Post by ronruble on May 18, 2015 12:31:45 GMT -5
Cutting Roofing Tin – cheap way
Sometimes we have small tin roofing areas to add or repair and need to keep the budget low. I was adding a small roof section to the front of my cabin that needed one 3X8 sheet of tin roofing cut six places. For cutting the sheet with a power saw both Home Depot and Lowes said to use special medal cutting blade that would cost $65 to $85; that would be over $10 per cut. Being cheap (and broke most of the time) I went to plan ‘B’. In my saw I had a very well used old carbide tip wood saw blade that when new, I paid less than $20 for it, so I decided to try it.
Stopping the tin from vibrating is required for cutting. On the concrete driveway a foam board level (flat grass yard would work also); placed two boards for both sides of the cut; tin roofing with raised sections up; in the lowest areas I placed 1/8 think by approximately one inch wide strips; small boards between the highest raised sections to the tin; long boards across on each side of cut. I used concrete blocks to hold down the setup while cutting (wear safety glasses). This required stopping and move blocks 3 times while making cut, but it was cheap and easy (wear safety glasses). Surprisingly it cut fairly easy, made straight cuts but had a little problem being right on the line marked on the tin; lengths varied by 1/8 but worked for what I was doing (wear safety glasses).
If you are going to make a few cuts, buying a new carbide tip wood blade will work and will save you about $50. There are many other cutting tools that probably would work better than my cheap way but when this is all you have, the job can be done cheaply. For big jobs, let the professionals do it
PS – Did I mention: wear safety glasses?
Sometimes we have small tin roofing areas to add or repair and need to keep the budget low. I was adding a small roof section to the front of my cabin that needed one 3X8 sheet of tin roofing cut six places. For cutting the sheet with a power saw both Home Depot and Lowes said to use special medal cutting blade that would cost $65 to $85; that would be over $10 per cut. Being cheap (and broke most of the time) I went to plan ‘B’. In my saw I had a very well used old carbide tip wood saw blade that when new, I paid less than $20 for it, so I decided to try it.
Stopping the tin from vibrating is required for cutting. On the concrete driveway a foam board level (flat grass yard would work also); placed two boards for both sides of the cut; tin roofing with raised sections up; in the lowest areas I placed 1/8 think by approximately one inch wide strips; small boards between the highest raised sections to the tin; long boards across on each side of cut. I used concrete blocks to hold down the setup while cutting (wear safety glasses). This required stopping and move blocks 3 times while making cut, but it was cheap and easy (wear safety glasses). Surprisingly it cut fairly easy, made straight cuts but had a little problem being right on the line marked on the tin; lengths varied by 1/8 but worked for what I was doing (wear safety glasses).
If you are going to make a few cuts, buying a new carbide tip wood blade will work and will save you about $50. There are many other cutting tools that probably would work better than my cheap way but when this is all you have, the job can be done cheaply. For big jobs, let the professionals do it
PS – Did I mention: wear safety glasses?