Cutting thick steel plate.

This is something I get asked about quite a lot, "How can I cut some brackets from....?". The answer tends to surprise people...

Category:

Autos & Vehicles

Tags:

• Chopper
• Trike
• workshop
• fabrication
• How
• To
• cutting
• steel
• plate

[MegaSpraypaint]

can i cut a 20mm aluminium plate with a jig saw or is that 2 thick

[timmytenbikes]

@MegaSpraypaint The limiting factor, as long as you'r prepared to be patient with it, & the distance from the foot of the jigsaw to the end of the blade when the blade is fully up. As long as that's greater than the thickness of material, and the jigsaw is halfway decent, yes you ought to be able to.

[Just1DayMore]

Good video. This is a practical way to cut steel with a tool that most people have on hand. I can clean it up on the mill afterwards. Thanks for posting!

[MrBaldridge1988]

u look like the guy off top gear

[timmytenbikes]

@ragnarokzero1988 Interestingly, a jigsaw will cut steel from around 1mm up to 12mm without distorting it, or hadening the edge. It requires very little clean up and will cut things that aren't possible with oxy fuel. Given that all my stuff is aimed at people who want to build bikes and/or trikes, a jigsaw will also cut the wooden formers for shaping seat bases and fuel tanks. While there are tools that will do a better job of some of those things, a jigsaw will do all of them.

Bye.

[ragnarokzero1988]

@timmytenbikes that does surprise me actually, i would have thought the words "metal cutting jigsaw blade" kind of say it all, it's more that anyone would want to that confuses me, a hacksaw is a better option than the jigsaw certainly easier and cheaper.

bundling Oxy fuel in with, laser, water jets and the like is a rather strange thing to do as oxypropane for example is a very cheap set up to have lasers are unattainable to most people, even plasma is a lot more expensive in the 5+ times range

[timmytenbikes]

@ragnarokzero1988 It mightcome as a surprise to you but, more or less everyone who bothers to read this already knows you can cut steel plate with Oxy-fuel or plasma, not to mention lasers, wire erosion, and water jets. A reasonable percentage of them were unaware that you could use a jig saw to do the job before they saw this. Quite how your life preferences have any impact on the facts of the matter is something that I fervently hope will remain a mystery to me.

[ragnarokzero1988]

@timmytenbikes good jigsaw like your one costs about £150 new for that i could get a oxy propane cutting set, yeah you need gas to go with it, but if you'd have to spend all day cutting a sheet of 1/4" with a jig saw otherwise you'd almost certainly be better off, and less deff, not to mention RSI and white finger.

i see your point, but tbh i'd rather take the 1/4" plate to someone with plasma or OA than cut it with a jigsaw.

[timmytenbikes]

@ragnarokzero1988 Well, feel free to call round and totally miss the point again sometime.

[ragnarokzero1988]

you don't NEED a plasma cutter to cut the plate but if you try it you won't want to be with out it again, that looks to be a horrible job to do, I use oxy acetylene for cutting steel, o/a is a bit quicker for steel than plasma, i'd cut a yard of 1/4" in about a minute, saves a lot of trouble.

also, try cutting 1/4 stainless with your jig saw vs plasma. haha