Metal cutting at home and on a production scale

Very often there is a need for cutting large pieces of metal, splitting pieces from them, cutting out grooves and channels, removing hard crusts, etc. To perform all these procedures, different methods are used.

How to cut metal at home

Home cutting of metal is made with the help of a vice, a hammer and a chisel. The last tool consists of three parts - shock, medium and working. The working part is made in the form of a wedge, the master tool holds the middle tool, the impact part has a rounded end and tapers to the top. Carbon steel is used for chisel production . Before the commencement of logging, risks are placed on the workpiece at the site of the future section. Then the sheet is inserted into the vice so that the risks are visible. The first blow is applied with a chisel horizontally, all the following - at an angle of 25-30 degrees. Sheet metal cutting is a rather complicated and time-consuming procedure, therefore the method described above is only suitable for processing small batches of material. More advanced automated methods are used on an industrial scale.

Cutting large lots of metal

Often in small workshops, and sometimes in factories for chipping metal sheets, a chipping pneumatic hammer is used. The worker holds it with both hands, directing the chisel exactly along the planned cutting line. Metal cutting in this way is characterized by less labor and is performed faster than manual cutting. The pneumatic hammer can operate either from a conventional network or from a compressor.

Cutting of metal sheets using a guillotine

At large enterprises, if there is a need to process very large quantities of metal, a special tool is used, which significantly reduces the time of the operation, often making the process fully automated. This is the guillotine. The cutting of the metal with guillotine is carried out immediately along the entire length of the sheet. Before starting work, the metal workpiece is fixed to the horizontal support of the device using a beam. Then, the knife of the guillotine is placed on the cutting site. The sheet is cut by one motion of the knife. The cut is very smooth.

Advantages and disadvantages of the guillotine method

Metal cutting with a guillotine has many advantages, such as:

• High speed of work;
• Accuracy of cutting;
• High quality (the seam does not require further processing);
• Economy (metal losses are minimal).

However, this method has some drawbacks:

• The size of the workpiece is limited;
• Steel with a high content of silicon, titanium and chromium in this way can not be cut;
• Relatively high cost of cutting;
• Narrow range of metal thickness;
• Limitation of work in terms of temperature regime (the indicator depends on the technical characteristics of the specific guillotine model).

In addition to electric guillotines, enterprises often use manual guillotines. Their convenience lies primarily in the fact that you can use such tools in any conditions, even where there is no electricity.

Metal cutting is very complex, requiring attention and accuracy, the process. With the use of modern devices designed for this purpose, you can significantly reduce labor costs, speed up the processing process and make the result more qualitative.