You don’t have anything to worry about if you need to cut our cosmetic diamond plate sheets for a project. You’ll have an easy time cutting this material to the size that you need. The ease of working diamond plate sheets makes them especially popular for DIY projects.
You can cut diamond plate sheets without creasing or gouging the metal. Whether you’re a seasoned DIYer looking for specific tips or you’re new to the game and need more details, read the ultimate guide to cutting diamond plate sheets.
A Quick Note About Metal Gauge
The metal’s gauge number is a measurement of the thickness of the flat sheet of metal. Diamond plate is made of either stainless steel, aluminum, galvanized steel, or carbon steel. Different metals have different gauge numbers corresponding to the metal’s thickness.
The higher the gauge number, the thinner the metal. For home and business décor, you almost never need a sheet thicker than .025 inches. You’ll have an easy time cutting this thin material and applying it to walls and other surfaces.
Use Tin Snips for Short Cuts
Tin snips, which are also known as aviator snips, are scissor-like hand tools. They’re affordable at around 15 and 20 dollars. Use tin snips if you want to make short cuts in the sheet metal.
For example, use tin snips to cut out a section of the plate so it fits around a wall outlet. You can cut in straight lines or curves.
Tin snips often have color-coded handles that tell you the direction they cut. Red-handled tin snips cut left, green-handled tin snips cut right, and yellow-handled tin snips cut straight.
Measure and Mark Your Cut Pattern
Use a tape measure, pencil, or Sharpie, and a straightedge to mark the cuts you want to make in the sheet metal. Draw on the back of the panel if you’ve removed the protective cover from your plate. If you’ve left the protective cover over the front of the plate, then you can draw on the cover if you want.
Double-check the accuracy of the pattern you’ve created. Once you’ve cut away too much material, it can be difficult to make the plate fit where you need it to. A T-square can help ensure the lines you draw stay parallel to the edge of your plate.
Then, before you begin cutting, put on your safety glasses and work gloves. You don’t want anything to hurt your eyes or cut your hands.
Keep in mind that tin snips work similarly to scissors. This will make it easy for you to use this tool. Place your metal sheet over your workbench. With your free hand, hold the metal plate firmly.
Line the tool up with the line you marked on the sheet metal. Every time you make a cut, you want to open the snips completely and insert the metal as deeply as it can go into the jaw of the snips. Then carefully squeeze the handles in one hand, making sure the blades come together on the line that you’ve drawn.
Once you’ve closed the tool all the way shut, start the process over again and continue until you’ve finished making the entire cut. Then use a metal file to clean up the cut edge or edges if needed.
Use an 18-Gauge Sheet Metal Shear for Long Cuts
An 18-gauge electric sheer is more expensive than tin snips. You should consider using this tool if you need to make multiple long cuts and want a cleaner edge and a faster method. The shear should fit comfortably in your hand, and since it’s electric, you can make a smoother pass over the material than you can with tin snips, which you must squeeze shut.
Keep in mind that the nippers at the end of the shear make parallel cuts to each other and take out about a quarter inch of material from your diamond plate. So, if you have exactly five feet of diamond plate that you want to cut into a three-foot-long section and a two-foot-long section, you will not have enough material to use the electric shear.
Make sure to wear your safety goggles and gloves before you start cutting with your shear. Hold the diamond plate firmly in your free hand. Align the nippers of the shear with the mark you’ve made, keeping the shear over the part of the metal you want to discard.
If you don’t align your shear correctly, you might cut off more than you intend. So, for example, if you want to discard material to the left of the line you’ve drawn, then the shear should stay to the left of the mark you’ve made, over the part of the metal you want to discard.
Then flick the thumb switch to “on” and firmly cut through the material following the line. If you make two cuts that meet each other, for example, perpendicular cuts, and you have extra metal where the lines meet, you can use the tin snips to easily cut out the extra metal. Use a metal file to smooth out the cut edges if needed.
How To Cut in the Center of Sheet Metal
As a final note in this ultimate guide to cutting diamond plate sheets, you’ll find it easy to cut a hole in the center of sheet metal. First, measure and mark where you want to make your cuts.
Then, in the center of the section you want to cut out, create a hole using a power drill. The power drill should be fitted with a half-inch metal-cutting bit so that the hole it punches will be big enough for the tin snips.
After you’ve punched a hole with your power drill, place the tip of the tin snips into the hole. Then, press the handles together and cut out from the center hole to the line you marked on the metal. Once you’ve reached your mark, follow it to cut out your desired shape. Then file the cut edge with a metal file.
Get Diamond Plate From CutsMetal
CutsMetal provides you with wholesale aluminum diamond plate sheets that are perfect for home and commercial applications. Choose from white, red, black, gunmetal gray, chrome, and glacier gray diamond plate sheets to complete your project. Contact us for help choosing the right diamond plate for you.
