The methods for cutting steel may seem a bit complicated, as we know, steel is a hard material and depending on its thickness, it will be much easier or harder to make such a cut.
For the same reason, you will surely ask yourself, how to cut stainless steel? Depending on the type of cut or material you use to cut stainless steel, will be the finish it has, the ease and cost and, depending on the thickness and the type of material with which the stainless steel was made, will be the tool you should use for cutting.
ATL Text: Stainless steel cutter cutting a sheet for his work
To facilitate your decision making of what is the best way to cut stainless steel? We bring you the most commonly used and popular cutting methods to achieve the results you require.
Gauge
Before knowing what tool or cutter you can use to cut stainless steel, it is important to understand that the thickness, also known as gauge, will be key to better choosing.
The thickness of the piece is known as gauge. The thicker the sheet or piece, the more complicated the cutting. There are very thin steel sheets that with hand tools, such as specialized scissors for steel, will be enough. However, there are pieces with a larger gauge that require industrial machines to make the cuts.
Stainless steel cutting
There are different methods to cut stainless steel pieces, the most relevant aspects that you should take into account to be able to execute it are; the tolerance of the stainless steel piece, the cutting speed, production and quality of the finish. Based on this, the most common cuts are the following.
Saw cutting
The cutting of stainless steel with a saw is a much more traditional method, but extremely beneficial. Nowadays, it is not necessary to use a hand saw, as there are varieties of electric saws that can cut different gauges, opening a much larger gap to the thickness of the stainless steel material and with a control and precision that offers a cost-benefit.
The material of this type of saws is of a superior resistance that offers precise cuts and that also allows you to play with slightly more complex designs. The bad thing about cuts of this style is that, the finish is a bit more abrupt, often requiring sanding.
Although the same saws have a possibility of finishing with sandpaper, it makes manufacturing a double job
Laser cutting
The cutting of stainless steel with laser is done with a high-energy laser that makes a wide cut of approximately one millimeter or less. With this cutting method, material loss is minimal, as it is very precise and of a higher quality than many others.
With this type of cuts, we also get much finer finishes, because the heat of the laser affects the cutting edges in a good way, creating a flat surface as if it had been sanded.
The cut is recommended for a thin gauge, however, due to its great power, it can even be done with slightly larger gauge sheets. Definitely, one of the great advantages it has, is a much higher precision than the others, however, it has a somewhat limited cutting length.
Waterjet cutting
Also known as Waterjet, it is one of the most expensive, but allows cuts of stainless steel with much larger gauges than the laser. On the other hand, the powerful water pressure makes the cuts much more precise and with the opportunity to play with shapes and figures.
Despite being a slightly more expensive method, the value and quality of the cuts it offers is highly recommended when there is a greater manufacturing tolerance, because it gives the opportunity to do it quickly and precisely.
Although there are many other ways to make cuts of stainless steel, the most common or most used are the aforementioned, can you think of any other?
At Ulbrinox we are the national suppliers of stainless steel and aluminum, come to us to learn about other types of cuts, the types of gauges and types of stainless steel we can offer you.
