What Nippers for Corrugated Roofing?

Phil Dwyer

Phil Dwyer

Joined
Feb 28, 2006
Messages
3,494
Hi Friends,

I'm about to put a metal roof up for the smithy at the high school I teach at. Wonder if any of you have suggestions on a good pair of nibblers (make and model) to cut corrugated roofing metal (24ga) with? In the past I just flipped a circular saw blade backwards and friction cut stuff for farm shed type applications, but it's LOUD, messy and sloppy. Would like to be a bit more professional this time.

Thanks for your ideas!

Aloha, Phil
 
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I really am pleased with the electric metal shears from HF. They cut everything from PVC siding to 20 gauge sheet metal easily.
 
This pair right here will cut all you ever need and then some. Nice straight cuts. Dont get the other style that is single cut surface (HF has them too and calls it 18ga shear...) as they will not work well cross panel. They are nice and straight clean cuts in flat metal or longways on the sheet, but don't work across the corrugation worth a darn.
Just remember they cut by removing about 1/8" section of metal so always use the near side blade surface if that makes sense. Replacement blades and anvils are cheap as well...
http://www.harborfreight.com/14-gauge-swivel-head-shear-68199.html
 
Phil, Most metal roof suppliers will cut your roofing to length (prior to crimping). Do a little pre-planning and give them a layout of what you have in mind. You can always "under-lap" when the length is question (place an overlapping piece on the lower piece, regardless of the length of the lower piece).

If you need to narrow the width, make your measurements, score a nice straight line down the length with either a hardened scribe (or a sharp knife if you can find one :)), then with the help of a friend, carefully bend the piece away from the scored line. It will snap like a piece of glass, all nice and straight.

Try it on some scrap. You will be amazed.

Robert
 
Thanks for your ideas guys! The manufacturer is cutting pieces to length for us, but not the 45º cuts. Those we have to do ourselves.

The important part of cutting this stuff is: managing clean contiguous cuts 45º across the ups and downs of the ribs; doing it with minimal distortion, minimal damage to the finish, minimal rust exposure on the cut drip edge (burr). The manufacturer's sales reps said they use Milwaukee nibblers at their plant when needing to do specialized cuts.

I like the idea of not having all the debris the nibbler produces, but am anxious shears will not manage the ribs well. Maybe that swivel headed one will suffice.
 
bladsmth said:
http://www.harborfreight.com/14-gauge-swivel-head-shear-68199.html

That's the one I use. 14 gauge???? I don't know, but 18-20....sure.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I figure they must mean 14ga non-ferrous metals... I have cut aluminum industrial window flashing about that thick with them and they did struggle a little but made it ok... They will handle steel 18ga ok and 20ga+ no problem.

As long as you mark out your cuts nice and straight you shouldn't have a problem. Nibblers are easy to run off line (and do leave a bit of a mess). Shears tend to cut fairly straight on their own and the debris is a nice long spiral piece.

You should be able to find a printable coupon online as well. Knocks about $10 off. I will dig through my HF emails and see if I have one...
 
All the pro`s I know just use a circular saw with a blade made for metal roofing. Nibblers are great for cutting around protrusions but long cuts across the corrugations are problematic and take forever .Take great care being safe especially if it is windy the day of the project ,remember sharp,loud and slippery are the words of the day.
 
I used to use a dedicated metal cutting blade in a circular saw for roofing steel, until I discovered air powered nibblers and shears -- then i found the Milwaukee metal cutting circular saw...
28732_6370-20.ashx

Loud? oh, ya, you betcha!
leaves fine shavings on the ground, too -- but it's a clean cut.

unfortunately, if you want to avoid rust issues after cutting, you have to paint or cold galvanize your ends no matter which method you use.
 
I looked and don't have one for that specific shear but noticed it is $5 off right now... All the coupons I have ran out yesterday and haven't received a new email that would apply, all require a specific purchase threshold.

65213050 is the coupon number for a 20% off single item coupon and I have had them take it as recently as end of april. Dont know if it works online or anything.
 
Phil here I a single item 20% code it says it works online good until sept. 17219253 .Have a great day.
 
When cutting across the sheets ( all the ups and downs ) I have found nibblers to do the best and easiest job ( IMO )
 
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