Cutting stainless steel

[btuser]

I've got to cut a straight clean pretty much perfect line in a piece of 18g stainless steel (over my head). Its part of a door header and I can't take it down or trim it out. The idea is to mortise an overhead lock.

Sawzall? template+grinder? Sub it out?

 

[250psd]

Rent a plasma cutter??

 

[WES999]

How about a nibbler.
http://www.harborfreight.com/16-gauge-air-nibbler-96661.html

 

[webbie]

A good nibbler might do it - maybe you can rent one. In general, I like to make certain the tool is rated a little bit higher than what I need to do.....I think you'd need a nibbler capable of 14 ga mild to do stainless.

Come to think of it, if it is a relatively small cut, a grinder might do it...but you can certainly slip easily!

Plasma torch........

 

[nate379]

Hard to say without knowing exactly what you are cutting. Is this a few inches or a several feet that needs to be cut?

Generally speaking if it can cut mild steel it can cut stainless.

 

[BrotherBart]

How about a nibbler.
http://www.harborfreight.com/16-gauge-air-nibbler-96661.html

Never done 18 gauge but I do 22 gauge 304 stainless all the time with a Skill saw with fine metal cutting blade. Smooth, clean and straight.

 

[btuser]

I can't get to an edge. I have to start in the middle. A nibbler would do it but the stainless is mounted right up against the channeled (and ribbed) aluminium which anywhere from 1/8" to a full inch thick, so if I were to drill into the area I was removing I still won't have enough room for the head of the nibbler. Plasma cutter is going to distort/discolor the edge I feel a wee bit too much, but if I can talk the customer into a trim ring it would be my first choice. As it stands they expect a finished edge on the cut.

The armature I'm installing has rounded corners, so I'm thinking hole saws in the corners, straight line with an orbiting sawzall and then grind/sand it back to the final edge.

 

[velvetfoot]

How about a Dremel with a cutoff wheel?

 

[woodgeek]

second the dremel.

 

[fbelec]

dremel after you drill a hole with drill but instead of a cut off wheel use a bit for metal that looks like a normal drill bit. the cut off wheel might locally blue the metal it's cutting and it would be a way lot easier to control the twist cutter.

 

[Dune]

Thin cutoff wheel on an angle grinder. .045 thickness, specify for cutting stainless if possible. Practice first so you know what to expect.
Be sure to use guard and handle and use it like a skill saw. For finnished edge, 100 grit sanding disk on rubber backer on same grinder.
I do S.S. all the time.