shears work wonderfully for straight 90* slices, but are useless for cutting angles, such as for the gable ends.

I have tried many different methods for cutting the metal sheets; skill-saw blade in backwards = quick and no-non-sense, but NOISY and throws bits of burning-hot metal through three layers of safety-glass; plain old tin-snips = okay for a VERY short cut, but soon bind up unless you can bend/distort the scrap side of the cut enough to get it out of the way, which usually is impossible.

Probably the best, most accurate method I have used thus far, for either straight or really curvy cuts, is an air-powered Harbor Freight "nibbler".

This nibbler has about a 3/8 kerf, and punches out little haf-moon chunks of metal as it eats it's way along.

Those little chunks of metal are just right to end up in a cow's gut and kill her with a slow death, so judgement must be used as to when and where to use a nibbler.

With a nibbler, one can cut an isolated hole in a sheet, such as for a window or an electrical outlet-box, by drilling a starter hole just large enough to allow the nose of the nibbler to poke through, much the same as when using a jig-saw.

I see now that nibblers can also be had with electric motors.

The electric would be more convenient, simply plugging in to a cord and not needing an air-compressor; but, the air powered ones are much safer when working with razor-sharp sheets of metal that could slice through the cord's insulation while you are busy working with the metal.

 

[Duffster]

Those shears work wonderfully for straight 90* slices, but are useless for cutting angles, such as for the gable ends.

They make ones that are set for the typical 4/12 roof pitch.

 

[ShearMetal]

Hips and Valleys too

YouTube - DSCN6050

 

[BX2230Dude]

Thanks Alan B, Steve C, Duffster, and everyone else who replied. Milwaukee and Bosch are my two favorite brands of power tools. It looks like the Milwaukee saw is a good general purpose tool for ripping and cross-cutting (except for throwing hot chips all over the place) while the shear would be ideal for nice clean ripping. The Bosch nibbler looks like it would "ride" the corrugations and make a nice cut, plus like someone pointed out it could also make square/round cutouts that would be hard to do with the saw.

Shearmetal: Now THAT is a cool shear but probably way too expensive for my casual use.

Decisions, decisions....

 

[Steve C]

Thanks Alan B, Steve C, Duffster, and everyone else who replied. Milwaukee and Bosch are my two favorite brands of power tools. It looks like the Milwaukee saw is a good general purpose tool for ripping and cross-cutting (except for throwing hot chips all over the place) while the shear would be ideal for nice clean ripping. The Bosch nibbler looks like it would "ride" the corrugations and make a nice cut, plus like someone pointed out it could also make square/round cutouts that would be hard to do with the saw.

Shearmetal: Now THAT is a cool shear but probably way too expensive for my casual use.

Decisions, decisions....

If you are not in a big hurry for the Milwaukee Metal cutting circular saw just keep watching for the price to drop on Amazon.com It actually does a pretty good job of containing the chips, but the few that do get away could be bad for unprotected eyes.

The price goes up and down a lot. I paid $39.99 for mine plus $10.29 shipping for a total of $50.28
I also already had the Milwaukee 18 volt Ni Cad and V18 Lithium batteries and charger.

I have also seen the Clarke brand corded metal cutting saws on clearence at TSC lately but I don't remember what the price is.

 

[J_J]

Metal-Cutting Circ Saws

 

[Steve C]

Metal cutting Circ Saws[/url][/QUOTE]

Good information!

The only thing I have cut with mine has been barn siding, but it is good to know it will work with pipe, conduit and metal studs also.

I think this will take you to page one of the article
http://www.toolsofthetrade.net/industry-news.asp?sectionID=1492&articleID=501357&artnum=1

 

[wildwillie]

I have had the best results with a 4 inch grinder with a thin cut off wheel. Don't buy special tools,a grinder cuts fast,clean,any angle and wont scratch up the paint.

 

[BearKiller]

It is good to know that someone makes those big guillotine shears to cut other than square cuts.

Price probably dictates that only professional roofers and pole-barn builders can justify such luxuries.


Here is a trick that I have used many many times to cut out windows, doors, air-conditioner holes, and such in metal siding that is already installed; this trick probably won't work for flimsy limber sheets that are not yet fastened to the wall.

Draw the hole you want with a "magic-marker" or somesuch.

Make sure there isn't any ten-million giga-volt wires or such in the line of action.

Take an old butcher-knife and a hammer, and pierce the knife through the metal on your line.

Peck on the back side of the blade, as close to the metal as possible, while guiding the cut by controlling direction with your other hand on the knife handle.

Work your way all around the drawn line, peck peck peck on the back of the blade, while the sharp side slices it's way around.

This is the quickest, safest, method I have ever used.