Hi,
I’m trying to put together a mobile horse shelter from a kit and am having to cut everything - no problem except the sheet roofing is 7 1/4 inches too long. Husband just says let it hang off the end in the back; as we all know that will turn into an equine guillotine. I just tried cutting it with snips and heavy duty wire cutters and neither worked - they cut length-wise through straight parts great but won’t work laterally across the corrugated parts. I just went to the hardware store and asked for a circular saw blade that would cut through metal and they didn’t have anything either. Help!! I’m on deadline - supposed to move the horse out labor day weekend and I have a fence to build too!! :eek:
[QUOTE=anchodavis;5053349]
Hi,
I just went to the hardware store and asked for a circular saw blade that would cut through metal and they didn’t have anything either. Help!! I’m on deadline - supposed to move the horse out labor day weekend and I have a fence to build too!! :eek:[/QUOTE]
we use a zawsaw with a metal cutting blade found at most any lowes/ home depot stores
Tamara in TN
Use a cutting wheel on a grinder.
Easy to cut at any angle, any cut and goes thru sheet metal like thru butter.
Many grinders today are cordless and relatively cheap.
This is the one we bought at Home Depot, with a cutting wheel, the picture doesn’t has the battery on there:
http://www.ryobitools.com/catalog/power_tools/grinders/P420
Those are much safer than sawzalls.
We use a “Sawsall” saw. You might be able to rent one from a machinery rent all place. Loud! But very effective. Make sure you use a metal blade in it.
My husband used a special blade/cheap $5 for his skill saw. It was a 7 1/4" blade and it looked like an emery board. Places like Home Depot will carry it. We built a lean to attached to our barn…Had to cut the sheeting and it did a great job.
There is no contest between a Sawzall and a metal cutting wheel on a
4 1/2" grinder. Use the thin cutting wheel on the grinder. Yes, you can also buy the same type of blade for a circular saw, but I like the small grinder version better.
Either will of course throw hot sparks. Throw the sparks away from you, but still-gloves, safety glasses, and maybe long sleeves.
You can find the thin blades hanging on the wall in the tool section of either Lowes or Home Depot where all the grinding wheels are.
The cutting wheel goes through it like a circular saw through wood, only smoother. It cuts such a fine line and you can prevent any damage to the adjacent material.
If they don’t have a 4 1/2" grinder cheap enough for you at Lowes or Home Depot, go to Walmart and buy one of the $35 Black and Decker ones. They last longer than you might think they would and run just fine. Keep up with the blade wrench with whichever one you get. They aren’t interchangable between brands. Walmart may even have the metal cutting wheels.
[QUOTE=Bluey;5053429]
http://www.ryobitools.com/catalog/power_tools/grinders/P420
Those are much safer than sawzalls.[/QUOTE]
true enough I guess…but we have a full machine shop of those rascals as well…but for our farm applications there is always something to be sawzawed to death 
Tamara in TN
[QUOTE=Tamara in TN;5053716]
true enough I guess…but we have a full machine shop of those rascals as well…but for our farm applications there is always something to be sawzawed to death
Tamara in TN[/QUOTE]
I loved my sawzall for many years, until I found the cutting wheels for the grinder.
I have cut thru metal pipe posts 4 1/2" with heavy walls like they were tin.
Those cutting wheels are great.
We cut all our trim pieces on our barn with those and the cuts look so neat.
We cut our bars on the stalls to add one more and you could not tell where any had been.
You can make all kinds of corners with them, without tearing anything.
Try it, you will like it too.
Once cut, will the roofing be out of horse reach?
That stuff is viciously sharp! You definitely don’t want them to be able to run into it, even just with their heads.
I had a terrible accident with corrugated metal roofing as a teenager–I backed into a pile (was carrying/stacking for our run-in project) and it sliced right through my Achilles.
Thanks all! Looks like I need to go buy a grinder. Wasn’t planning to have to buy a tool for this project, but it sounds like something I’ll use often enough on other things. Beam Me Up - yes, the sheeting edge will be flush with the edge of the roofline, and then it will be covered with trim that doesn’t have any sharp edges. You are right that stuff is sharp - and my horse would be the one to fillet himself on it in a nanosecond!
Do you have any family/friends locally that can loan you a tool? We’ve cut our metal with circular saw and rotozip using metal blades, both did great. 
PS - if you have to buy, try your local pawn shop first!
Before I found out about those metal cutting disks/blades (lof them) for my circular saw I just used a regular circular saw blade put in backwards in my saw. It pushes through the metal well enough, produces metal shavings (some of which somehow end up in my bra), and is incredibly noisy (must wear ear plugs).
The regular metal cutting blade is much faster, and easier to use than the backwards wood blades or a sawzall. I can also use the blades that my husband uses in his big chop saw. When they get worn down too small for his saw I can still get a lot of use in my 6 1/2" circular saw.
There are regular 7-1/4 inch fiber “blades” for cutting metals with your regular circular saw, available at most all hardware places. They mount just like a wood cutting blade, work just like it, and do a bang-up job of cutting sheet metal barn siding and roofing materials. Get SEVERAL, as they eat themselves away as they cut the metal. Support the work well, wear safety glasses or goggles, (for ANY kind of metal cutting) and wear earmuffs or plugs or both, as it does make a horrendous racket. They are MUCHmore accurate and faster than a sawzall for long straight cuts, and if you can run the saw well (I was a carpenter for years) you can do plunge cuts, corners, etc easily.
God only knows how many of these I have gone through in the ongoing building of our place…
My roofing hangs out over the edge, but it is very high up, and there is no risk of a horse contacting the edge there.
[QUOTE=AdAblurr02;5062268]
There are regular 7-1/4 inch fiber “blades” for cutting metals with your regular circular saw, available at most all hardware places. They mount just like a wood cutting blade, work just like it, and do a bang-up job of cutting sheet metal barn siding and roofing materials. Get SEVERAL, as they eat themselves away as they cut the metal. Support the work well, wear safety glasses or goggles, (for ANY kind of metal cutting) and wear earmuffs or plugs or both, as it does make a horrendous racket. They are MUCHmore accurate and faster than a sawzall for long straight cuts, and if you can run the saw well (I was a carpenter for years) you can do plunge cuts, corners, etc easily.
God only knows how many of these I have gone through in the ongoing building of our place…[/QUOTE]
You are behind the times using circular blades for the kind of metal cutting she will do.
Try a grinder with a cutting wheel and you can’t believe how safe and handy they are, much more than anything else we were so happy to use before them.
Especially the cordless ones, that surprisingly work very long on one battery charge, that recharges very fast.
Most come with two batteries, so one can be charging while you use the other one.
New grinders cost around $70 and refurbished ones $15.:yes:
You barely touch the blade to the metal and it cuts as if thru butter.
I have yet to have one bind.
[QUOTE=anchodavis;5053891]
Thanks all! Looks like I need to go buy a grinder. Wasn’t planning to have to buy a tool for this project, [/QUOTE]
HAHAHAHAHAHA!!! Every project requires at least three trips to the hardware store and a new power tool.
What type/brand of shelter are you putting up?
–
Wendy
AND it takes 4 times as long as you expected and is 3-5 times as hard as you expected. :lol::D:winkgrin::)
What about a shear?
You need sheet metal nibblers, probably available from Home Depot. Make sure you deburr the edge too.
You can take it to a local sheet metal shop, people bring stuff to my dad all the time. Doubt anyone would charge much. Have them foold the edge over as well. They do it with a machine, and its quick. That way you dont have to worry about sharp edges!
