[yosuthnmasa]

I know I've seen metal snips in the past that are used to cut up sheets of metal used in AC work. I am looking for something fairly cheap if possible to cut up a piece of 16 ga. sheet metal that I'm going to try and build into a receiver. Any ideas? Will the hand held cutters, "snips", work?

 

[ak'sr4me]

16 guage is auwful thick to be able to cut with tin snips. If there is a pair of snips out there that can do it, I think you will need popeye the sailer man to squeeze the snips. I have been using a carbide blade on my circular saw to cut my metal. It sparks like a beeetch but it works good. You can take a piece of flat bar stock and clamp it down to give you a guide and can get a really straight cut. ak'sr4me

 

[hotbarrel]

I have to agree . you will not be able to snip sheet that is strong enough to make a reciever out of. also whenever I use snips it bends and distorts the stock. AK has a good idea with the saw. we use a circular saw to cut sheet with it is sold as a metal cutting saw but honestly irt is a circular saw with a special blade , maby you can buy just the blade and put it in your circ saw .
maby a carbide tip blade is cheap and would last just fine for the cutting needed for a reciever or two.
ak'sr4me have you found a blade with more teeth closer togeather is better than one with fewer teeth?? or have you compaired differant ones.

Another idea I have and use is a 1/8" wheel in a right angle grinder thies cut very nice. you can clamp a strate edge as a guide or cut on the flat side of the sheet a littel at a time , just like scribe the line in with the wheel and cut deeper with each pass. maby cheaper and works good too.
compleatly home made reciever..... I am WOWed keep us informed.

 

[ak'sr4me]

I had to go look at my blades after you asked about how many teeth. What I am using is called an Abrasive Saw Blade with is basically a reinforced cutoff wheel like the dremmel wheels only 7 inchs in diameter. It has a 5/8th's arbor so it fits standard circular saws. I only pay about 4 bucks for one and I can get a couple of builds out of it.

 

[ak'sr4me]

If you have any questions about homemade reciever builds, please don't hesitate to ask me questions. I have 6 under my belt now, and even though it is a lot of work compared to buying a completed receiver, a flat or a blank, you have the satisfaction of knowing that ," I made this". It may not look authentic but so what. The dimples in the recievers are nice and functional but I have come up with homemade rails that accomplish the same purpose, are screwed from the inside and can not be seen on the outside. They extend down to the bottom of the magwell and provide the side to side support just like the dimples do. They are nothing like A&D's and I think they cost me about 1 dollar to make. The reason I can get away with this is because of the thicker metal on my recievers I am using. I am glad to see that you are going to take the plunge and make a reciever from scratch. Just like homemade bread. A little more work, but OH SO good. ak'sr4me

 

[Sangrun Hunter]

I used this blade I bought from Home Depot to cut teh end of my blanks. It says to use a wax on the stock you're cutting.

I just sprayed some WD-40 on mine and made the cut nice and steady. Don't try to force the cut or the steel will burn and distort. Don't go to slow or the same thing will happen.

ALWAYS wear safety googles and ear protection is good on this one because it screeches..

 

[7.62x39]

I just use a reciprocating saw, leave it a tad long and then square it up on my disc/belt sander

 

[tarawa]

Has anybody tried that miniature table saw that Harbour Freight sells? My son bought me one for Christmas. It may just work great with an abrasive blade or the diamond blade (which came with it) to cut sheet metal or at least score it for bending.

 

[yosuthnmasa]

Thanks for all the input guys! I figured it was a long shot in the dark with the snips. I just have a piece of 16 ga. sheet metal that I picked up. It is 18'' by 24''. I decided I would try out the new jig from 555th while I'm waiting on flats from the group buy, but I want to start with a flat piece of metal with no holes. This way I can fold my own flats similar to ACE's and then do all the work. Hell, even at Lowe's I picked the piece up for around 10 bucks out the door. If I get 3 out of it, you do the math. I should make my money back from the jig fairly fast doing it this way. In lieu of the proper blade to cut with and needing to cut a pattern of the flat, I think I may just wear some wheels out on the dremel here in the next day or so.

 

[Vis]

http://www.grizzly.com/products/item.cfm?itemnumber=H0731
http://www.grizzly.com/products/item.cfm?itemnumber=G9947
I think this is what you need.

 

[yosuthnmasa]

19.99 not bad! I will have to check into these ones depending on how my first one goes. How well would a jig saw work with a nice blade for cutting metal?

 

[Sangrun Hunter]

I have and air nibbler too that does a great job. It was really helpful when I had to cut the tranmission tunnel on my 78 Cutlass during the manual trans conversion I did.
It cuts a wide slot (3/16) and can be hard to control at first.