Best Way To Make A Hole In Sheet Metal

For making clean holes in thin metal use a punch as used for leather and canvas comes in many sizes hit with hammer and use wood as support end grain preferred.

Best way to make a hole in sheet metal. At first locate the center of the whole. As you force the upper punch into the metal the lower female die supports the metal and lets the upper die cut the hole and force it through the die. You can then use a. How to work with sheet metal.

This will create dimples in the sheet. Always use a clamp or three. A quick 2 minute video showing some tips ideas for drilling holes in sheetmetal. Metal hand punch a metal hole punch works much like a paper hole punch.

You have any suggestions for drilling holes. Tap your hammer to leave an indentation on the sheet metal. Depending on the tools you have you ll now need to punch or drill a hole where the indentation has been made to produce an accurate hole in your sheet metal. For lamps you need grommet for cable.

Typically the hole is large and the sheet metal won t fit on my cnc milling machine so i m left flailing. Simply sandwich the sheet metal between two pieces of wood and clamp everything down on a table or workbench. Twist drills are great for small diameter holes. Using a step drill bit.

Now it s time to use that center punch. Remove sharp edges with round file or stone. Place your sheet metal on your steel block and position your centre punch at a central point in your cut out design. Use your center punch to strike at the center of the hole.

Make a sandwich for clean precise holes in thin sheet metal make a wood sandwich. The wooden bread layers of the sandwich keep the sheet metal flat and prevent the drill bit from wandering as it bores through the sheet metal. There is a male punch that is just a few thousandths smaller than the lower female dies. With this tool you stick an endmill in a die grinder put the grinder in the little fixture so it can pivot drill yourself a pilot hole for the pivot and away you go.